20 seconds of courage,

“Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of courage, and I promise you something great will come of it.” 

Revisiting a simple quote by Benjamin Mee from "We bought a Zoo", which truly packs a punch in challenging us to embrace spontaneity amidst our caged up stability. School's out for the year and it has been a good semester - discovering the undiscovered, brain wonders and life inspiring little talks. But the greatest takeaway thus far has seen me plucking the courage (all 20 seconds of it) to sign up for oil painting art classes at LASALLE college of the arts, and juggling academia while assimilating into the world of the artsy fartsy aka assignments and art critiques. Mondays and Tuesdays saw me scuttling around my classes in the University town campus with my big black folder and blank wooden canvases, which sparked off tons of conversations with curious onlookers and a spectrum of responses from "What, are you serious, you're doing this during your senior year in university?" to the much appreciated "Wow, proud of you, good luck!" responses. 

It baffles me on how stifling our environment can be when it comes to learning or appreciating any form of art. At least a quarter of the acquaintances I spoke to genuinely thought I was mad for even wanting to try this out during my senior year in college. "Why now? Aren't you worried about your grades?" they ask, but why not. When I was young, art lessons mesmerized me because I could freely express myself using an array of mediums. I loved school art competitions or any form of art classes, and took part in Batik painting and Chinese calligraphy at a young age (flourishing on compliments and constructive criticisms alike, my mum said the tadpoles I drew in calligraphy classes looked ambiguous if you get my drift). Even through Secondary class, I took each piece of artwork with pride and I would enjoy working on it at different parts of the day! It was safe to say that I always had that art streak in me, but don't raise that eyebrow of yours because it doesn't necessarily mean I have the flair for it, that's a different story. And alas, when it came down to making my choices of subjects, I wasn't courageous enough to take on Art and like any other model Asian kid, went down the path of ignorantly taking up triple sciences. In pre-university, I decided that Medicine/Law was definitely not my cup of tea (sorry mum) because I enjoyed something more outgoing and engaging. I was young, free and serious about challenging myself and taking up Theatre arts in IB but once again thrashed the idea because I was reminded harshly that that would severely close my doors for college. Merely missed opportunities? I think not.

Of course, that didn't stop my creative urge run so I turned to DIY projects and baking, which I simply adore doing in my free time. But instead of harping on what I have missed out thus far, why not look forward and putting those regrets behind. You need to start somewhere right? Taking that 20 seconds of courage to fill up the registration form for my first art class was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life thus far, God given. I love the element of fervour in my teacher's voice that resonates with each and every "Get rid of your inhibitions, this isn't a science course, it's an art class - BE FREE", for it makes me feel so alive in the studio. It's a structured course so techniques, conceptualization, process, bits of history here and there are all covered, and we get to experiment with different styles of colour palettes and paintings i.e. realism, surrealism, abstract, etc. I have yet to complete a full artwork as of yet so below are just snippets of pieces during studio practice. I'm also really blessed to have met a whole bunch of amazing people from all walks of life, shenanigans and singing in the studios is therapy I look forward to every week! Even though some of them clearly have the makings of a professional artist, it's really humbling to learn from them and to witness firsthand how Art does not discriminate and it is not always about how precise your calculated techniques are but how fresh your concepts may be or how receptive you are to new ideas. And of course, gobbling down my dinner whilst people watching on the green before Tuesday classes is something I would really miss.

Hopefully I get to marry the entities of Art and Psychology for clinical art therapy in the future ♥ So here's a push to those with aspirations and those who dream of plunging into fine arts but don't have the full courage to. Like what my teacher always say, "Stop questioning on the exact proportions, painting is an art and the magic of the colours can only be experienced firsthand" - isn't that the same with life at hand? Stop questioning, take that 20 seconds of courage and you won't regret when your palette holds a myriad full of colours.

It's my first time dealing with oil paint, I'm currently working on Survival of the fittest: adaptation of nature amidst barren circumstances, as well as experimental art in the artpiece of Hair-voc (end piece will look nothing like the above because I'm still waiting for the first layer to dry, will be drizzled in dark violet and have fine strokes). I love the movement it exudes now though, but couldn't finish it in time for my art critique! And also even though I'm barely half done, it looks ambiguous already - surrealism at its best.

Take courage, ciao!