Recently, a painter friend of mine was having difficulties with a particular auction company, life, love or lust, freezing his ass off, and ungrateful, jealous, sniping, and un-insightful people. He deserves a break or two, or three....more so than a stick in the eye.
My friend, and mind you, I have never actually met him, but I am beginning to feel a friendship developing between myself and my new long-distance friend. We have so many things in common, at least empathy, awareness, creativity (he has tons more on the genius level), and I like his art! I am the proud possessor, and indeed I do feel possessive about his paintings, of five pieces of his mind. Each one of these paintings, are different from the other. Each one is a seperate and distinct facet of his mobile and fascinating mind.
Lately, my friend the painter, has had some tough breaks. But, he has proven he has stamina and that adversity is his friend. It isn't easy being an artist or creative or right-brain oriented, someone who walks to the beat of a different tune, who walks the left hand path, who goes up when everyone else goes down, who paints unreal and radically different paintings, whose mind, we can not even begin to describe. I say this because, every time I try to look into his mind through his work, I can never describe what it is, his work makes me feel or think about what he is feeling when he is painting these works of art. There are not enough adjectives to describe what motivated him to paint this or that particular painting. In adversity, my friend has created some of the most distinctive and incredible pieces of art I have seen in a long time. These are not your ordinary, run of the mill, landscapes or still-lifes.
My only hope, for my friend, is that he continues to paint, with all the creativity he has in his psyche. His talented hands are a willing partner with his mind, where mine, often are not. You can not buy this gift, you can not borrow it. But, if you are lucky enough to be born with that crucial gene, and raised in a creatively fertile environment, one where you where allowed to venture into your mind, be internal and do your thing (whatever that may be), then you have an obligation (to yourself) to express everything of which you are capable. When that gift, as currently expressed, is just a modicum of the whole, that gift is a blessing and it will grow throughout his lifetime. I do envy him, not grievously, but in deep appreciation, fascination, and awe.
I can hardly wait to get his story!