Art

– Drawing Gallery
– Painting Gallery

Sahasra - 03/21/2009

I like drawing and painting but I am not very good at them. I thank my Dad for the genes but I blame my sister for my failure of arts. My dad is very smart and artistic.  But he gave all the artistic genes to my elder sister. She was the little celebrity since we were kids. I never got any encouragement from my drawings or paintings because everyone was astonished and overwhelmed by my sister’s talent and ability.  I was not bad but I was just a regular kid compare to her. It got even worse after I went to school.  I was known as her younger sister. All the staff in school assumed I was talented too. The only person who was happy with me being “a regular kid” was our art teacher.  He finally was able to exhibit his work again in the class. I resumed all responsibilities my sister had when she was in the school, such as the head of our school newspaper.  It would be a very exciting experience if I did not get that disbelief and disappointed looks from the staff the first year. It took them some time to accept I do not have what my sister’s got.

My sister has won countless awards over the years.  I totally understand that “Life is not fair” feelings from her peers.  No matter how hard you try, you can never win because of her existence.  There is something we are missing – talent.

I consider myself a very smart person. But growing up with my sister made me realize talent is something you either have or you do not have at all. You can become smarter and smarter, or more and more skilled. But you can not become more and more talented. And art is something that requires talent. There was a good chance I could be a good artist, but I would never be great.  That is the subtlety of arts which can only be grasped by talented people.  They see what you cannot see.   And they can show you what they see.  They let you get into their world.  Then you are touched.  I can draw an apple with my best effort to make it look real. But my sister can make you feel happy from an apple.   (She does not draw cartoons.  It is not like she draws a smiley face on the apple).  I remember one of her paintings was our desk and a couple objects on it.  When I saw it, that “I am bored” feeling just hit me immediately.  I could smell the hot air around it, I could feel the time of the day was around noon, I even knew it was quiet.   I felt either that drawing was controlling my mind or I was reading my sister’s mind. My sister makes you see what she wants you to see.  She extracts the elements best describing her feelings.  Everything she drew has a life, a story.  She expresses herself through her arts.  They are so powerful and expressive that they overwhelm you.  I think that is the difference between good and great.  If all we needed was lifeless recreation of reality, artists should have been replaced by cameras.

If I did not know my sister, I would be so proud of what I did and dreaming about being the greatest artist one day. Some may say it is sad, I could become a great artist if I had pursued it.  Some may say there is nothing wrong with having a dream.   The truth is, I want my dreams come true.  If it is just a dream, I want to wake up early so I will have time to do something for my other dreams come true.

I have the best sister I can ever ask for.  She is caring and modest.  She loves me so much that she would get a ladder climbing to the moon if I wanted a star in the sky.  What she brings to the world and others are priceless.  I am grateful for all the great arts in human history.  May we have more great artists like my sister.