Here's A Video To Make Someone Smile

Hi Everyone,

I thought I’d share a cute video that seemed to put a smile on a lot of faces —even normally grouchy ones. (LOL) My goal when making videos and art is to help create health, healing, and happiness in others. Enjoy!

Evidence-based Design. What does it really mean?

What does it mean when someone claims to be Evidence-based Design Certified?

I’m a super fan of the Center for Health Design’s internationally recognized EDAC (evidence-based design accreditation and certification) program.

Why? The program is arduous and legitimate and it awards a credential to “individuals who demonstrate an understanding of how to apply an evidence-based process to the design and construction of all settings that contribute to health, safety and wellbeing including measuring and reporting results.” (healthdesign.org)

Who are the people who go for this certification?

Architects, Designers, Healthcare Executives, Healthcare Providers, Academics, Engineering and Construction Professionals, Product Manufactures, and artists like me who REALLY CARE about designing—using methodology rooted in medical research for the health, healing, and happiness of others.

I got really interested in the subject after seeing lots of art and art experts claim that paintings with dripping blood and badly deformed items and unhealthy looking human figures and shocking colors and compositions were okay to promote as art for health and healing. It wasn’t okay with me, so I looked for a program that would teach/influence/inspire me to create art for the health, safety, and wellbeing of others.

Here’s an Evidence-based Art video I created as a little promotion. The painting is called Oh, Baby Blue! I Love You!

Evidence-based Art Reflects Overcoming

The Power Of Love Over Hate

Some people insist evidence-based art should be 100 percent peaceful and serene and without any reflections of human challenges or difficulties. Based on my physical recovery experience (2 major operations within 30 days and over a year to recover), I politely disagree.

In the recovery process, people need lots of rest and relaxation—but we also need to feel hope. We need to feel encouraged to overcome our difficulties, even when that means complete restoration, only certain improvements, or sadly even acceptance.

One way to see this overcoming in art is to see a challenge or negativity in the background of a work and then have the foreground colors and images overcome it.

Here’s another video clip with a painting that does just that.

Below the video you can read the—not so peaceful and serene—actual story behind this evidence-based work called The Power Of Love Over Hate.

Here’s the story behind this evidence-based work:

I got trained to paint when I was only 7/8 years old. Today when I paint, I still go to that childlike, very vulnerable, and authentic part of my being and channel my art outwards. I live a happy, minimalist lifestyle, so most of the time when creating florals, I paint lovely art for the health and healing of others; however, on the rare occasion, the negativity of our world invades and can be seen inside my work.

When I began this painting, I was invaded by a worker doing a minor repair in my home/studio who started talking radical politics and would just not shut up. In his many words I kept hearing this message: I hate this group. I hate that group. Did you know this racial group is to blame for this? Did you know that cultural group is to blame for that? You need to support my political guy. If you don’t support my political guy, there is something wrong with you. Are you my enemy? Are you one of us?

As I laid the background stems for this painting, I was still processing how negative and dangerous this seemingly everyday American citizen was, and it inadvertently came out in the overly dark blue stem color I selected and in the over-intensity of my strokes.

Loving and hating others are human choices, and as I continued to work on the canvas, I kept choosing colors and images that overpowered the negativity of the stems and reflected the beauty and THE POWER OF LOVE OVER HATE.

Life Threatening Illness and Evidence-based Art

Have you ever had a life threatening illness? Most of my life was major illness free and then—WHAM!—I ended up in the hospital with 2 major operations within 30 days. It was no picnic, and it took me over a year to recuperate.

From this experience, I learned on a life-or-death level about fears of dying, overcoming physical trauma, fighting for hope, and the need for real evidence-based art. Real evidence-based art uses design principles based on “real medical studies” for human health and healing.

I went on to become EDAC (Evidence-based Design Certified), and often when I paint, my goal is to create beautiful, happy art that soothes and relaxes—but also stimulates. In the recovery process, it’s important to heal (rest and relaxation) but also essential to stay upbeat and in motion (stimulated) for recovery.

Here’s another evidence-based art video for you!

Let's Relax With Evidence-based Art

Take a moment. Take a break. Enjoy a little relaxation with a one minute video with evidence-based art. No sales. No hype. It was created just for you! Evidence-based art uses medical studies in the design process.

The painting in this video was created using Evidence-based Design research. Multiple credible studies now show connections between certain types of art and positive health outcomes.

Wishing you the very best!

Dorothea Sandra, BA, EDAC

New Joy! Joy! Floral Happiness by Dorothea Sandra

People often call me a painter of HOPE. They tell me all the time how happy my floral art makes them feel.

I was the July/August 2021 featured artist at the Thunder Bay Arts Council Gallery in Alpena, Michigan. (By the way, this is a lovely gallery with many talented local artists.) During this time, these florals just flew out the gallery’s two big display windows—to Michiganders..to people from New England…Arizona…California—sometimes 5 at time.

What’s the secret?

I strive for happiness—not beauty—when painting this type of evidence-based art. Of course, the painting needs to be beautiful, but more than this, each work must create in its viewers/owners a sense of being loved or liked or made to feel really happy. The art has to GIVE MORE THAN ART, and it needs to keep giving and giving and giving.

The paintings in these videos were created using Evidence-based Design research. Multiple credible studies now show connections between certain types of art and positive health outcomes!

Do Communities Benefit From Evidence-based Art?

I tell everyone I’m really more of an abstract artist, but because there is such a need in today’s world, I create (and sell lots of) Evidence-based Art for the health, healing, and happiness of others.

For most of each year, I like to live remotely along one of the Great Lakes in a small Northern Michigan town. Whenever I can, I try to share my evidence-based art freely with people in this town and the surrounding communities.

Here’s a little video clip I created and boosted on Facebook to let everyone in the Northern Michigan counties (and Mackinac County) know they are most welcome to visit a local business (with a really big heart) to see walls and walls of high quality, beautiful evidence-based art.

The viewing bench I bought has also been a really big hit with all ages.

Are the communities in my area benefiting from viewing all this evidence-based art? Based on the number of people who come in to buy a little artistic something of good cheer for themselves or as a gift, and based on the number of people who just want to come in and walk around (or sit on that viewing bench and stare), I think sharing my national/international evidence-based art on an ongoing basis has been a really big community hit!

My absolute favorite moments are when kids and teens come in. Often one or two of them will stop for the longest time in front of one of the paintings, and I can see from the intensely analytical look on their faces, they’re trying really hard to figure out just how I did this and just how l did that. I consider my art a gift—which should be shared!

(To see my ABSTRACT ART website, click on the link at the bottom of this post or go to dorotheasandragallery.com.)