A canvas is never empty!

"AMAZZZING!!! *YOU* drew that??? WOW... Priya... Tum kamaal ho... Dhamaal ho!" I said to Priya{name changed} as she showed me some of her paintings that she had done recently. Teasing her I continued, "Especially I love that expression in her eyes... those deep mesmerising eyes of hers... They sure are talking{sense or nonsense!:P}... but oflate I'm a lil out of touch of that language... So would you care to tell me what's on her mind... and yours, ofcourse! :P " I know poets & painters are very possessive & sensitive about their creations but I just love bustin' & criticizing and cracking 'em up!... She sure is a very talented painter {no two ways about that!has been paintin' since school... that's what she told me...}, very sure of where her strokes have to be... their weight and dimensions, colors & hues, shades & brightness... It just occured to me then that this was the one thing I hadn't dabbled myself much into... I was a lil surpised coz I've always been a out-n-out out-of-syllabus guy all my life... {doin' and relishin' everything for which I was not marked...}

But frankly speaking, I've never understood this Ultra Modern Abstract Art... I mean... paintings done by kids these days are so much more meaningful and aesthetic... I think even Chandan{my ex-roommate} who has never picked up a brush in his hand can draw one while he is half-asleep... It all looks so bizarre like someone has just splashed some colors here and some there with a negligent hand recklessly and viola! you have a painting that'll sells in hundreds of thousands of dollars...! Holy Cow! How do people decide the worth{both in an artistic and monetary sense} of it?

Not that I don't love paintings & art... I do appreciate the medieval & renaissance works esp. the ones done by Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci... also have seen some modern art by Picasso... Truly amazing... Real art sure elevates... I believe painters... are the most lively observers of what goes on in the world about them, and the closest observers of what passes in their own minds. Painting then becomes an exploration of the inner world rather that what we all think. Surely, art does not solve problems but sure makes us aware of their existence. It opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine. Art will remain the most astonishing activity of mankind born out of struggle between wisdom and madness, between dream and reality in our mind.

You all must have heard that a picture is worth a thousand words{a chinese proverb I guess}... I feel that a well executed painting is silent poetry... As a masterpiece-of-a-poem has be read, re-read several times to be relished & understood consumately... the same way you gotta go through every stroke of the painting to appreciate it fully... Also every time you see it you would see something new... in a different light... Needless to say, the mood that you're in greatly reflects in what you see... As they say Beauty lies in the eyes of the beer-holder... Oops! I mean beholder! :P But a true work of art, in my eyes, must actually have the power or should we say magic to bring you more towards its *own* mood and tone...!

For me a painting is like a strange crypically told tale which stimulates the imagination and draws the mind into a place filled with expectation, excitement, wonder and pleasure. Well... what more do you need in life?... a bottle of exquisite wine, romantic weather & beauteous surroundings with a cool breeze, a {comely} muse and a canvas with a pallette full of red, blue and green... and all its derivative colors! Not asking a lot, am I? ;-) Now I sure am inspiring myself{and you all?} to try my hand sometime... lol.

Art & Poetry must be conjoined twins... I don't think one can live without the other... You know, I sometimes feel that writers are painters as well... one can actually sense the pleasure writers get by describing the landscapes and scenic beauty in words so picturesquely that you feel that you're actually there... in flesh and blood... Have always thought that readin', writing, paintin', sculptin' and all those art forms are ways of getting out of life... forgetting life... this harsh unforgiving life... this ever wasteful life...!!!

Oops! Lemme return to Priya... Well, we talked like a good hour about art and painters she liked and her boyfriends, of course! :P... It had just stopped raining and was time to leave when I heard her say, "Jatin... Just hand me the empty canvases on that table... I wanna draw that tree... Its so CUTE! " {Guys... I have never understood how anything & everything which girls like can be cute... A monkey is cute, a donkey is cute, that ugly undertaker is cute, shahrukh is cute?!? It sure is a mystery for me...! But its kinda okay and bearable if they call me that... lolz :P}

I was about to handover the bunch of canvases to her when out of the blue, I said... "You know Priya... a canvas is never empty... It has in it endless possibilities... only limited by your imagination... " I said it matter-of-factly, being very casual about it... She looked at me and gave me a wicked smile... God! I'm good at giving fundas! haha ;-)

That's all folks! Do post in your comments... Anyone of you paint??? Do lemme know about your views... Thanks in advance!

Some quotes on Art by Pablo Picasso

• Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
• Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
• Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
• Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.
• Nature does many things the way I do, but she hides them!
• I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else.
• There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
• Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs.
• Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.
• The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.
• If there is something to steal, I steal it!.
• Painting is stronger than me, it makes me do its bidding.
• When we discovered Cubism, we did not have the aim of discovering Cubism. We only wanted to express what was in us.
• People want to find a "meaning" in everything and everyone. That's the disease of our age, an age that is anything but practical but believes itself to be more practical than any other age.
• Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.
• Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
• I don't say everything, but I paint everything.