In retrospect the only thing I missed about it was the lack of singing.

Yes, that was my grandmother's complaint, too. She wasn't raised Quaker, herself, but became one after she married my grandfather, and the lack of hymns was the only thing she missed. She herself was a wonderful (if unpolished) singer, and she made sure there was singing in the family even if there was none in Meeting itself. In my memory, Thanksgiving will always be linked with the holding of hands around the table and singing "We gather together, to ask the Lord's blessing." For a long time, I just assumed that was a Quaker hymn, before I learned that, officially, Quakers didn't have any hymns.

And really, I think that kind of thing must have been going on in Quaker families all over, and all along, even if the arts weren't officially sanctioned by yearly meetings until the 20th century.

Edward Hicks didn't wait for official sanction from his Yearly Meeting before he started creating his Peaceable Kingdom paintings; though his subject matter and approach were tempered by Quaker teachings, there is no denying his work is also rich in self-expression.*

After all, even the earliest Friends were human, and human beings are artistic creatures. I don't think it's even possible to live a life entirely without art, even if your art is restrained to utilitarian objects and a study of simplicity.

*(here is a wonderful introductory article on Hicks and his Peaceable Kingdom paintings, from the February 2000 issue of Friends Journal. And here is the version that's been hanging in our house(s) since my early childhood)