Art.istic

Today I have painted after a long time and whenever I paint, it gives me immense peace. So I thought art cleanses my mind, why not dedicate a piece of writing to the art. Thus I will be writing my whole article on the lessons, values and skills I have learnt from art. 

Speaking of peace that you get after doing any form of art, is certainly because your mind gets focused and when you’re mindful, there is no place for any useless thoughts to come across your mind. So art is meditation. 

Art drifts you into another world which is vivid, full of creativity and different shapes, I think. Art gives us a new set of eyes. How? Let me take you to my first day in painting class. 

Very first day, my painting teacher taught us to draw a human eye. Ma’am taught us how the light plays a major role in creating shades. How the object closer to the light has the lightest shade and as it goes far from light it gets darker. It was a very new concept for me and interesting too. After that ma’am gave us homework that after that class we had to look into everyone’s eyes whoever came across us and to observe how light creates various shapes mostly visible in the iris and pupil, called highlights in the language of art. It was the first day in my life, when I looked into human eyes so scrupulously. Moreover, after that day, it seems as if I have got a new set of eyes which my ma’am gifted me, and thereafter I can’t see any object without analyzing it inside and out through its colors, shades, light, and forms. 

Another thing that comes from Art is Humility. Art makes one humble. To explain this I don’t have to brainstorm, because Mr. Akbar explains it so well at his time. Akbar was fond of art. He had painters from all religions in his court like Govardhan, Daswanth, Mansoor, etc. A lot of people from Muslim community accused Akbar of breaking the law of Islam which says that no one can create like God, thus painting is nothing but disrespecting the almighty,  the only creator of this universe. 

To this Akbar gave a beautiful answer and said that Painting in no way disrespect Allah, rather it makes the artist realize that no matter how realistically he can paint mountains, rivers, birds, animals, humans, etc . But in no way he can ever create parallel to what God has created and he can never infuse life into his art. Thus painting makes you praise the greatness of the greatest artist, it brings humility in the heart of the artist.

And adding to what Akbar said, in my opinion, art gives you a vision to look at the whole world as a painting. A huge painting in which beautiful landscapes, different creatures from reptiles to humans are perfectly designed in beautiful shapes, colors, forms and designs. No fingerprint matches the other, no face is alike the other even those of the twins, how light passes through the trees giving them different shades from darkest to lightest. How the amount of land we see above the earth is also present below the vast oceans. There is no end to his painting on this vast canvas of the world. And what are we? Just dots painted by his own hands. 

At last the one question that is arising in my mind is if almighty,  our father is an artist, Then why we all aren’t artists? Why can’t we all create something by our hands? 

To this question my heart is constructing a beautiful answer and that is:

Every particle on this earth is a creator, 

Every dot meets another and makes each other greater.

Every heart knows a  magic making life look less tragic,

Every smile stretches at some time, growing more love full branches.

Everyone knows how to paint through thick and thin pages of life,

Everyone knows how to sketch beautiful landscapes through every strife.

But the creation of the known yet unknown can’t be known by our ignorant minds…his strokes in the sky, the million galaxies and the moon, the golden hours, the embroidered stars, the chirping birds, the melodious sound from empty flute, the egg in the mother’s womb, melting glaciers, changing seasons, the molten rocks, the dried deserts and vast oceans can’t be known,can’t be known, no matter how much harder we try…

Just look and be grateful to this exhibition of the greatest lord, and let’s become a curator to him, till we die!