Sense of Purpose

Effort without Purpose is meaningless.  Purpose gives direction to our aspirations, drives us to do what we do with Passion and influence progress.

The P of Painting

I did not know the P of Painting until a chance introduction to this art a few years back. Something about Painting Piqued my curiosity and I was constantly searching for that mystery P through the Plenty of childish, amateurish and lesser than few ‘not too shabby’ paintings. 

Is it Passion, Practice or Patience that drove me to Pursue this hobby?

A simple Google search will show that these are the apparent Picks. But are these the ones that made me go back to my Paints and Brushes weekend after weekend for the past four or five years?

Passion is a strong emotional high but it Plateaued every time I did a lousy painting. In other words, every other attempt for me. Practice is never a guarantee unless it is Perfect. And I also realized that Patience was not my virtue.

Perseverance

Could it be Perseverance then? – Keeping at it when all else fails, hoping that success will eventually knock on your doors. If not for anything, atleast for your efforts. Romantic and delusional as the hope may be, It does work for some. Ask any successful person, and they will vouch for it. So I Persevered even if my canvas was not getting any Prettier.

Did I Succeed with my Perseverance? I don’t know because I didn’t know my definition of success. My quest for that elusive P got more desperate as I believed the answers might be in it.

In the meanwhile, I recently Purchased a video tutorial by one of my favourite artists, Michael James Smith and tried this landscape painting. I felt happy not because of the outcome but because I tried it. I tried this Painting because I wanted to use specific techniques that would help me paint this landscape as realistic as possible.

Did I achieve that effect? Probably, not. But did I do better than I have ever done? Certainly, yes.

Not only that, this Painting revealed that elusive P that was hiding in Plain Sight all along.

Purpose

Pursuit of Progress has always been my drive for this hobby. Every weekend, I pick my brushes and canvas not to express my creative self. I know that I am not the creative type. But, I Practice hard to reproduce the image in front of me on my canvas as close as I possibly can. Despite falling short of my Pursuit by a million miles, I Persevere because of one thing that binds all the essential P’s together – Purpose. It is not about what I Paint or how I do it. It is not just about grit or glory. It is not about quantifiable success either. 

It is about why I do it.

It is all about the hope that I will be able to look back, years down the line with  a smile and say – Well, I tried, and I made Progress. Even if the Progress was just marginal.

And that will make all the difference.