Fountain of Beauty
What does it mean to be an artist? Vincent van Gogh was 27 years old, when he decided to become a painter. Earlier, he tried his hand at dealing with paintings, selling books, and preaching. He devoted himself to art without completing any art school. While he admired the works of the old masters, on his artistic journey, he followed intuition, keen observation, and sensitivity to his surroundings.
Imagine yourself by the nearest fountain. Think of it as a source, where you can stop, rest, and open up to the world. Nearby, at Mt 5:14 | Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszyński, there is Vincent van Gogh's work " Country huts among trees." It is one of his earliest paintings. When van Gogh painted this piece in 1883, he had only a year of painting practice behind him. The work is now part of the Collection of John Paul II, which includes over 400 European paintings from various periods.
Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and for a moment, focus only on what you feel and hear. Give yourself time. Open your eyes. Look around. Let your attention be drawn to places, people, animals, things, or scenes happening before your eyes. Choose a fragment of reality that you would paint if you were an artist.
Will it be: a dog on a walk, playing children, a plant, a landscape?
Briefly describe in your thoughts what you noticed, think about what is unique about it, why it specifically caught your attention. Keep this thought. You can revisit it, write it as a short poem, or turn it into an artwork: oil on canvas, drawing, collage, maybe abstraction? Carry with you van Gogh's idea that "we are surrounded by poetry on all sides."
Art begins with mindfulness of this poetry.