Quote of the day:

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt

The sport of life

I'm not that much into sports as a rule, but I do really enjoy watching the highlights (the only part of cricket I can handle), and the triumph of the underdog, and a mighty feat of strength, endurance or athleticism moves me frequently to tears. As I wrestled today with a mountain of urgent things to do and an even bigger pile of 'stuff that I'd like to do but will have to wait for now', and contemplating my choice to pursue a creative and unrestrained by 9 to 5 life, I felt like the Sri Lankans facing the Aussies in the dark must have felt - having trouble being focussed, and just a little bit overwhelmed/scared.

I like watching sport when it's a struggle - when both teams are evenly matched or it's a close race, requiring superhuman effort to triumph against all odds. When there is no competition, or when the goals comes easily, it's no fun to watch. We need the struggle, the adversity, the challenge, to feel alive. At least that's the only reason I can come up with why anyone would sign up for being a rugby hooker, for example. The struggles are what makes a life worth living, and taking the easy road makes for a boring match and a slow attrition of the heart and soul. When you're on the bottom of the scrum, and losing with 1/2 a minute to go (or you feel like your life is over), is precisely when we have the opportunity to fill our hearts and lungs, cry the battle cry that rouses our team, and pull ourselves up and over the line. These are the moments that are talked about for years, and which continue to lift us long after the moment of struggle has passed. Facing the fast bowler of life and giving it our best shot despite the gathering darkness, whether we win or lose the match, is what makes the game of life worth living.

So I'll continue with my creative life despite the fear, and try to keep my eye on the ball - or at least a paintbrush in my hand.

The Essence

I was going to call this blog The Essence (let me know if you think I should re-name it!!), because a) the essence, as defined by dictionary and thesaurus (see below) is what I want to capture in my art - I don't want a perfect representation so much as a gesture or a moment that reflects the nature, the life, the essence, of the subject; and b) the blog is also part of my journey to finding the essence of me, and to learning to let my essence show...

Thesauraus

Entry Word: essence
Function: noun
Text: the quality or qualities that make a thing what it is
Synonyms essentiality, nature, quintessence, soul, stuff, substance
Related Words heart, spirit; center, core, keynote, marrow, pith, seat; embodiment, epitome, incarnation, manifestation, personification; aspect, attribute, feature, property; gist, kernel, nub

Dictionary

Main Entry: es·sence
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English essencia, from Latin essentia, from esse to be
1 a : the permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being b : the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing especially as opposed to its existence (the painting captured the essence of the land) c : the properties or attributes by means of which something can be placed in its proper class or identified as being what it is
2 : something that exists
3 a (1) : a volatile substance or constituent (as of perfume) (2) : a constituent or derivative possessing the special qualities (as of a plant or drug) in concentrated form; also : a preparation of such an essence or a synthetic substitute b : odour, perfume
4 : one that possesses or exhibits a quality in abundance as if in concentrated form (she was the essence of punctuality)
5 : the most significant element, quality, or aspect of a thing or person (the essence of the issue)
- in essence : in or by its very nature : essentially, basically (was in essence an honest person>
- of the essence : of the utmost importance (time is of the essence)

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius

The world is full of beauty - stop right now and look around - wherever you are, whatever circumstance you find yourself in, there is beauty around and within you. Is it the sunlight shining delicately through a bright green leaf, is it the sound of laughter in the distance, is it the sky above or the love that lives in your heart? The world of living things has always soothed my soul, and is what moves me to want to be an artist - to be able to capture a moment of beauty, to share my joy at having seen and felt it - and I hope that in sharing what I saw as beautiful, that you will feel it too.

You may notice a strong bias towards beauty as personified by horses in my blog. This is because they have been intertwined in my life for as long as I can remember, and because I owe them so much - they have given me more than I can say (although I will attempt to tell what they have shown me along the way...) - and of course because they are so magnificent! Where would mankind be without the noble horse? Along with horses, you will also find cattle and glimpses of life on the land, from which I have also learned so much, and which has fed my body and soul for so long.

What I want to capture in my art is the essence of things - whatever it is that creates a recognition, a feeling, a knowing... Please let me know what you think, and I hope that my art and my journey bring a little bit of pleasure in some way to your day...