I remember that day very well. It was in September 2004 when I was travelling to see my family at the weekend (was living and working in the capital city), I was sitting in the train and reading a library book. That book was such an influence to me, that after taking it back to the library I was searching for it in every possible bookshop. I realised it very quickly that the book was not published recently so therefore was impossible to find it in a book store. But I was not lucky to find it in second-hand book store either. I even registered on a website of an online second-hand book store and ordered the book, but never received any email from them that the book actually arrived to the shop and was available for me to buy.
I then moved to the UK but never forgot about this book ever since. The message of it is still ringing in my ears, and I think of it every day, but I feel like I haven't been taking this message seriously. Though I started a small art line awhile back but I'm not satisfied with my effort about the subject so far.
Van Gogh, Starry Night 1889 - from Wikipedia Commons
The book I'm talking about is about Vincent Van Gogh's life, not just an autobiography, but a novel which contains details of his life. It was amazing to read about his sufferings and to actually realise that he became this famous after all that... He worked really hard to get there, but at the end it was worth it.
I don't know what exactly made me say that I wanted to be a painter, because until that day I only worked with pencils (I was drawing portraits ever since I remember) but I remember going to the art shop after finishing this book and stocked up on canvasses and paints. That time I mostly painted pictures of Van Gogh, Monet, and some others, because I still didn't find my own style, but it was perfect for me to learn how to paint. I experimented with it a lot and really enjoyed it. I was painting every day after work and during the weekends. My collagues loved what I was doing, had loads of orders from them. I even had an exhibition! : )
Then life took over... I've been facing more and more difficulties which obviously made it hard or impossible to create. And this makes me feel pain. So now, that I'm away from my home and the problems and in fact I'm with my family (where that train was taking me that day), I decided to get back to my life the way I want it to be. I'm not going let some people put me down anymore, but will focus, focus, focus!
And after this decision, while I was writing my plans how to continue with my business when I'm back home, in fact, how to improve it, so that I can reach my creative dream goals... the next morning I looked at my sister's bookshelf. I didn't want to believe what I saw! The book I've been looking for everywhere for years was right there in front of my eyes! I'm sure this was a sign, something to reassure me that my thinking was right. My dreams are about to come true soon, and from now on I'm going to do everything it takes to achive this.
Big dreams! Here I come... : )
