The Artist

An artist wakes up with a image on his mind and he feels ecstatic to put his fine Pitt pen to the canvas to begin the outline. He goes to his day job and attends to his daily schedule which is filled with meaningful activities, chores, classes, and meetings. The artist's finest strength is his ability to truly multi-task. Particularly being able to excel at his job, significant areas of his life and continue to work on this canvas in his mind.

Days pass and he still hasn't had the chance to see the black tip touch the canvas. He continues with the daily strife. Those days soon become weeks. And those weeks soon become months.

Every single day, he has been thinking about drawing on the canvas. From drawing the outline to preparing the colours. Even though months have passed since the initial inception he fills with joy as soon as he starts thinking of drawing. Throughout that period, the image keep evolving, fay beyond the first thought.

After months and months of thinking about his canvas he decides to get started. He unpacks his supplies that have been gathering dust over the months. He's confident of his abilities, very confident. Every time he thinks of his image he cannot hold back his smile. He looks at the canvas that he's set up and decides to prove his abilities on test piece. After months of inactivity, he begins a test canvas on a piece other than the one he's been thinking about for so long. A couple of hours pass by, he drinks from his glass and reaffirms his confidence.

After a short break. He gets his second canvas, stares at it for some minutes and nothing happens. There is absolutely no way this canvas can accommodate what's been going on in his mind. He sits down to think things through. He starts to get overwhelmed by the challenge that lies ahead. It's too much to take on.

He leaves everything he's doing as he has family obligations to attend to, promising himself that he's going to think things through in how take this piece through from the start through to the image he has in his head and get started tomorrow. He gets caught up in the strife again but not a day passes where he doesn't think about his piece. From the foundations and details of the piece to the size. For one: the canvas size was no where near as big enough, it must be larger - far larger. Where would he find such a large canvas he thinks. The bedroom wall it shall be.

He begins the piece. Weeks pass by, the canvas starts to take form. The piece is shaped by his daily activities as it result it becomes different from the one he intended. Every day is a work in progress. In anticipation to pick up his brush his mind wonders off to magical places. His uncontrollable imagination peaks to places other people would describe as a little crazy. As things progress, there comes a time when everything goes horribly wrong. He feels he's ruined it. Ruined beyond repair. Months pass by and every day he looks at his wall, his gut churns out of disgust. Even though he doubts himself, he continues. Just as things start to take look better many more things go wrong. He continues through this cycle. Time and time again.

After some years. It's complete.

He steps back and tears fall out of his eye. The canvas in front of him was not how he had intended his piece. Each day that passed by changed how he incorporated each detail. The end result was something he alone could not produce, his design was not intended to be as such. It was simply beyond his initial scope, scale and remit of thinking. It was overwhelming. It was mind-boggling. It was just... truly magnificent.

Belief paired up with hard work eventually paid off.

It's staggering how alike this artist is to me.