The Barb & Olive

Simply B3 You, By Amanda Taylor

Amanda is a female veteran and abstract artist who found healing through the manipulation of color and form. She found visual abstract art as a way to convey her feelings and emotions. For decades she used many forms of unhealthy coping methods to cope with unresolved childhood and military trauma. However, these methods only led to significant consequences and additional trauma. After hitting rock bottom in 2023, Amanda decided to admit herself into residential treatment. While in treatment, Amanda participated in Art Therapy. She discovered her ability to capture the intangible and emotional expression through art, ultimately experiencing healing from her art work. She soon discovered that abstract art possesses a unique ability to tap into the depths of human emotion, transcending the limitations of literal representation. It takes us on a profound journey, where colors, shapes, and textures become conduits for the expression of feelings, experiences, and states of being. Abstract art has a way of bypassing the constraints of the rational mind, speaking directly to our hearts and souls. It confronts us with raw energy, capturing the essence of joy, sorrow, love, and longing in a language that goes beyond words. It evokes a visceral response, provoking introspection and triggering a profound emotional resonance. Through abstraction, artists can distill complex emotions into visual form, creating a visual symphony of colors, lines, and textures that resonate within us.
Each brushstroke becomes a brushstroke of emotion.