Catmasutra commission piece - Happiness!

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination. ~ Robert Fulghum

Of all the choices we can make... we can actually choose to be happy.
All it takes is a little courage.

So this is me, with the obligatory cigarette after the completion of the commissioned piece. Couldn't resist with the Double Happiness pack (one of two items the client wanted;) lying so invitingly on the table. This is a big piece measuring 122 by 81 cm. This is the biggest cat I've painted, and the size of the painting actually pulls you into its own space. Haha Really feel like lying on the cushion and cuddle the cat for a bit. This is actually an extension of "Dancers" done in 2005, which mimics Botero's except that this is the Asian version of 'smaller' people. This painting was for a client who bought "dancers".

The power of a painting is its engagement, not only with the eye, but with the body of both the artist and the viewer. It's a direct tactile experience as the idea is transferred onto the canvas, which in turn interacts with the artist to proceed one way or the other. When one looks at a painting, we're actually seeing the painting as the finished object and at the same time, the activity that is taking place between the artist and the canvas. The painting becomes a way of creating yourself afresh outside of yourself.

"The mind creates the abyss,
and the heart crosses it."
~Sri Nisargadatta

Our mind has a strong tendency to think, divide, plan, imagine - that is its very nature. It engulfs us in a constant stream of memories, plans, expectations, judgments, regrets, creating endless battles and struggles just to protect the semblance of what and who we think we are. Maybe the trick is to let the mind be for a while and listen to the heart instead. Beneath the busyness of thought, of every fantasy and fear, there is an inherent peacefulness. We will discover that we can let go of many of the things that we don't really need. Victory is rarely found at the summit of courage but freedom. "The freedom that comes with the knowledge that no earthly thing can break you.”

Stay happy.
;)