The Art Of Life

A few days ago I attended a meeting which turned out to be very productive for my business, when we were leaving I noticed a man painting a picture out front of the building. This was unusual to see anyone painting a picture of this old run down structure. At first it seemed he could be painting another building however as I approached the sketch it was apparent what he was painting. I stood there for quite a while and watched as he added a little paint here and a little paint there. I’m always amazed how artists can just look at something and create a masterpiece with the stroke of a brush.

I could have stood there all day and not said a word as he continued to paint, but I need to know why he choose this building! I asked if he minded that I watched him paint, he replied no not at all pull up a seat and get comfortable. I thought it unusual that he was so friendly. The section of town where this building was located is not a very good section of the city, people tend to keep to themselves.

After a while we began a conversation back and forth discussing the weather and baseball and a few other subjects. I did ask him why (I needed to know) he chose this old run down structure to paint. His answer was not what I expected, what do you like about this structure? Yikes I was a loss for words! you know in the art world it’s been said “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” Each of us looks at the world through a different pair of eyes.

Although I don’t disagree, you have to admit this building is a bit run down, there are many buildings in the area you could paint, over there is one with a beautiful entrance, over there is another with an amazing view of the city. True but this one is evolving. Art is like life, over time it evolves we can make changes anytime we wish and create a new path. Remember in high school when your math teacher would tell you to study the formulas to solve a problem? No matter what you did there was always only one answer. Math is good that way 2 plus 2 equals four, no matter how you look at that there is only one right answer.

One answer no matter who is solving a mathematical problem. Etched in stone, formula driven. We always know the outcome.

When we are building life there is no formula, it’s different for each of us. But…Art and life are quite similar. We never know the outcome, even with a master plan life always seems to evolve. In art some painters utilize different colors to obtain a desired result. If your not happy with how it looks just paint a different color over the one you don’t like!

As it’s been said different strokes for different folks. Life for one person may not be as exciting as another, yet both are happy. We all have our own view of what’s beautiful and what isn’t.

When we take out the colors of life we all should create the life as viewed from our own eyes. As no two paintings are the same each of us must utilize our artistic abilities and create a masterpiece.

If your canvas is blank and life is a picture without color, take a minute and reflect on the life you desire. No matter how the painting looks now with a few strokes of brilliant colors your life can be a masterpiece for the world to admire!

~Stay Strong~