I actually really enjoyed blogging and now I realise how therapeutic it is. Life is just so busy that somehow I have not written a new book, have not composed and recorded a new song lately but……in 2019 I started to draw, then paint and I am finding a lot of pleasure in it. So you will see a lot of artwork and pages of my art journal here accompanied by my thoughts of that day.
Good or bad art, you like it or not, I really don’t care because I do this for myself. It’s not really true…Of course I care if they are good or bad. It is a nicer feeling when you finished a day’s or a couple of minutes or hours worth art making and you are happy with the outcome. However, art, music, dance, any kind of creative work not always perfect. And that is absolutely fine, once you understand this.
And of course I do care if my friends and the viewers like my work or not. It is always nicer if they do like what you create. But I do make art in any way, even if people don’t like my art. Art is so subjective. Many times the work I like very much is not liked by others. And other works that I think is total rubbish doe snot receive the same feedback I thought it would. So that teaches you very quickly not to rely on others’ opinion! Just walk your own path and develop your own style. Your authentic self and style will attract the followers.
Some people can’t cope with making bad art, playing badly, having a bad music practice, a meal not turning out as it should. They have not grown up doing creative art or learning music where you practise every day for the sake of making music and to get better. When you do something every day you learn that it is up and down. Like everything in life. There are good days and bad days. There are good meals and bad meals There are good practices and bad practices. There are good football matches and bad matches. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose.
But the whole point is to do it every day. Not every second day or weekly, every day if you want to improve. If you are serious about it. Because when you do something every day and your mind is there you will improve. You can’t not to improve.
However, a lot of people start learning music or make art for the wrong reason. They think, they will become the next Franz Liszt or Pablo Picasso and will sell all their art works and become rich and world famous. If that is the reason for making music or art they only will find disappointment. However, if they start making music, draw or paint to enjoy the process and learn, they might discover something special about themselves and the object of their passion.
That playing music, drawing and painting is their “ikigai” as the Japanese would call it. That this activity, does not matter how simple and primitive it might be takes them to a special place, a Zen zone, where time matters less, the dust of every day life is lifted, the heart finds peace, the soul connects to something special and the result of this activity becomes truly precious because it is theirs. It is a piece of them.
A true expression of who they are at that time. A never returning and not repeating capture of that time in space. A special moment. A special art. A special YOU.
