Christmas Inspiration 2015 : Phil Anderson

 Original Watercolour By Phil Anderson

Christmas Inspiration 2015. 

Phil has kindly given me his permission to share both his painting 

and his really wonderful message to me.

I have always believed there is far more to art than simply creating.

We touch peoples lives and can also help others. This is a wonderful email.

And again I am very grateful to be contacted, and mentioned in this way.

Thank you Phil.

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Hi Jean, 

We previously exchanged a short email about painting demonstrations. 

I am located in Dublin, Ireland and I suffer from mental health illness. 

I have found a deep love of watercolor painting and I try various styles 

from different artists/writers.  I find painting is a great source of therapy for

me as it helps me to live in the moment and forget about other challenging 
matters.  I especially love your books and I paint some of your 
demonstrations over and over again, at times with a different twist. 

Recently I spoke as a service user at an exhibition in the mental 
health services hospital that I attend along with other speakers 
including Brent Pope, New Zealand, a renowned rugby commentator who 
is one of the ambassadors for the mental health services hospital.  I 
submitted two paintings to the exhibition, one of which is painted based
on a theme from one of your demonstrations - it is a semi abstract 
painting of a georgian door ... I use all kinds of different colours 
albeit I do not use cling film or sea salt (I think I am using the wrong
 paper type to truly get the desired effects).

 
To date and to my surprise I received 4 expressions of interest 
from people in the semi abstract painting. To date I 
have never accepted money for paintings and rather I asked people to 
simply donate to a charity of their choice. On this occasion though I 
will accept the monies and I would like to donate some of this money 
back to 'Walk in My Shoes' which is a charity for teenagers who suffer 
from mental health.  I will also spend some of the money on your DVDs so
 that I can learn more artistic techniques. 

I wanted you to know how much pleasure, therapeutic value and inspiration
that I get from watercolor painting especially from your books.  I also
wanted you to know that you are indirectly supporting a truly 
worthwhile charity.

 Yours in Art,

Phil Anderson

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