“There is Nothing Beautiful in My Business, he said.”
This is a story about Beauty, Love and Art and how they all interfere to bring us closer to who we are and what makes us happy.
In the last year of my Bachelor degree, I took 2 years for 1 at, so I could graduate a year earlier and focus my attention completely on studying. Unfortunately, I missed some of the lectures with my Aesthetics Professor, because they were running simultaneously with some of my other lectures at Uni.
I remember going to the exam and waiting for the whole room of students to go to the front desk one by one. I would guess probably 80-90 people. We all had to wait for the Professor to check the marks on our essays and then ask us a series of questions to get our exam.
The students passed their exam very slowly one by one. I was nervous and roasted from the heat and the tension. Even though Ive read all of the books for the class and the extra materials, as they were super fascinating for me, I felt that I wouldnt pass it after all of the students who had failed the exam. The tension was high, but I persevered.
After a few long hours, we were left only 3 students in the room. One very tall and bored-looking man, one very pretty young woman who looked like she was falling asleep and of course, me waiting patiently for the judgment day that my professor was performing there.
It was the tall man`s turn. He was speaking completely emotionless about aesthetics and he was very clear that he was there just to pass the exam because he was the owner of a company for more than 10 years. He just needed to finish his education, so he could hire himself for a high-end position in order to save money from staff. The professor asked him a series of questions that ended up with “Is there anything that you love or you find beautiful in your business?”.
The guy looked at the professor and said “There is nothing beautiful about my business and I don`t love anything about it. I am manufacturing female pads and tampons for their monthly period.”
I chuckled and then excused myself quickly. Well, as you may guessed right it was my turn after that. The professor invited me to the front desk and asked me series of questions. Some of them was just boring facts and some was a fun conversational questions. I was just relaxing when he asked me “Why did you chuckled, when I was speaking with your coleague. Was there something fun about that?”
I kept my thoughts for few seconds to synchronize them and then answered “Well, if we accept the facts written in our main subject books as true, that means that my colleague wasnt completely right in his answer. In one of the books we had to study is written that if you work in a place for more than 8 years that means that there is something in that job that you are perceiving as something that you love. It may be your nice colleagues, maybe the job flow, the mission of your job or even just the amount of money that you are bringing home and are supporting your family. So if the author of the book is right, that means that my colleague is wrong. Regardless of what he specifically is perceiving as beautiful and important about his company there is something that he loves about it. It may be just the money supporting his family or his free time. I didnt want to laugh, I just chuckled, because I thought that he either didn`t understand the fullness of the question or the complexity of the answer he can give.”
He didn`t expect that. He smiled, took my student book and gave me the highest grade. Then he passed it to me and said “I am very happy when my students not only learn the theory that I am teaching, but are also able to recall it and implement it in their everyday life. Thank you.” …keep reading :)
“Ok, Rali - you may say - but how is this translated to art?”
I have always loved creating art, and quite frankly most of us do. At some point in our life, we just stop doing what we love and everyone`s story is different to why they may have stop creating art.
Interestingly enough we all go back to pursuing our love for creation in one form or another one day. Usually this is when we settle a little bit in our life, when we feel lonely or we just want to nurture our desire to experiment, have fun and look after our inner child.
This often happens soon after we have children and search for a way to reconnect with ourselves, when our kids leave the nest or we retire. Some of us radically decide to leave everything and follow our long-awaited passions to be an artist and this is completely understandable.
Shall we create something outstanding, become professional artists or perhaps create the next Mona Lisa? That sounds exciting, but is not necessarily what we want or need.
Sometimes we just want to play with some colour, have fun and create something that we can proudly hang on our wall, wear or gift to a loved one. Of course we can wait until we have free time, nothing is going on in our life and any other excuses that are coming to our minds to keep us away from being uncomfortable. And yes, every beginning is a little bit uncomfortable for sure.
We are wired to stay in our comfort zone and avoid any change. Even the wanted changes. It’s a protective mechanism that we have in our subconscious minds. It’s running in the background and it has a very specific role in our life. It`s protecting us from being harmed, from making mistakes and from any unwanted changes.
Creating art is one of those changes that we may feel a bit doubtful about in the beginning. Of course, we can fail. We may even don`t like it anymore. Perhaps is just a good memory that we are leaning towards.
This is all very valid indeed. But then… Will it bring you lovely memories and a sense of accomplishment - I bet it will.
Will you enjoy every bit of it and want to do it over and over again? Oh, yes! You will.
Do you have to wait until you retire so you can start learning painting, drawing or any other skill? I don`t think so.
Shall you try? This is completely up to you, but you can start painting or any other hobby of your choice as soon as today. You can learn any skill with practice.
Do you need to go to a college or university to start painting? You absolutely can, but you don’t need to if you don’t want to.
You can learn to paint on your own and you can also learn to paint from other artists and art teachers. Nowadays we have all the possibilities at the tips of our fingers and learning to paint doesn`t have to be expensive. You can learn to paint immediately from pre-recorded (on-demand) classes that you can follow step-by-step in the comfort of your own home and at your most convenient time and you can also attend live painting parties, where you can paint with other artists online or in person and have fun painting together.
If you want to learn to paint watercolour with me you can join my On-Demand classes here with two different options. You can also attend any of my Live Classes here. All you need is a standard set of watercolour paints and the desire to learn.
If you aren`t sure what art supplies to start with look for my next week's blog post where we will explore different options that we have and what are the benefits and the disadvantages to the kid’s art supplies, the student grade art supplies and the professional grade materials.
With love,
Rali
