Nature and humanity – so much is to be said about the tensions between these two. However, there is one aspect of this that I wish to talk about, something in which I’m sure artists are interested in. It’s the beauty in nature. Destructions aside, somehow, we are drawn to nature, just the sheer experience of it. People add plants to their spaces, take trips, and property prices go up if it comes with a view. Beautiful, said we. But nature just be. It doesn’t try to impress you or me. Simply to behold, we stop in our tracks. This got me thinking, when a tree falls in a forest… and so on and so forth. So, if we are not around to take in nature, would it still be the same? Well maybe even better because there is no one to mess with it, but that’s another story. Sometimes it feels as though we were put here to appreciate nature, and more. Human being, being the creative that he is, makes his own beauty with the use of nature. We enhance, tweak, magnify. 

One of my favorite subjects to paint, even way before this project, is the flower shops of Freedom Park. Rows and rows of fresh-cut flowers,and floral arrangements that could end up anywhere, any place, any occasion, make me wonder. Is somebody’s special day going to be made more memorable by them? Is someone going to feel appreciated? Consoled? How about an offering? Those busy flower arrangers seem to be perfunctorily fulfilling orders, while the flowers, the leaves are just calmly blooming, surviving, and eventually wilting. No matter how nicely done artificial flowers are, there just seems to be no substitute for the fresh ones. The beautiful nature used to create something else. This is the inspiration behind the Freedom Park series. (Colorful Blooms and Greens, Made-to-Order, Fresh-Cut Roses) It’s one of those cases where humans manipulate what’s in nature to produce something that to us is beautiful, something we might call art. That is why the emphasis is placed on the sellers and floral arrangers. What about fish tanks as decorations in people’s spaces? To be honest, I feel sorry when animals are treated this way. (Goldfish for Sale)

In some cases, we humans deliberately leave nature to be, for a couple of different reasons. Only yesterday we went on a visit to Olango Island, my first time. Declared a wetland of international importance, the wildlife sanctuary is a protected zone. It’s a vast stretch of saltwater swamp, thick mangroves tracing the horizon. A major stopover for the migratory birds, the preservation of the area means the preservation of the bird species. After peering through the scopes to observe these birds, I looked around and saw how the colors, the lines, the quiet can be so calming. It was there that the contrast struck me. Here we have efforts to not get in the way of nature so as to let it do what it’s supposed to. No arranging to make it pleasing to the eye. Let the birds grow plump for their long journey ahead. But people still visit to experience its beauty. That was the idea behind the Olango series. (Protected Zone, Shoreline Birds in Olango, Egrets’ Layover)

Allow me to say a little bit of my process behind creating the artworks. Subjects like markets pose a challenge due to the jumble of bits and pieces strewn everywhere. The flower shops, pretty the flowers may be, are a mishmash of colors and so many objects and elements. As my style simplifies and gives focus on the essence, this is both exhilarating and frustrating. Keeping in mind to be intentional with every stroke, I try to either put or do away with detail where it matters. On the other side is a subject that theoretically is monotonous. I may have felt awestruck while being there soaking with my senses the view, the sound, the smell – the whole ton, however, imagining how to transfer that on my paper, I thought ‘This is going to be so flat and boring.’ Then I had an idea. Why not let the memory of the feeling, instead of solely the visuals, be the guide in creating this picture? Thus, in my attempt to do just that, instead of allowing prejudice to dictate the work, I tried to simply be present. I used a few simple strokes, bleeding lines, muted colors and for contrast, a few areas of dark and dry applications of watercolor. In the end, what I want is just to remember the time looking at the scene with the birds in the distance.

While humans have the capacity to appreciate this beauty of nature, sometimes we are not content and there is a creativity that longs to be unleashed. That’s all right, however, for some reason a part of us craves to feel the wisdom at work in our earth. I have heard some people comment that something is “too manicured”, whether that be garden or fingernails. Just like in everything else, balance is key.

 Beyond practical uses, nature provides us with so much more. I think it stirs within a man something that inspires him to create the same – a story, a song, a picture, or food even. Nature is many an artist’s muse.

Coincidentally, a few days after learning about the theme for this project, while the idea was still a disjointed fuzz in my head, I accidentally came across a poem, The Use of Flowers by Mary Howitt. Some lines in the end part go: 

Our outward life requires them not–
Then wherefore had they birth?–
To minister delight to man,
To beautify the earth;
To comfort man – to whisper hope,
Whene’er his faith is dim…