A painter's journey - Episode 3/2018 - Savouring and slowing down

I actually like to take my sweet old time with things. It's the reason why it mostly takes me a very long time to finish a painting, and it's also the reason why I often have a hard time existing in a world that expects you to go faster all the time. For better or for worse, I find myself on the opposite ende of the spectrum of pace.

While many times I do not have a choice and have to hurry, when it comes to art, I do allow myself to go with my own rhythm. It feels like the ultimate indulgence. Recently, I finished this painting:

I think savouring is my superpower, always has been. Be it food, art, love, dancing - I enjoy my moments more when I slow down. In a group, I am always the last one to finish a meal. When I love a book, I read it extra slowly, in order to read it longer. 

I love getting lost in the details, the brushstrokes, sitting back, taking another look, savouring the smooth paint and mixing it, loading it onto my brush and sliding it over the canvas. Everything becomes more sensual and curious when I slow down.

The painting is available HERE.

A painter's journey - Episode 2/2018 - why I think we need art

This week, there wasn't a lot of painting happening in my world. While a little discipline is fine sometimes, I do not like forcing myself to create. For now, I still enjoy that freedom.

Nevertheless, there was art present. The "other" art form that I like to indulge in is dancing, Kizomba, specifically.  It's so different from visual arts, of course, there is no end result, nothing to show for it, no one to show it to. And yet, there is something that I love so much about it, and somehow, different art forms always inform and inspire each other. Moving my body and experiencing transformative moments on the dance floor remind me of why we need art in our lives, and why it has such a strong pull for me. Every once in a while, you catch "that" dance, or find yourself in "that" moment while creating, be it on the dance floor or the easel, catapulting yourself into some kind of trance that is the best feeling ever. It's like the most intense feeling of being alive. After all, it's what I am always after, and what keeps me creating.

A painter's journey - Episode 1/2018 - post vacation thoughts

It’s always on the verge of change that I long like crazy to be someone else. 

I’d rather take any other path, instead of choosing and forging my own. How strange a mind behaves, in the face of fear.

It was a week of easing back into everyday life, after a week away on an island, where I did little beside staring at my beloved teal waters. That coming home always makes me see with crystal clear vision, all the things I live that do not fit me, and all the things I long for and have not created yet.

The push and pull of what I have to do, and what I want to do is strong these days. I am learning, slowly, how to be ok with wanting what I want. How to work towards it. Some art came from it, and more will follow, I suppose. 

“If the pain of staying stuck is bigger than the fear of the thing, that’s when you take action.” (Matt Boggs)