Personal

A collection of posts tagged with "personal".

Impatience

House of Stairs by M. C. Escher
“House of Stairs” (1951) by M. C. Escher

I’m going to tell you a story about patience or the lack thereof, otherwise known as “impatience”. You see, occasionally I’ve been accused of being an impatient person. A few times I came dangerously close to believing it myself. Like the New Year’s Eve, when I was 12 years old, and got a fever because I wasn’t allowed to open my gifts until midnight. Yes, I was curious and wanted to open them and no, I didn’t want to wait. As a result of my “desires” in that moment, I didn’t explode and act out, I imploded and got a fever…. but that was that evening and it doesn’t actually tell you so much about me.

(Now let’s fast-forward a little bit…)

 
Yesterday I was at the underground junction and at the entrance there is a sort of clock which showed that my train was coming in two minutes. Surrounded with crowds of people, around me and ahead of me, I started climbing the stairs and naturally began to skip them, as I usually do. There were several flights of stairs and the longer I walked the faster I got. At one point I realized that all the people were behind me. All I could see ahead of me at that point were stairs. However, neither my speed nor the style of my walking were affected by this. I continued to skip the stairs at an almost running speed until I reached the station. As expected, there was plenty of time left until my train would arrive, but that was ok. The amount of time was the same either way, and I was totally fine with waiting at the station, but I do prefer a free view ahead of me. So it’s really just a matter of personal preference and has nothing at all to do with patience.

You see that, right?

More importantly, do you see the main difference between these two instances?
And no, I don’t mean the age.

Thunder

I am back. With a thunder.

If this was a game, I would say “game completed”. There may be some secret levels left to discover, you know… for that additional kick or additional insight…. but I have done what I originally set out to do.

No idea why I’m using a game metaphor.
Maybe I should figure that out too. (Haha)
 
I am bursting with energy and inspiration.
 
This also means that it’s time for the Vajra to take its place. I have designed my own tattoo based on the Buddhist symbol, and this is what it looks like:Vajra tattoo design by Sabina

In case you are wondering…

Vajra is a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. In Chinese it is called jīngāng; In Tibetan dorje; In Japanese kongo
Additionally it is a symbolic ritual object that symbolizes both the proprieties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force). The vajra is used symbolically by the Dharma traditions of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, often to represent firmness of spirit and spiritual power.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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Flood

Vienna is having an early spring day. Yesterday’s rain has melted away all the snow and today we had a sunny 14°C. I worked on my two smaller paintings and made some progress on each, but then I was suddenly tired, which is (usually) not really like me. I gave in and laid down on the couch, promptly followed by my cat Sage who positioned herself next to my belly and then just sat there like a guardian sculpture. She left and my son Christopher walked in, pointed at the book in his hands and asked if I could listen. Jocelyn Pook’s incredible CD was playing on the stereo and I was actually enjoying the ethereal music, but I said “Sure”.
He sat down next to me, opened the book, and started reading a selection of jokes he considered funny.
Why am I telling you this?
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Solitude

I am an ambivert person. That means that parts of me are extrovert, other parts introvert, all in all I’m in the middle, which is nice. It also means, at least in my case, that I can equally well relate to extrovert and introvert people.

“Who loses harmony opposes nature”
Tao Te Ching

The time has come for me to focus inward. Due to circumstances in my personal and professional life I am, for the time being, extremely comfortable with solitude. The lack of input, the lack of output, the lack of exchange. Just me, music and painting. Maybe I’ll do some writing too.
My creativity and productivity are both heightened and I am finding peace once again.

Various people cross my mind during these times of silence and I can see each with more clarity than before. I don’t have the need to do anything about any of them for now. Not yet.
 
Life is pretty beautiful, even at times like this. If I were to try and force my way now I wouldn’t accomplish anything. It is the time to gather energy, to plan, to look forward to certain things… and more than anything else, to create.
I will show you some of my recent works soon. I may even turn on the ability to comment on these posts. We’ll see.

The original Goal

I just remembered one of the original goals I had with my paintings.
 
A little over a year ago someone asked me why I paint. I could do so many things, they said, I could compose music, I could write, why choose painting?
I was listening to music at that moment and was deeply moved (as I am often when I listen to music), so I turned the volume down and said “Because I want to create paintings that will make someone feel the way I feel now, while listening to this music.”
 
It dawned on me today that I already succeeded with this goal. A goal I had forgotten about until just now, but it was still realized. I don’t know about others, but I do know that my painting Turn me to Stone had such an effect on at least a few people, and possibly others I don’t know of. So it can be done. I did it, and I will do so again.
Realizing this gave me a lovely boost…

Exposed

A while ago, in October this year, I’ve been honored with an unexpected gift: a review of my art as well as myself as an artist by a deeply spiritual person and a great artist – Claudio Miklos. This review will definitely be featured in my upcoming book, but I would like to include it here as well.


Claudio MiklosI’m not used to be talkative about someone else’s artworks, or even about my own art creations and experiments – mainly (I suppose) because my silent nature, and also due some sense of self-restraint about any kind of analysis on the ways of art (I’m not a critic; I’m just an observer, at most a mere witness) – but today, when I was just passing by Sabina Nore’s artworks Facebook page I realize that, sometimes, it is worth to express our inner feelings about that bizarre human condition: to be an artist.
 
It’s quite amazing to see how Sabine Nore creative mind has been growing up and bursting out in different aspects. I’m an old man – I mean, I ALWAYS was an old guy, even during my young years – so I often engaged in long contemplations, calm measurements and lonely reflections. That’s why I value highly the maturing processes of other people’s mind and creativity.
 
Therefore, to me it’s important recognize some kind of maturing knowledge, perhaps even wisdom, in the work of an artist. And I’m not talking about maturing skills; I really trying to pointing out something very subtle (even completely imperceptible sometimes) which lurks inside all strong, passionate artist: the true aesthetic bonding between life and art.
 
And I see that in Sabina Nore’s art. At first glance it seems too much self-centered, always calling out her own image, persona, anima. But I don’t think that it should be the case. To think about Nore’s imagery as selfish is to disregard its deep, wonderful implications. I sense a huge quest for self-discoveries in Nore’s artworks, a passionate exploration of the non-being which dwells the boundaries of any personal identity, like a eerie ghost of our true nature.
 
Obviously, I see Nore’s art with Zen Buddhist eyes. And also I see her as an uncanny person, far beyond my reach. I’ve never really meet her; never hear the sound of her voice, the glow of her eyes, the colors of her soul. And such condition gives me an unsuspecting advantage to unravel the mystery of her face. Because, for me, there is no Sabina! I’m only able to catch her image, her name, perhaps to read about her thoughts, but it is just a glimpse of her true reality.
 
And then, there is her imagery, her fantastic world, full of passionate representation. Sabina Nore present us her very identity to be considered and interpreted as we wish, in a surprisingly generous way. And such courage – to lay bare yourself, exposed to view – represents to me how Sabina is humble and detached of herself. There is in fact an empty, selfless quality beyond the painted layers of Sabina’s art.
 
Who is Sabina Nore? As a distant witness of her intense, creative nature, I’m eagerly looking for the answer, as if it was a Zen Buddhist koan investigation. And at the very end of such artistic quest, after going through all her iconic dreams and bizarre landscapes, I’m suspicious that perhaps I’ll only find the echoes of Shakespeare’s alluring conclusion: “the rest is silence”.

~ Claudio Miklos

Honesty

Turn me to StoneMy world is filled with beauty, all very safe inside my head.
Then reality hits.
Then I tell it to go away.
We play that game, reality and me.
 
What would happen if I embraced it?
Would it kill me?
Would I still be able to paint?
What would my paintings look like then?
 
All I ever wanted was honesty.
Ruthless honesty.
But is that a lie?
If I really want honesty, why do I prefer my version of reality?
 
I am drowning.
Honestly.
 

A Sketch Story by David White

A sequence of events has led to the creation of this very short story by David White, a writer and my friend.
A few days ago Vesna Krasnec, a painter and also a friend, took this photograph of me in a local restaurant close to the museum of fantastic art, during the long night of museums in Vienna.
David, upon seeing the photograph, spontaneously wrote this short story, the term “sketch story” may be fitting. I think I like this term in this particular case not only due to the length of the story, but also because of all the artistic implications.
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Let’s get read to Ramble!

Chances are you don’t know me personally. You may know my paintings, you may be familiar with some of my ramblings, but you don’t know all my stories. You haven’t lived side by side with me to witness me in a multitude of situations in life and so know, for a fact, who I truly am.
 

It’s time to get self-absorbed and self-centered. Here is an exercise.

Who am I?

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Inspiration

Today an art site has featured my work with the following words:

“A fantastic and imaginative digital artist her gallery is full of surreal pieces that make us reconsider ideas and ways of portraying them.”

It’s very cool to hear that from another artist, or any person for that matter! I don’t see myself as a digital artist, by the way. After all, my favorite medium used to be oils. I think I’m simply an artist and I like to experiment with all kinds of media and so I didn’t flinch from this particular medium either.

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Sage

Sage is a British Shorthair, and she is a beauty, though it’s not her beauty that makes her special.
She is a dog-cat. She is affectionate without being clingy, she comes when you whistle, she awaits in the entrance room when any of us come back home, she moves around the house with us and is mostly wherever we happen to be, and she is incredibly playful. She likes to play hide-and-seek.

Here are a couple of snapshots of Sage on my desk.

A snapshot of Sage

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Digital Painting

 

Digital Painting, artwork by Sabina Nore

 

So much of our life happens on a digital canvas nowadays that it is only natural that art, such as the art of painting, has extended to include and express itself through the digital medium, bringing us digital fine art (or new media art) – an exciting, non-linear possibility of self-expression.

And so I have switched over.

 

I may still paint an oil painting here and there, but my main focus is most assuredly on digital paintings.

The finished artworks are printed on fine art paper or canvas, depending on the artwork itself. Limited edition prints, naturally.

 

Digital art means infinite creation yet it’s green too! Eco-friendly art has to be the art of the future.

The Transition from Traditional to Digital Painting

I have converted to digital painting very gradually.  Read the rest of this entry »