To Be An Artist

Ana's Thought: "I give to my Art every Last Drop of Energy and Love."

To be an artist, you must make yourself a living, moving camera, determined to record the colour, shape, and size of all you find around you. Your ears are microphones, receptive to every sound; your hands and mouth are amplifiers, eager to share with the world. And how your senses soar! You are so aware of fleeting scents, the dance of wind, rain, sun and clouds, the changing sky and restless sea, the trees... the people and the unique souls they possess, any interaction from life to life in your midst. The tonality of voices, their languages and the music they make, the poetry of lyrics lilting and intertwining with you, pleading sweetly for your response. You are moved beyond yourself and have no choice but to react.

This reply is immediate, initiated within the instant of observation while your feelings are still being absorbed. Your senses build up in anticipation, overwhelming you with their excited chatter until you reach the point where no peace can be found. You have only one option: to create.

Throughout that process, you are living within the act: you become that which you are making. You are, in the same breath, both a mother and a child, producing something new while being born again yourself.

When I paint a flower, I am that flower: I see my vibrant colour, the curves of petals, how I sway with the wind and lean into the warmth of the sun. I savour refreshing rain and the rest that night brings me. The flower flourishes within my heart's garden just as I am alive in that flower. When you raise your brush to the canvas, all the passion and energy stored in your thoughts pours forth into that singular moment.

There is no mistaking when it's all finished--you are empty, exhausted, and completely at peace. Only then, after the work and struggle, can you afford reverie and contemplation. Bask in it, as you have given mankind a gift to stand in the face of time. Your art is a stepping-stone to nourish and encourage other artists and a signpost for history. If you are lucky, you may find yourself among those chosen few whose creations give joy to millions of hearts that, like yours, are stirred by beauty. With them, and with all who create for the world, your life is filled by the mystic music of art, reaching deep into your soul and fulfilling it in ways that no words can satisfy.