The Artists' manifesto by Buddha

I came across this quote by Buddha today, thanks to Maria Brophy:

“Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery.
Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds!
Shine.”
Buddha

For me, that about sums up the way to happy, satisfying and successful life in any career, but especially in art.

Meditate
Painting and drawing are active meditations in themselves. I can go to my studio tired, cranky and headachey, and hours will pass by unnoticed, pain and tiredness disappear, and I am absorbed completely in what I am doing.

Mastery
The pursuit of mastery is what drives me with my work - I imagine I'll be still working towards it until the day I die, or at least I hope to be.

Achieving mastery will require many long, quiet, hours of solitude in the studio or in observation of what I paint - and a large proportion of all the years it took me to surrender to the desire to follow my heart into the life of a full time artist were spent also in quiet solitude on the back of a horse in the Australian bush, watching the cattle, the sky, the landscape and seeing paintings in my mind.

Shine
And, the bills must be paid, so it is also necessary to come out form behind the clouds of self doubt and shine. This is the uncomfortable part for me and just about every artist I know, but is also incredibly humbling to have someone moved to tears by my work, and partly what make all the hours of solitary struggle worthwhile.

I'll write more on how painting can be an excellent way to meditate and simplify your life in future posts. Now, it's time for some "meditation" in the studio!