You may have seen the post about the artistic exchange I did with singer/songwriter John Forte. The premise behind our artistic collaboration was he'd create a song inspired by a painting I had done. As he worked on the song, he sent me rough drafts and concepts he was conjuring and creating. The first draft he sent me was very surreal, almost trance-like, and I listened to it on repeat as I began working on the painting above.
Here's a before pic.
A little more back story...
When John and I met, the synergy was pretty amazing. We began walking through
the streets of New York, as complete strangers, and when we returned from our walk, it felt like I had reunited with an old friend. I know it sounds hokey, but it was a lovely thing!
At one point during our walk, we were getting philosophic and discussed how, what you decide to focus on in life is so important. You can focus on the negative or the positive. I tend to be one who does the latter, I guess I feel like it's easy to focus on the negative. I think it takes more energy, creativity, and effort to seek out beauty, kindness and joy in all the chaos and craziness of this world. If being happy were easy, then everyone would be happy. I think it only takes shifting your focus.
This doesn't mean that I deny the fact that there is some serious eff'ed up things going on in the world. Believe me, I am very aware. I just don't care to add to the negativity that's already out there. My mission in this lifetime is to inspire and create as much love, kindness and joy as humanly possible. It's a lofty goal, but one I try to abide by daily. Some days are tougher than others, but all in all, I know it's the best way for me to live. Anyway, the reason for spouting off all of the above, is to let you know that the main thoughts going through my head when working on this piece was joy of meeting John, listening to his rough drafts, and meditating on the concept of "Focus".
Update: Here's a link to an acoustic version of the song.