five minutes here, five minutes there

so today's quote of the day was:

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art." -- Paul Cezanne

And since i'm working in my sketchbook, doing simply drawings and watercolours paintings of sunflowers, dragonflies, and lotus flowers...i ask myself...are these really art?

In college, i grew to understand that part of the art is the emotion or idea the work conveys, and not the skill behind it...when something just matches your couch, it isn't necessarily "Art" so much as "design"...

i struggled with this idea for a long time...in fact, it really caused me to shut down artisticly for a while...i felt like i couldn't please anyone with my work...if i tried to make it too thought provoking people didn't like it...and if i made it simply something nice to look at, others didn't like it...there was no satisfying anyone...

but i also came to understand, that this is just LIFE....

that no matter what you do, there will always be critics...and what is important, in the end, is you own sense of satisfaction...

Did you do your best? Are you happy with your work? Did you accomplish your goal?

In the last year, these questions are the only thing that have helped me keep going. 

So when i paint flowers, dragonflies...yes, they are simple....but they give me joy...they give me five minutes to breathe...and they are part of my meditation...part of my connection with the universe.

When i look at nature, i am awed...flowers, and insects are incredibly amazing...and i think too many people don't take the time to observe the nature and the world around them...

Thinking about how a sunflower starts from a seed and becomes a towering heavy-headed beauty full of geometric design and intricate petals, is just amazing...absolutely amazing...

So, when i work in my sketchbook, i'm not sure what emotion i want to evoke or base my work on...but amazement is what i have in mind....