I’m kicking off my summer blog series about “Creativity” with my
very first oil painting. I was just nine when I finished my masterpiece in July
1986. I remember the creative weeks before like it was just yesterday. My
teacher was an older man in his sixties or maybe even seventies. He had turned
his huge living room in his home into an art gallery and was offering private
lessons to young and ambitious art students. I was the youngest one. All the
others were much older and more experienced than I was.
This oil painting's main lesson that you see above was lighting
and shadows. In several spots in the gallery, there were different items
decorated with different sizes of canvas to choose from. Several canvas holders
and chairs were welcoming the students to dive into another world, into another
exciting scenery. That was wonderful.
I remember that the students were all so concentrated that no one
said anything. Everyone was focused on her/his own artwork and in her/his own
creative world in a lovely atmosphere with lots of lighting in the room. Our
teacher played classical music in the background and his entire house was
filled with his own masterpieces. We saw colorful landscapes, different flowers
in vases, and fruit plates that made one really hungry, especially during the hot
summer in Teheran.
The only time when we students talked and commented on each
other’s artwork was during the breaks. The teacher’s wife spoiled us with
Persian tea or ice-cold and fresh fruity drinks with homemade cookies and
sweets usually made with pistachios and saffron.
The day when my mum picked me from art class and saw my work for
the very first time was absolutely amazing. When I brought the big canvas
(bigger than myself!) to the room, where she was waiting for me, she thought
I’m helping another student and caring her work. Imagine her surprise when she
realized that this was my very first oil painting. That was a lovely moment and
I was proud of the masterpiece that I had worked on for weeks.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to continue my art classes for long,
because just a few months later we left my country and came to Europe. As much
as I loved to continue my art journey, we sadly couldn’t afford professional
art classes in Switzerland. They cost a fortune. Nevertheless, I always stayed
creative and did a lot of drawings and paintings at home in self-education. It
became my way of self-therapy to this date.
Who would have thought that one day my very first oil painting along with two other artworks of mine from decades ago, would help raise money for the refugees. Visit www.artforefugees.com and help this wonderful art shop raise money for two established charities in the United Kingdom. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment