Mindfulness

Liberated Fat Rabbit, gouache on paper, 2015

My painting of a fat rabbit with three eyes was incredibly satisfying to create. I allowed myself to experiment with a variety of markings and careful brushstrokes, and filled the whole image to the brim with patterns. The aim was to make a psychedelic image containing all sorts of lines and colours to dazzle the viewer. I wanted the background to be swirly, but meshed all together and layered on top of one another like a veined net. On top of that I painted yet more lines, this time made up of dots. And the patterns on the rabbit were to look tribal, kind of like bodily tattoos.

I actually created this painting when I was in school, and I had to assign a meaning to it for those marking my art folder. But I felt the meaning was quite forced and I secretly disregarded any sort of message to it. For me, it had simply been a fun exercise in painting, an experiment to see what I could do with a paint brush and many different colours.

Lately, I've actually been learning and reading a lot about mindfulness. Meditation has been practised in Buddhism and other Eastern religions for millennia, and is vital for realising enlightenment, as the practice enables one to become a wise and compassionate being, fully calm and aware. More recently, it seems that Western psychologists have caught on to the importance of mindfulness, which is especially wonderful because our society seems to be gripped by a mental illness epidemic. For example, we see treatments such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), which teaches us to observe the cyclical trappings of our negative thoughts.

So looking back at my rabbit now, I've begun to see it in a new light. When I apply my (small) knowledge of meditation to it, rather than forcing myself to assign a meaning to the image, I realise that it is much more beneficial to be content with painting that three-eyed rabbit as if it is a mindfulness exercise. In fact, any kind of art—drawing, sculpting, dancing, etc.—is beautifully therapeutic. The simple act of creating is incredibly calming. It allows you to become more aware because you have to concentrate. Your mind sharpens, your eyes focus. Your posture must be balanced so that the hand holding the paint brush is steady.

Essentially what I am talking about is art for art's sake, and that creativity has a meditative purpose. And even though I have talked about not assigning a meaning to this painting, I realise that in some sense, I actually have. Any artistic act has meaning, and it is useful to use art as mindful therapy because, much like dreams, it enables thoughts, feelings and emotions to rise to the surface. It enables you to let out a piece of who you are and observe it, just as you would when meditating.