‘one eye sees, the other feels’ – Paul Klee
Today I would like to talk a bit about art. Are you an artist? Are you asking yourself that question sometimes? Do you feel the creative flow in your life?
I am a painter. Did I mentioned that before? Art has always been present in my life, even during some non-painting stages of my life when I was rather focused on my full-time marketing carrier and international business trips. Since childhood drawing and painting was my passion and an enrichment to my life. My love for photography gave my friends a reason to tease me (in a loving way I guess) and call me either a ‘reporter’ or a ‘Japanese tourist’ and my regular visits to museums, art galleries and vernissages made me always feel part of the artistic word. In those places I always find inspiration and motivation. When contemplating art I feel ALIVE. Art galleries are my shelter when feeling blue or lonely. Being surrounded by fine arts has the same effect on me as being at a busy airport. Travels and Art are the two big loves in my life.
Painting helps me to relax, to focus, to slow down… It breaks me free from thinking too much and letting negativity take over. The yogis under my readers will know what a ‘monkey mind’ is. Well I have a ‘gorilla mind’! Putting on some music and taking the paintbrush in my hand helps me ‘fading out’ the outside world and get onto an imaginative highway… On a creative journey… Sometimes it’s nice to express yourself through a painting not through words. And believe me I LOVE to talk! Talking is my nature, which I guess brought me somehow automatically on the sales/ marketing path in my professional life. Painting helps me balance out this bubbly side of myself and lets me just BE (for myself).
I’m writing this article not only to invite you to visit my new page where I uploaded some of my paintings but also to let you think about art for a while… In your own life.
Ask yourself one question today: Am I an artist?
In this fast-paced, high-tech world we often lose touch with our creativity. I’m sure thought there are more artists among you as you even know. Maybe you like art but never thought of yourself as an artist? Maybe you love to take pictures, play with them and display them on Instagram but you don’t think of yourself as a photographer because you don’t earn money with photography? Or you don’t think of yourself as an artist because ‘that’s what everyone does nowadays anyway’? Perhaps you like losing yourself in drawing little scribbles and doodles? Maybe you are into collages and you love to compile photos or cut-outs from magazines into colourful displays? Maybe you started by creating a motivation/ visualisation board or helped your kid with a school art-project and you discovered that this is something you used to like doing when you were young(er) and less busy? Perhaps you like to write little stories or poems and your friends and family compliment you on your talent to play with words? Maybe you like to help friends decorate their houses? Maybe you are into fashion and friends ask for your styling advice? Do you occasionally play an instrument but don’t think of yourself as a musician? There are many forms of art… Passionate baking, cooking or mixing cocktails can be a form of art. Pottering and knitting, creating flower arrangements, origami, sculpturing, theater playing, ballet, belly dancing, street-art, spiritual music or dance performances… You name it! So many things out there so be passionate about! So many creative flows waiting to be woken up or (re)discovered in us… So many possibilities to make this word a bit more beautiful and interesting!
Be enthusiastic and passionate about art in your life!
It doesn’t even matter if you think you are good at it or not, as long as you are passionate about something it’s worth to give it a go. It can be a free-flow process or just copying others. Sometimes our expectations hinder the process but at the end it’s not the outcome which counts but the journey. Who says we have to be perfect? Art lies in the eye of the beholder anyway! Art has many faces and what is important is the self-expression and the enjoyment.
Creating can also be seen as a meditative and relaxing activity. Relaxing through your paintbrush, how does it sound? Even a coloring book can help you zone out just a little while focusing your mind on something creative. It can even make a big a difference during difficult times. We all have been there. You know what I mean… Those moments of the blues where nothing seem to make sense and feeling restless we can’t find our peace of mind whatever we do. We start our everyday-tasks to run away from negative thoughts or anxiety but nothing seems to help and we just ‘turn in rounds’… Do you know those situations where we perform our routine activities absent-minded? Do those thoughts sound familiar to you: ‘Did I brush my teeth already?’ ‘Did I fill the coffee machine with coffee?’ ‘Did I shampoo my hair once or twice?’ Or ‘I don’t remember the way to my office but somehow I arrived here, on an autopilot’… I think we all have been there.
Bad moments in life come and go and we all try to find ways of dealing with it. Art help to loosen up and be a catalyst when life becomes overwhelming.
Sometime ago I felt a bit lost. Questioning the purpose of my life, finding myself on a crossroad again, I discovered… The puzzle! Now you might say puzzle is not art. Maybe not per se but it is a creative process. When nothing else in my life seemed to work the puzzle did! Every piece placed in the right place gave me a positive feeling of achievement and success and seeing something coming into shape made me happy as a child.
Art can occur in different ways and take different shapes.
Sometimes it’s about focus and calming the mind, sometimes it’s about expressing our emotions. Why not making more space for creativity in our lives and be playful? Simply have fun again. Just as when we were kids!
I hope I got you a bit into a creative groove?! Enjoy your artistic journey and explore your creative vein, you might surprise yourself!
Maybe my paintings will inspire you?! Please have a look at my gallery.
Namaste
B
Bi Love, kochana….napisane od serca…como si hablaras conmigo…..Its time to start to be a creative just for me just for fun…caluski