Each Monday, I would like to share a reminder about the importance of being mindful. These will come from literature, popular culture, music--anywhere one might get this sort of everyday life nudge.
For today's Mindful Monday reminder, I wanted to share an incredible, but likely underappreciated art form. The artist, Brandon McConnell, began creating spray paint art in 1999, after seeing an artist doing the same on the streets of Tijuana. After teaching himself and perfecting his skills, he started to improve his paintings and began to sell them.
Spacepaintings.com, created in 2003, allowed him to not only display and sell his works, but describe his method, provide instructional DVDs, and a message board for the growing community of spray paint artists.
Watch the following video; try to reserve your judgment until you see it all come together. Just watch and take it in.
Even if you have no interest in his particular medium, his is story is inspirational. He found a passion with which he is able to make a living, bringing joy to other people and doing what he loves. If you see him in action, much like the Corey Harris or Skratch Bastid, you can see how fully invested and fully present he is while he creates his artwork. Though we, as outsiders, may think he simply sprays and hopes for the best, by the reveal of the finished product, it's clear that he makes deliberate choices and combinations throughout the time he works. And, as you will see, the end results come out pretty amazing. Whether you would like spray paint space paintings in your home is not the point.
Today's reminder is just that you can also be that present and that focused and that in love with your life. Even if you aren't an artist or a musician, you can have the same passion and love for the life you've created for yourself. And if you feel you can't do so where you are, you can, like Brandon McConnell quitting his job for painting, have the courage to find your passion and pursue it.Labels: Life, Mind & Body, Sights Sounds & Smells, Videos
