A date with art…

This morning as I sat sipping on my coffee I took a moment to ponder on my journey in art, I must say it was either some amazing stroke of luck or that the universe so cleverly designed a whole series of coincidences to bring me right here right now.

 I grew up in a typical Asian family where art was… well it never quite found its place in our lives. Quite sadly, it was seen as something frivolous… something you don’t want to waste your brain cells on. Even more tragic was that I totally bought into that idea then.

 But stepping into the world of art has completely changed my view of things. It was as if art came into my life quietly, serenading me and before I knew it … I was totally in love with it.

 The first few things I discovered were… what is art and what is the role of an artist? To me art is the revealing of a new perspective. If we are merely painting what we see aren’t we just merely reproducing something? Where is the creativeness in that? And to me, an artist role is to explore, seek and search within and without to unravel that which has been hidden…sometimes in plain sight.

 It is for this very reason that my mentor often said to us that to call oneself an artist we must be able to see from 8 directions! For, if we want to paint a tree how else can we give life to it unless we become the tree? A tree that seems so still …like a decoration,…has a story… has a life and has its own dance. When you become the tree, you can feel the strength in your limbs and trunk… Feel the quietness… and then you start hearing the whispers amongst the leaves… feel your hands stretching and moving to the gentle sway of the breeze… Suddenly the tree becomes so alive… that when you paint you can actually feel how each leaf quivers in the sun.

 I’m certainly not saying that I’m there… but I’ve begun the journey.

 Yes it’s true that smartness and intelligence does not rule the artist…in fact it’s not even a part of the equation! I found that the intellect often times have to take a back seat for isn’t our perspective limited to what we already know and we judge everything from that direction?

 But when we are creating we are putting forward a new idea which is outside the realm of what we currently know?

 This is where I find the greatest struggle for me reside… the ability to surrender to the moment…to sit in front of the canvas, leaving everything behind but my connection to the eternal me and paint…