My life now is totally about sipping endless cups of tea, allowing it to go tepid, then cold, while I paint and paint and paint.. to my heart's content. Just finished an abstract-ish bunch of purple and white flowers in a flower pot, and I'm feeling as content as a cat that has lapped a bellyful of milk and then stretches out in the sun and yawns herself into a blissful nap. Only difference is, my mind is so energised that sleep is eluding me. So, instead, I begin ruminating, as usual, about this mysterious effect painting has on me.. I guess on all artists, whatever their field.
Why do I do it.. paint..? It's not that I need the paintings I do.. it's not that I sell my stuff (except for one or two).. I haven't even bothered to start trying to sell them. Like most artists, I'm totally not clued into the commercial aspects of life, especially about my artwork. So here I am, painting off and on over the years, my canvases, papers, pieces of wood on which I do them collecting in cupboards, on cupboards, under the bed, leaning on walls, on every spare surface I can find to keep them. Why, what is this need that drives me to do something that seems so useless, purposeless?
The answer, I think, is the great need I have to create. Painting is like magic for me.. to watch formless paint turn into a flower, a mountain, a tree on a flat featureless surface is sheer magic. Plus, painting, creating these forms, or just abstract forms using colours and brush strokes to create mystery, is a challenge.. and I love challenges. The challenge of mastering an intricate rose, for example.. or a landscape.. keeps me interested in life.. keeps my child-like sense of wonder at watching, examining the creation all around me alive. When I am in painting mode, my senses are constantly alive.. when I see a sunset, I wonder what colours I would need to capture the beauty.. every leaf, stone, puddle of water is about shape, form, shades, colours that exist in my paintbox, and the end of my paintbrush with which I recreate them on my canvas.. What can be more fulfilling than that?
There's no wifi here, so though I've clicked them on my iPad, I can't post the pictures of my paintings yet here. Tried my camera, but something's wrong with the battery... I need to buy a new one... I also need to buy a phone which could be the means of posting my pics... which I just don't have the time for.. So until I get a wifi connection, or a new battery, or a new phone, I guess I'll just talk about my paintings.
Why do I do it.. paint..? It's not that I need the paintings I do.. it's not that I sell my stuff (except for one or two).. I haven't even bothered to start trying to sell them. Like most artists, I'm totally not clued into the commercial aspects of life, especially about my artwork. So here I am, painting off and on over the years, my canvases, papers, pieces of wood on which I do them collecting in cupboards, on cupboards, under the bed, leaning on walls, on every spare surface I can find to keep them. Why, what is this need that drives me to do something that seems so useless, purposeless?
The answer, I think, is the great need I have to create. Painting is like magic for me.. to watch formless paint turn into a flower, a mountain, a tree on a flat featureless surface is sheer magic. Plus, painting, creating these forms, or just abstract forms using colours and brush strokes to create mystery, is a challenge.. and I love challenges. The challenge of mastering an intricate rose, for example.. or a landscape.. keeps me interested in life.. keeps my child-like sense of wonder at watching, examining the creation all around me alive. When I am in painting mode, my senses are constantly alive.. when I see a sunset, I wonder what colours I would need to capture the beauty.. every leaf, stone, puddle of water is about shape, form, shades, colours that exist in my paintbox, and the end of my paintbrush with which I recreate them on my canvas.. What can be more fulfilling than that?
There's no wifi here, so though I've clicked them on my iPad, I can't post the pictures of my paintings yet here. Tried my camera, but something's wrong with the battery... I need to buy a new one... I also need to buy a phone which could be the means of posting my pics... which I just don't have the time for.. So until I get a wifi connection, or a new battery, or a new phone, I guess I'll just talk about my paintings.
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