Does doing art grow your soul?

A while ago I realized that what Anatole France says it is true: "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened"

I have also heard: the only purpose for any human being anywhere at any time is to grow a soul. (paraphrased E.J.Gold)

...and then: You grow your soul by doing ant, any art, well expressed in a letter by Kurt Vonnegut to high school students.

True or not - I happen to believe it is true, and as I have been exposed to drawing and watercolor art classes by E.J. Gold - and am being asked to give art classes online - the art road has started.

It really is also a selfish reason: to awaken that part of my soul that grows by doing art. Knowing the total 100% commitment to the animal and the resulting realizations - and knowing from experience that the greatest passages have happened in my life only through that level of intensity, I am not quite sure how that could possibly manifest in my doing art or doing the art classes.

However

Then there is doing art in a group. This has potential I can't possibly really know yet...how can we  know what exactly can happen in a real group .... or rather - THIS group?

Here is my hope and vision:

We start together with pencil and paper and do shading.
we continue
we continue participating
we show up
we start having the willingness to share some of the art made - to share, to inspire, to overcome
we post our experiences on a website.
we continue
we invite others in RL to sit watching the class online and doing art
we invite again
we post some more of our art...and we share experiences
and we continue
we explore
we co-create
we .......
...eventually foster an appreciation for art, it's purpose, and a sense of aesthetic -  to the point where folks want to do art and/or have art in their homes - and would also see the point of attending and bidding at an auction for non-profits - in the spirit of compassion and giving, the spirit of helping.

I do appreciate the difficulty of self initiated participation, and I happen to agree, that if you have to convince people to do this - it is not going to work.
On the other hand, there is this: "I was inpired by .... " or this showed up in my life and I felt drawn to it.
There is - practice and discipline.

Here is an example of something that happened while doing art the other day during the "class":

After an almost sleepless night  trying not to worry - but also knowing the things that might come - I had just come up from the garden where there was one or my sweet buttercup chicken, who I had diagnosed being egg-bound when she went to  roost in the evening, standing still in the dog crate after the first bath I ever gave to a chicken. Being truly egg-bound for a hen -  is a certain death sentence if not treated. She had her first warm bath, one of the things recommended - and then...I had to go to the class - just as well, so it would give here the chance to maybe pass the egg....trying to justify why going to do the art class was ok. (Some folks look at me funny when I say this, or get worried wbout a chicken ...as if we didn't breed chickens to lay eggs almost all year round rather than what would be normal for them - lay a clutch of eggs in the spring - so yes, apart from everything else, we are also responsible - but that is a whole other story)

So then I go to the gorebaggtv station - check the online chat and no one is there .... so, ok, I do the class anyway, maybe someone will show up, I want to honor the commitment and who knows, maybe a miracle will happen and she manages to get that egg out....

I do my scribble, buttercup chicken in mind and start shading. At some point about halfway into it -  there is this: here is this chicken that is going to die if nothing gets done - here I am doing this art class no one is at, teary-eyed, why am I doing this ...and the realization that, even though these chickens are not quite like pets, there are also not "just chickens"  but most of all - it is painful to know she is suffering, it is scary to know what I might have to do - and without help ...and here I am shading doing a class no one is at - this chicken's shading image. And there is love, compassion and commitment and heartache. I know who she is ...even though in the end, looking at the image, others have called her a bear and a mouse. That is ok - such is the nature of shading. I see her. And somehow, this piece of paper and the shading become imbued with something .... - for the lack of a better word - a little bit of soul - and it does acquire life. Maybe you see it, maybe you feel it, maybe you don't. I look at the shading shape/drawing - and I feel her. She is very very sweet. (I am told that I will get a scan of the image by tomorrow - sorry, you can't see it atm).

And so ...the journey of doing art and growing your soul continues...for me, it has barely started. Sometimes I get glimpses of what might be possible .....

Someone did eventually sign into the channel  during this class ....and you know who you are: You know, it was really good that someone did show up in the end. Thank you....it is an example how just showing up and participating can be important There is this lovely sweet piece of shading and - the added presence of someone there - was a gift.
In case you are wondering what happened to the chicken, you can read that here.

I happen to have photographed some paper art yesterday - etchings mostly ...and I am amazed. Etchers were the photographers of a certain past. Amazing.  One of the prints  happens to be of a bird ...this is a detail ...

Can doing art grow a soul? Going on trust and experience in other areas: yes ....
If that is something you are interested in: come join us on gorebaggtv every Friday 10:30 to 11:30 am pt. 
All you need is a pencil and a paper.