We recently spent a few days with family, and as is normal for us when we get together, we spent a lot of time sitting around sharing stories from ‘way back when.’ The stories ran the gamut from travel adventures when my brothers and I were kids, to the hard times our grandparents experienced when they were growing up, and everything in between. A lot of the stories were familiar to us, but we learned some new things too.

It’s always fun to reminisce, partly because it keeps our family history alive, but also because we sometimes find out surprising facts about our parents, grandparents, or other family members. Although we don’t have some family members with us anymore, these stories help keep them alive in our hearts and cements their legacy within our family.

Sharing our stories was a great reminder of just how powerful they can be. The stories we tell, whether it’s to ourselves or to others, remind us of our history, inform how we present ourselves to the world, and allow others to really get to know us.

Thinking about all this made me ask, “What stories do I want to tell through my art?”

Right now, my skill level doesn’t really lend itself to telling stories, because I mostly try to duplicate what I see. I’m working on building my basic skills and learning how pigments and water move on the paper.

But I don’t want to stop there.

I want to learn to produce something beautiful that fulfills the God-given desire to create within me, but I also want to tell the stories of our incredible natural world. I want to be able to make others feel the joy and wonder I experience when I look at God’s amazing creation.

That’s a future goal for now, but keeping that in mind helps remind me why I want to continue building my skills. I want to be able to tell stories that make people feel.

I’d say all great artwork, whatever its form, evokes feeling in the people interacting with it. We may not always understand the stories they’re trying to tell (I’m thinking of my trip to the Salvador Dali museum), but their stories, expressed through their art, can impact us in ways we may not even realize. We just know they make us feel something.

What stories do you want to tell through your art? Please share!