Painting large-scale works is a grueling process and it takes physical endurance, creative stamina, and a passionate heart, all of which need discipline and training. Sometimes, I have had to stand and paint for 14 hours a day, sometimes more, to complete the assignment. But it doesn’t seem like hard work because it’s a labor of love. When you are engaged in doing something that absorbs you totally, you lose the sense of self and become one with the activity in progress, the state was named “Flow” by the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in 1975, in his book by the same name. He began researching this phenomenon when he became fascinated by artists who would essentially get lost in their work. Many artists, especially painters, got so immersed in their work that they would disregard their need for food, water, and even sleep.
I became familiar with the Flow research that came into the public view in the late 80s, but this concept has been claimed to have existed for thousands of years under other names. Probably knowledge of this concept has helped because I look forward to reaching this state as often as I can, in order to release from the brushes and paints whatever medium it is that I’m caught up in, enraptured, engaged, or enamored by, at any given point of time.
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