Let courage lead the way Print

Ever since I was young i`ve had a big thrill around doing creative imaginative things, playing in mums lovely gardens, imagining them to be huge landscapes where Snake eyes and Storm shadow battled in the thick undergrowth of flowering petals. Or the sandpit my father built around a frangipani tree being the ocean where ships sailed or Tonka trucks laboured. There were no VR goggles to immerse yourself in, you had to imagine it and love it. Painting is now a medium for escapism & tool for a vision. Allowing myself to daydream, to imagine, to be taken away for a while. Painting in its straight directionless activity is pure joy, you either love the melting of colours into new streams of gorgeousness or you couldn`t care less. Painting directed toward a certain vision, is hard. It is serious play, but that journey releases unplanned moments of joy and spontaneous gratification as you dig into the work. It takes planning, sketching, doodling, crafting your thought, careful drawing up, a vision for all parts of your work, and the knowledge to execute effectively, which you refine on the go. That time & labour, the aches & complexities of painting it, grappling with the challenges a painting in progress throws at you. Yet it`s this challenge and the desire to see my ideas come into fruition, to have fun with that, to experiment, and the desire to share this inspiration with others that compels me to do it, which may bring an intrinsic pleasure or satisfaction to someone else`s day, a joy shared, that is my art, all this contributes to the meaning and purpose in my work. It fuels me to put in the time and energy to complete it. This in the end is purely a love of the labour, the act of doing it, when I approach a blank canvas, the excitement, part anxiety, mostly confidence, my heart starts pumping, and my tension builds, as if before a sporting event, the planning and preparation is done, its game day, relax and all will go well. Time to let go and trust my performance. My mind is full of hope and vision, the possibilities, the simple glee, the adrenalin of laying down the first layers of paint, aah.. at last. Simple satisfactions and the pleasure of action. Deep into it you face your challengers, those teachers that help you improve; fatigue, disappointment, frustration, anger, doubt, confusion, pain, impatience.