Wellness for your home - hang some art you Visigoth

March 31, 4:33 PMNY Wellness ExaminerRoger Ziegler

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Art in your home can have you feeling calm and peaceful.
And no, it is not watching you wherever you go.

This is part of a series of articles "Wellness for Your Home." This time we focus on mental wellness.

Dee Bouffard is an advocate for seniors and the disabled and runs the site Amerasad.com (American Association of Seniors & Disabled).  She is also a freelance artist, illustrator and creative writer.

In a stunning one question interview, I asked her the best way to create mental wellness in your home. Dee?

Q: How does art affect a home? Is there any particular kind of art that helps more?

The less is best rule is one that applies here in regard to, not just artwork in your home, but what I call "collectible clutter". When creating a piece of artwork you always want to develop a focal point.

Developing this practice was always a challenge to my private students when creating their "masterpieces". Unknowingly, to most people, the eye bounces when it has no firm landing zone. With that eye bounce can come agitation, stress, a feeling of uneasiness and even, at times, depression.

The eye is, indeed, the window to the mind. If you take this theory away from a single piece of artwork and apply it to your entire home you garner the same results. Cluttering walls, and general living areas, will generate the same results as that single work of art if the eye has no safe haven, so to speak.

Reducing your living areas to one piece of artwork per wall, if that, can have a tremendous impact on your mental health while providing a relaxed, and calming, atmosphere.

One of the most difficult things in producing a piece of art is knowing when to stop. Most artists will tell you they never feel their work is finished because that urge to continue is always prodding them to get that one last area just right. It's called overworking a piece.

Overworking your home is no different. A great example of this is family picture wall groupings. Give it up. Yes, it's great to see the kids as they were growing up, the family pet tree and so on but, again, the eye becomes confused. There's no landing zone. While delightfully holding on to your own personal memories you're, in turn, disturbing the eye to brain functionality of anyone entering that particular dead zone.

Find one area, preferably a small table, place a few favorite framed pictures in a small grouping and you'll easily transform an uncomfortable area into a relaxing area.