The Making of a Masterpiece!

I'm beginning to believe that great art is less about possessing great inborn talent or artistic skills, and is more about making the best out of the worst available. Whether it’s the materials, their prices or the workplace (studio) - there always seems to be a compromise.

Take my 'studio' for instance- which was initially my bedroom that I share with my sister; because of her constantly re-occurring allergic reactions to my paints, I was forcibly and firmly thrown out :-( After insisting that the drawing room balcony was not going to be my workspace, we finally settled on the dining room (sheesh, I know!) So this is how my portable studio somehow works- for the sake of natural daylight, my easel is positioned near the windows, however, it's not as simple as that because it also competes for space with the fridge door- hence, every time someone needs to use the fridge, there's bound to be some readjustment in the easel's position. During mealtimes, my 'studio' is disassembled and packed up, and promptly reassembled when I'm ready to paint after a well deserved meal. Since the dining room isn't exactly a private enclosure, I quite often have to put up with live audience (which I don't quite appreciate)- particularly in the form of my old cook, who seems to have the brightest suggestions for my work (and people ask me how I have so much patience!).

Workspace apart, art material can be a great nuisance…if you don't have the right paper, it takes nothing short of an intricate surgery with a paintbrush to make sure that the paper doesn’t wear away. And when you're at a position when you're not exactly either good enough or rich enough like me to splurge on the best there is, it's best to shut up and work at it till you're both better and richer.

Of course, there are other innumerable obstacles too, but if I start cribbing about it I will probably forget how much I love what I do! So I do suppose it's all about the struggle- it's all a process of learning, improving and moving towards perfection. It is a struggle, that I'm certain, is not fruitless. Because, if you're able to create something commendable, despite the chaos, commotion and the other shortfalls- indeed you're an artist!