Well, I finally found sometime to devote to thinking and reflecting on my latest Art exhibition. A big shout out to Hong Kong Noise for cheering me on with media support and a wonderfully written feature article which articulated far more clearly in words of my grand plan of setting up a community garden here, bring people together and sharing knowledge about healthy eating and the importance of supporting small and local community businesses.
Recently The Print House in Stanley invited me to join in their 'Stanley Night Market' as a live painter... and they really did a fabulous job of bringing a community together in a cool 'out of the box' kind of way... The market was full of young talented people all wanting to try their hand at independent business with the welfare of the surrounding community in mind.
For me, I just wasn't sure how to proceed forward. Having quit my job to pursue my rather opened ended dream of becoming and artist and helping the world somehow... As summer got into full swing, all my students went away and I had no income & loads of paint and canvas'. So I thought this is it, paint my heart out and hope I can get just one person, the right person to see my effort and hopefully this will lead to some sort of work in art.
On the morning of Saturday the 5th of September I sprang out of bed and set up my artwork on the beach... Tucked away in a corner, because it was important to me that who ever made the effort to come down was the kind of person I would probably like :) They had to be adventurous and open to totally new concepts. Once I set up the artwork, I stepped back and thought WOW...
Did I really create this? Someone asked me if I'd do anything different... um, yeah! I'd purchase 2 more easels to display my end pieces! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!
The people who made it down were so over joyed with the relaxed nature of this whole set up and how the changing light of the day really made the colours glow from the work. One of my friends daughters announced five mins after arriving that she wanted to be an artist :) I felt so honoured when she spent her pocket money to buy some cards from me. As the sun set at the end of the Saturday, I sat in total silence on the beach and just reflected over an amazing day at the beach.
And when the silence got too loud, I took of to the local beach bar, Jeff's place and karaoke sang all night long! And having solid conversations about working conditions for minorities in Hong KOng who give huge contributions to Hong Kong. AND buckets of ice cold beers for all... I made $300 and spent it on beers for the team of guys who helped me move to Stanley when I had nothing.
The artist side of me (as I am multi dimensional) has struggled greatly over the last 12 months, as many artist do... am I good enough, am I being ridiculous, should I just go back to teaching... I was sat on the beach, admiring what I had achieved with hard work and focus... but was it enough? There is literally no one on this beach right now. I could be in the middle of no where! What on earth was I thinking. AND why on earth did I just spend my last $300 ??? Maybe I'm not cut out for this.
You never know how and when things in life will suddenly change so it really is important to just get out there and do what it is you feel passionate about. I'm learning fast here... Don't ever be afraid of dreaming too big :)
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