Paint your Demons away

Being an artist today is a strange thing.

We live in a time where everything moves fast. Too fast.

Where we’re constantly pushed to produce more than we’re actually capable of.

While artificial intelligence threatens to create in our place.

A thousand times faster, a thousand times more efficiently.

While social media tries to convince us that everyone else’s life is infinitely better,

more productive than ours. That if you don’t post, you don’t really exist.

I’m incredibly grateful I discovered painting.

Yeah, tattooing kind of saved my life or at least gave it a sense of meaning.

But you can’t tattoo 16 hours a day, and at the end of the day, it’s still a job.

Painting can happen anywhere, anytime.

It can stay a hobby, who cares.

That medium is slowness. It’s raw.

It’s choosing to slow down in a world that’s moving way too fast.

It’s a fuck you to artificial intelligence making more and more “art”.

There’s nothing digital about it.

There are flaws, and that’s exactly what makes it perfect.

It’s human. It’s real.

A piece that takes dozens, sometimes hundreds of hours to create

not counting the years it takes to reach a certain level

has a value no digital artwork will ever be able to match.

When I paint, I feel an immense calm. Almost impossible to describe.

With music, an audiobook… or even complete silence.

A silence, by the way, I can only handle in that moment,

because otherwise the noise never really stops.

I can work on a canvas for hours, fully locked in.

Everything around me becomes blurry. Abstract.

Time disappears.

So does the stress.

And honestly, despite the demons, the noise, the ups and downs,

I’m living my best life.

I’ve built a universe around all of this that genuinely does me good.

And I’m deeply grateful that it resonates with others, that I get to share it with you.

It’s a win-win.

I’ve learned to hold on to what’s concrete.

The fact that my childhood dreams came true.

That I’m living a life I never thought I’d have access to one day.

I didn’t get here by luck, but by necessity.

A need so abstract I wouldn’t have been able to put words to it five years ago.

My little universe protects me as much as it feeds me. It gives me a reason to exist,

and the older I get, the more meaning I find in it.

Like many others, I’m sure, this isn’t just a job. It’s vital.

Thankfully, I’m able to make a living from it, and I’ll always be deeply grateful for that.

Creating is part of who I am. It’s as essential as eating and breathing.

Without it, I feel like I wouldn’t be much of anything.

It might be a bit scattered, but deep down, it all comes down to one thing:

I truly believe it’s essential to slow down.

Yes, it’s important to believe in your dreams and give everything to reach them.

But it can be slow.

And honestly, the most satisfying part is the journey anyway.

Life is so much softer when you take the time.

I hope these thoughts speak to some of you.

And if this can reach even one person who hasn’t yet found their “reason to exist”

I hope it helps you find your path.

In the meantime,

Paint your fucking demons away.