Hello!
Hope you are doing well. There is a post-it on my wall right where I sit and work, it reads out: Courage and Patience. It helps in calibrating my mind by keeping these two words close to me. Something I would like to practice more of.
Apart from drawing, I think I try to exercise courage in my practice by regularly putting out my creative work into the world, but I have been running out of patience with the pace and workings of social media platforms. In the blink of an eye, we see posts appear and disappear, to be lost forever into a bottomless feed. Words and pictures don’t really sit down. Something is constantly replacing the other. The appetite is met with stimulation, and yet there is something else over the edge. And it gets exhausting as one scroll or swipes, with the sensory overload of information and visuals.
I wanted (and needed) to have a place slower and quieter. Hence, here we are. I hope I am able to meet you here on the web, in your inbox - hopefully away from the black rectangle, even just for five-ten minutes per week.
Anyhow, I wrote a very short story day before while traveling in the metro. You can have a read below. I hope you like it. Even if you don’t, let me know! I would like to hear back from you :)
Safal Hogi Teri Aradhana
It took Aradhana seventeen seconds to find a good spot in the cafe. It was the only chair empty and available. She looked around casually and pulled out her sketchbook and let her determined eyes wander in search of a subject. A bearded man near the pillar in front. She begins her drawing. Their eyes meet. He looks at his friend and keeps talking. Their eyes meet again. She looks over his shoulder to find a woman with headphones reading a book. She begins her new drawing. Their eyes meet...
It took Aradhana five half-drawings to realize that all eyes were meeting hers as if they were all observing her back quietly. "Am I being sketched?" She asked herself mindlessly. Some of the people smiled, and some nodded.
It took Aradhana nine seconds to get up and leave the cafe.
I leave you with two links I discovered recently:
Kitchen Lithography — Several artists are making prints at home using kitchen foil, cola, and pasta machines as printing presses. Ingenious!
Time Perception — Quoting a paragraph about Awe from a Wikipedia article on time perception:
Research has suggested the feeling of awe has the ability to expand one's perceptions of time availability. Awe can be characterized as an experience of immense perceptual vastness that coincides with an increase in focus. Consequently, it is conceivable that one's temporal perception would slow down when experiencing awe. The perception of time can differ as people choose between savoring moments and deferring gratification.