THIS ENCHANTING WORLD

This world of rain and charm, trees and cakes and long novels. Fear behind the curtains, a theatre of drama. But who is acting? A stroll down a path, arriving at an insight. Right ahead, infinite manifestations of a dream, ever-changing.
The audience/actor tasting this life as they sail along- wondering, begging, marveling. Self expanding, self disappearing. 

 ***

It's 2 am. These words floated in my mind as I was imagining the kind of world I would like to create with my art. Beauty, joy, a wonderment about life, relaxation, and questions about this marvel we find ourselves in. These themes seem to repeatedly surface in my work, to the point where I have to acknowledge that they're part of a larger fabric and not wave them off as mere happenstances. Maybe a small part of the reason for me not taking them seriously was that they are not considered serious subjects? Took a while to shake off that conditioning.

Beauty is often criminally underrated in the must-haves of life. On far too many occasions,  considered a surface veneer. As if beauty doesn't weave its web far deeper into the human heart and make love palaces there.
And rest and relaxation are too quotidian, too ordinary to address. As if it is not the most precious thing- to savour life!

 
That Goa leaves a flavour behind in my art, I am fortunate about. My fascination for this place- both its landscape and its culture made me feel like an imposter at first. I wasn't from here after all, and I felt like I didn't have the right to state my love for it. Stranger still was that my fascination had started before I had stepped foot here. (Not so unusual, as I realise later. There are after all so many Egypt obsessors, Indophiles, Japan afficionados and such)

There is something about its vibe that matches my own inner landscape; The wet and the wild sings to me; I would be miserable in a dry & sombre place. The 'mystique' is lacking, mon ami...

But such is the case with anything one loves, really. Our likes are just outer manifestations of something already inside us. How fortunate then, that our work as artists is to chase these likes, and in the process stumble upon ourselves!

And so it is that artists find themselves in the uniquely exciting position to delve into their hearts, pick out gems, and display them with care- like a bird in a mating ritual. This is serious life stuff.