Life, Death and the Process in between

© The process in Between by Joyita Neerkaje

Sometimes wisdom comes when you least expect it, and sometimes its from a spirited 12 year old kid. My two Nephews are home for the holiday season and are not bored playing on their XBox all day, we adults decided to do a little intervention. A little break from Call of Duty to indulge in the creative.

Ishan showing of his dirty hands

What resulted was a fun filled afternoon, when all we did was play with colors and eat holiday cookies. We chit chatted, pulled each others leg, shared snacks and painted of course! 
After we were done we spoke about what we painted and Goresh named his paintings Life and Death. Life being full of fun and play and shades of colors and death a more monochromatic experience. Then he looked at my detailed pen and ink and said "And those intricacies is the Process in Between". I must say I was a little surprised and a little impressed by this kids insight.

© Life (left) and Death (Right) a Diptych by Goresh Walia

But if you compartmentalize life into smaller sections, thats what a year is. Every year at the stroke of midnight we celebrate and welcome a new year, what we do is the process in between and finally the anticipation and grand finale of the year end only to start of with yet another celebration.

© Goresh showing of his painting

2011 has been an interesting process for me, I have evolved as a person (a tiny bit)

• I Learnt to handle stress and last minute changes to schedules (Yes! I am an absolute control freak and hate it if things don't go as I want them to).
• Embraced failure/rejection.
• Prioritized whats important for me (If you know me you will know how much I try to please everyone in my life).
• Braved to do something out of my comfort zone.
• I have grown as an artist (attended art classes, went out for sketching trips with fellow artists, tweaked my creative process, learnt more about art marketing) 
• Took one more step forward with my inquiry (Learnt to understand the moon cycle and how it effects everything... more importantly Art)
• Taught myself to be more graceful when someone is giving me feedback (especially Negative).
• Learnt to appreciate others without getting too competitive, there's enough for everyone.
• And most importantly... To be Present! 

I am very pleased with where my art is taking me, excited about my latest series of work (More about that in next post) and the things I have learnt about life in general. 

But like art, life is always going to be a work in progress and my new years resolution is to add a few more strokes to continue the process. 

What's yours?