During this pandemic, I have been painting on paper and canvas. A lot of exciting things happened when I was watching the paint on my canvas dry. Acrylic paint drys really fast. They are actually not really my favorite because of the plastic texture and feeling to it. Oil paint, on the other hand, takes time to dry, is rich, has depth, and yields completely better final results. It’s like everything else in life. The way I compare oil paint versus acrylic paint would be so like: oil paint is like a real Louis Vuitton handbag, all hand made with a lot of attention to details, but acrylic paint is like a knock-off designer handbag — you can easily tell the difference.
While I was painting, I had time to be in my head and get engaged in my usual favorite mental activity: indulging in intellectual and philosophical thoughts on my favorite subject — this multi-dimensional, magical, amazing container box called life. Singlehandedly, I was searching for all the answers to all the deep questions to which man, in hundreds of years, has not yet been able to find an answer. What is the real meaning of life? Does God exist? And where do we all go when we die?
I have always been good in reinventing myself, now more than ever, during these low times of the pandemic. I felt I had to reinvent myself, pressing the “reset” button on my life. Thank God, being an immigrant, one thing it teaches you is that in order to survive and even thrive, you have to be able to readjust and reinvent yourself. Be like air, like water, light and shapeless, so you can fit into this new form presented to you without any force.
If we look around, everything in nature goes through change. Nature cannot possibly stop the autumn leaves from turning yellow. We have got to go with life’s current, flow with it, learn what direction it is taking, then surround ourselves with it, so we may be in harmony with everything. We should be grateful, realizing that we have been invited only as a guest to this feast of life and every detail of this masterpiece is breathtaking and spectacular. All we have to do is appreciate all the details presented to us while giving up the control and realizing that all the events, bad and good, would happen on their own accord. We have no choice but to learn to dare and to be willing to endure everything coming our way. Let the pain and the grief take its natural course before transferring itself into something new, so that we can move to a new phase with ease. Let go of the old, faded, misused, and overused issues in life. Let go of the layers of icing on the top of this cake, realizing there are no more cookies in the cookie jar — at least, for now. Try to make life perfect being imperfect, not striving for perfection but just striving to be happy with simple aspects of life. I try to live knowing that even when I am feeling blue, the blue times in my life are just telling me that it is time for change and for something new.
Oh, speaking of something new, I should now continue doing my painting! Staring at the bright white canvas sitting on my easel in front of me, I take my brush, dip it into my yellows and oranges — all freshly squeezed out of the tubes — draw a large yellow sun, trying to paint happy, like no one is looking.
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Tags: Life, Mahvash Mossaed
Posted in LIfestyle, Miscellaneous & Opinion |
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