“Art makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness”. I had read this famous quote many times in my life, but its true meaning and reflection I could only realize last year. Due to a personal commitment, I has visited my home country, India, and before I could return, there was a nation-wide total lockdown announced which lasted for a considerable period. It was a completely new experience and learning phase of life, wherein I got to explore many facets of my own self and got a chance to discover and rediscover hidden arenas within me. Picking up art, experimenting and playing with colors was one of them.
How it started?
I had randomly ordered a set of 5 brushes, 10 basic acrylic colors, a palette and few canvas boards, from an online portal and I was lucky enough to receive them before the closure began. I am glad that my journey with the canvas and brushes continued from that day onwards, and what started as a trial & error with a few canvas boards, got converted into a full-fledged addiction. I started learning from popular YouTube videos and tried to delve into the details and techniques people were adopting in creating different art forms. I then started creating their lookalikes with a bit of experimentation here and there with certain elements, to give it a personal touch.
The Red-Blue Lake
My maiden art-work was the ‘Red-Blue Lake’ on 10X12 inches canvas board that first appeared technical & tough to me, but as the brushes dipped in reds, blues, whites and a bit of black, started gliding over the rough surface of the canvas, various shades of these hues started emerging in front of my eyes and I got immersed in that beautiful moment like never before. I still remember, my 7-year-old accidentally touching the still wet surface, and the smudged spot resulting from his tiny finger, gave it an impression of gray-white moon in the sky over the lake, giving it that final look. Needless to say, it was a completely satisfying experience and I had then named it ‘Spot The Moon’.
Sketching
Soon I ran out of canvas boards that I had purchased online and not to forget the most used, titanium white acrylic bottle. Me the beginner that I was, got apprehensive over this as the markets had not opened up, but the addiction had gotten the better of me. Anticipating the covid situation, I was already carrying a few pencils and stationery for my son keeping in mind that his schooling activities may start anytime soon. I had only a few pencils and I soon started experimenting with the smaller ones (leaving the longer ones for the child) and A4 size sheets available at home that time. With a bit of online guidance, I could soon develop a few sketches and the biggest realization those days was that Black is also a color which can do wonders! So, I stayed with blacks on the whites for the time-being before returning to Muscat after a few months. My baggage included 4 colorfully painted canvas boards and a good number of A4 sheets with all kinds of black line and shades. Art is indeed freedom, being able to bend things most people see as a straight line.
Love for Abstracts
It was one fine evening that I explored the usage of ‘palette-painting-knives’ to develop something that was called ‘abstract art’ forms. I am still a total naïve when it comes to these concepts in terms of definitions of the related art forms in the world of art, but with time I realized my calling and love for abstraction mainly. Soon, I was able to develop a completely original abstract work of mine that I named “The Town of Lines and Shades’’, and afterwards every single piece I worked on, was given a name that came to my mind instantly and described that best. Since then, by the grace of Almighty, I have been able to create more abstract works of my own with time. And after all, it gives a different level of happiness when your loved ones tell you that every new piece created is better than the previous one!
How art helped me?
Art is the realization of oneself. Besides being an excellent stress buster, unleashing the creativity, art also offered me escape from every-day. Blues, greens, pinks, all kinds of landscape paintings, trees, lakes, water-scenes, etc. are an all-time favorite of many of us who want to release that stress out of the life, be it on canvas or simple sketch with pencil on paper. Art is also an excellent healer. The immersion provides the required distraction to give the mind and soul the time to heal. Art for me, has also helped in opening up my heart and feeds my mind with positivity of a very different kind. It also helped exercise critical thinking, a renewed sense of self-awareness, and potentially deeper connection with other things and people with regards to their experiences. With art I could share what I felt, and interpret what I see. Art teaches me that nothing and everything is art and that there are many ways of expressing the same thing without being wrong or right. It teaches me to accept those who are different. Art enables us to lose ourselves and find ourselves at the same time.
Vision Ahead:
Aristotle had rightly said “the aim of art is not represent the outward appearance of things but their inner significance”. Nowadays when I see artworks on the walls of friends’ or acquaintances’ homes, I get naturally intrigued to understand and learn more about that work to gain a better understanding of it as a whole. Any art is not just a colorful assembly hanging on the walls, it is beyond that. I wish to bring together amateur artists and beginners for a dream exhibition in the coming days and show to the world that art is not just and “introverts” thing, but extroverts equally. It is an acquired and learned skill. And don’t worry how you draw it, draw it the way you see it!
Art indeed teaches me how small we really are in the grand scheme of things. An Instagram page @ArtifyUrSoul has been created for displaying all the artworks developed by me in the past year or so. @ArtifyUrSoul is not just an art page, but a part of me that lets me be me. I hope some of these resonate with you. Those who wish to be a part of this cause, may contact through the page. The world always seems just brighter when you create something that wasn’t there before!
