Art that brightens your daily life

Art that brightens your daily life

​As we live, we experience ups and downs like a roller coaster. Just as flowers bloom and fall repeatedly, our lives fill up and then disappear, and when they seem completely empty, they slowly fill up. And when life feels dark and hopeless as if we have hit rock bottom, no matter how much we try to squeeze out, we strangely cannot think of positive and hopeful thoughts. The same goes for when everything is going well and we are happy. When we become arrogant and have difficulties around us, we arrogantly evaluate and ignore them as if they are lazy or have done something wrong. In this way, humans and human life sometimes go round and round in vain, without depth and without recklessness.

What if you are standing in the middle of a dark tunnel in life? Strangely enough, there is no one by your side at such times. Even when you try to approach someone with a loving heart, the other person feels burdened by you. Even well-intentioned words are twisted and conveyed. It may feel like everyone is plotting to criticize you, gossip behind your back, and discourage you. At that time, you feel all the energy drained from your body and you feel helpless, as if you can’t walk a single step anymore. I also had a time when anything I said would get messed up. At that time, even sincere gifts would be ignored. I think anyone who has been through the bottom of life would know what this means. If you continue to feel wronged, not understood, and not loved, how deep would that darkness be? How great would it be if someone lit a light in your dark heart at that time? If you were standing in the middle of a tunnel, unable to go back and looking ahead, the darkness would continue, how grateful would you be if someone told you that if you just went a little further, you would see a bright light? Can we still expect this kind of warmth in this world? In fact, my blog was like a long journey in search of this kind of warmth in a bleak life.

The topic of my blog at first was ‘What is art?’ Why do artists choose a path that is vague, not guaranteed to succeed, and requires them to constantly create themselves? What is art to me? I wrote every day while asking myself these questions. This task was like hitting a racquetball against a wall. Every time I hit, it always came back to me. This ball was not a catch ball that someone would gently catch and pass back to me with a smile. When I threw it hard, it flew hard, and when I threw it softly, it came softly. Time passed as if I was talking to myself against a wall that had no emotions. When the number of visitors to my blog gradually increased, I was the first to receive advertisements and spam. They were very diligent and surprised me by leaving comments on my blog from early in the morning. Deleting these posts became a routine for me. Then one day, I got burnt out and couldn’t find any material. At that time, I couldn’t even move forward with my drawings and was in a slump. It was a moment when everything I did felt meaningless. Everyone else was successful in drawing and writing and posting success stories, but why wasn’t anything easy for me? I wanted to give up everything in despair.

But then I saw a $1 watercolor paint that my child had placed on my desk. Feeling frustrated, I drew a small candle. It was as if my dark heart was waiting for the light to come out. But when I focused and drew and looked at the candles I drew, I felt a bright energy welling up from somewhere in my heart. Suddenly, my heart became bright. At that moment, I realized that I had overcome my slump. And to convey this energy, I wrote and drew again. My daily life went on like that for several years.

​Then one day, I realized that I was receiving meaningful comments and emails. People were expressing their gratitude for my writing. They wanted to share their thoughts and make the world a better place together. At one point, spam stopped bothering me. I realized that blogging was no longer a racket ball game that I played alone against a wall. My voyage gradually became a picnic with a sailboat and a gentle breeze. And then I met Cam Heyes of Rent., a Redfin subsidiary, on the Internet. She sent me a very warm and kind email. The point was that she was looking for a hobby that we could do at home. But I knew that her request was not simple. Her emails and messages were definitely sincere and different from the commercial and advertising messages that bloggers often receive. The site she was handling was a famous blog with millions of visitors, and I was in a situation where I had to ask her to write my article compared to her. But I know how humble and passionate she is. I sent her my idea in two parts. Cam responded with sincerity and devotion. In fact, I gave her a very poor draft. But she transformed it as if by magic and showed it to me. I knew that Cam was not just a writer who put together facts and posted articles, but an artist who strives to make the world beautiful. She is a wonderful navigator that I met on the Internet. Through her, I learned how big blogs and sites create articles and try to do meaningful work. And I was grateful to know that there are many writers in the world who do such meaningful work.

The more I learned about this, the more I was glad to know that blogging is no longer a racquetball game against a wall. I think I can feel less lonely now. I would really appreciate it if someone reads what I write and finds it helpful. Personally, I attended my local outdoor art show a few days ago. Two visitors came to mind that were the most impressive. Both of them paint every day and were curious about the path of an artist. I know that they are already artists. I just hope they realize this soon. And if they read my writing, I hope they will read my message that I hope they will be more courageous and come out into the world. Because most of the qualities that make an artist are ‘courage.’ Nothing else matters. After all, artists have to train every day and jump on their own, so if you compare their skills, they are all in the same situation. Isn’t it just a matter of who had more courage and made the declaration first? And if Cam, like her, is sincere to her work and does her best, the world will become brighter as if she were moved by her work and lights another candle. I hope that relay candles will be lit among artists like this. I had a really happy time for a few days after meeting Cam. It was like a long-awaited reward, like meeting a comrade on the battlefield. And as an artist, I hope that there will be more people in the world who love art, so that our hearts can be connected with warmth. This is really wonderful!

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