The Beauty of Art part 18 - the answers

She will turn 99 this year. The painter of Untitled (1969) that I showed in The Beauty of Art part 18.

She has plans for her 100th birtday and when she was young she was friends with the artist Frida Kahlo.

Extract from a photo in TIME April 29-May 6, 2019

Her name is Luchita Hurtado and she was born in Caracas, Veneuela, in 1920. She has had her share of tragedies in life, including losing a child to polio, but she is optimistic by nature:

"I never said no to life. I have a responsibility to the world, to my planet."

Her paintings were discovered when a curator went through her late husband's (Lee Mullican) paintings and some of hers were in the same studio. She had had exhibitions before, but they didn't get as much attention as she has gotten lately. 

Luchita has a vision of the human body as part of the world, which can be seen in her paintings.

"My thoughts have always been that my body is just on loan to me, that I better take care of it because I have to give it back.”

Luchita is articistic in many ways. In addition to painting she has also worked with photography, designing her own clothes and writing poetry.

I find her paintings intriguing and her way of being inspiring.

The Beauty of Art part 18

Have you missed the Beauty of Art in this blog?
Wait no more, here comes...

The Beauty of Art part 18


Some artists become known early on in life.

Some late, like the artist in this Beauty of Art post.

“Because I never felt before that I needed to share. It was the other way around: I worked to please myself.”

Photo credit: Jeff Mclane

I hope the work of this artist pleases you too, and that you want to think about the following questions: 

• Who is the artist?
• What is the painting called?
• How does the painting make you feel?

Keep your eyes on this blog for the answers!

It’s not the circumstances. It’s you.

Her hands were sweaty. Even her thighs were sweaty under the light blue skirt suit.

“Oh, I am so nervous”, she whispered to her assistant. He was also formally dressed with his rented dark suit. Looking up from his notepad, his mouth fell open. After a few seconds he said, hesitantly:

“You? Insecure? You are the CEO!”

“I know, and they are the board.”

“Yes, but… I am nervous whenever we go into these meetings, but I never imagined you were.”

She looked at her Armani watch. They should have already asked her to come in. Apparently, they were running late.

“Yes”, she said with a sigh. “I didn’t imagine I would be either. I used to be nervous when I was going to report in the project meetings. I thought I would no longer be nervous when I become a project manager myself. But then I was nervous whenever I had to present at a steering group meeting. When I became the program office manager, I thought I would never be nervous again, but then I had to report to the Leadership Team. And here I am, CEO and nervous to talk to the board.”

The door opened before he had a chance to say anything. As they walked into the room where the board members were sitting around the oval table, she whispered:

“You know what? They are probably nervous too. Different circumstances, same insecurity.”

Photo by Moose Photos from Pexels

In an interview in TIME March 4 2019, Ray Romano from Everybody loves Raymond said:

“Insecurity is relative. Before I thought my cabdriver hated me, and now I think my limo driver hates me. “

If you want to get rid of insecurity, don’t expect it to go away just because the circumstances change. Feelings and behaviours only change when you do.

Where there is a will, there is a way

The journalist put her microphone just a few millimeters from the seasoned minister’s mouth. He hoped the sweat he felt on his forehead didn’t make him glisten on TV. The question was about the homeless. What he planned to do about the growing number of people who had nowhere to live, not enough to eat.  He put on his serious face, nodded slowly and said that it was unfortunate that the economy had put many people on the street. Then he mentioned how much money the government had already invested in different initiatives, and he said that unfortunately there were no more resources available. The taxpayers were already under too much pressure.  

Lack of money.  Lack of time. Lack of resources in general. There are many reasons - or shall we be direct and call them excuses? - for not being compassionate. For not even trying to find a way.

Massimo Bottura didn’t hide behind any excuses when he decided to serve creative meals for those in need. He didn’t let “lack of resources” stop him.

He uses food that would otherwise go to waste.

He agreed with the church La Madeleine in Paris that he could borrow their basement.

And so many were inspired by his initiative that he has thousands of people volunteering to be part of the staff that serves food to homeless people and refugees.

Part of a Photo by Valentina Sommariva – published in TIME April 29 - May 6, 2019.

Whenever you are about to say “I don’t have time / I don’t have the money / we don’t have enough resources”; stop yourself.
Think again.If you really want it, if it is important enough, you will find a way.  

Just like Massimo Bottura.

How to become as wise as a dwarf

Is life too short to learn how to live?

Not if you are a dwarf.

In Honey-Bee by Anatole France, a dwarf explains that the shortness of life for humans, is the cause of our ignorance and cruelty.

 “Their life is too short for them to learn how to live.”

One of my friends once said:

”Det är svårt att leva. Tur att vi har hela livet på oss att lära oss det.”(“It is hard to live. Luckily we have our whole lives to learn how to do it.”)

When I was twenty, I had figured it all out. I had learned a lot in school and even more during the sabbatical year before university. I had travelled the world, met a lot of interesting people, widened my perspectives. I knew how this thing called life worked.

It has only gone downhill since then in that regard.

The more I understand, the more I understand how little I know. The youthful certainty has made way for humble wisdom, with an awe about everything left to learn.

Is old age a guarantee of wisdom and knowledge?

Unfortunately not. I have met old people with minds so narrow they have not learned anything new in decades. You probably have too.

As Indiana Jones said in the Raiders of the lost ark:

 “It’s not the years honey, it’s the mileage.”

If you want to learn how to live, long before you die, make good use of every day of your life. Increase the mileage - your experience – instead of letting the years just go by.

Turn off the auto pilot.

Do something you don't do everyday. 

Take another road than the one you normally travel.

Dare to deviate, to explore.

Then you may become just as wise as a dwarf, despite your shorter life.
 

Not even good people are good in a hurry

It’s Thursday morning, 7:12.

Breakfast club at school has already started. Lyndsey parks the car opposite to the school. Before the car has come to a halt, she asks her daughters to hurry up, to grab their bags so they can run out of the car and to the school. As always when there is no time, the little one cannot get her seat belt off and the oldest forgets the gym clothes in the car, so they must go back again, just as they were about to cross the street. 7:16. Will school let her children eat breakfast when they are this late?

Just outside of school there is a little boy, five years old. He is alone, crying. Looking at each grown up that passes him by. When Lindsey crosses the street with her daughters, he looks at her too. His lips trembling, his eyes hopeful. Lindsey rushes past the little boy, hunches down to kiss her girls goodbye before rushing back to her car to get to work.


It’s Thursday morning, 6:52.

Breakfast club starts in 8 minutes. They have plenty of time. Lyndsey parks the car opposite to the school. She talks to her daughters about their day, all the things they will do. The little one needs some help with the seat belt. Lindsey reminds the oldest to bring the gym clothes as well. As they cross the street they talk and laugh. Lindsey sees a little, sad boy just outside of school. When she comes up to him, she sits down, asks why he is sad. Has he lost mum and dad? The boy nods, tears rolling down his cheeks. Lindsey pulls him to her chest, explains that everything will be alright, she will help him.

Photo by Nicholas Githiri from Pexels

John Darley and Daniel Batson, two Princeton University Psychologists, performed a study based on the biblical story of the good Samaritan. Some seminarians in the study were told they were late. Others were told they had enough time. Of those who felt they had time, 63% stopped to help a person in distress. Only 10% of those in a hurry stopped.

Not even good people are good when they are in a hurry.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s bestseller The Tipping Point, this is referred to as “the power of context”.

Don’t let time pressure turn you into someone you don’t want to be.

Manage your time – manage your life.

What you are ready to die for, others don’t even want

It’s European election night as I write this, and I am in Kiev, Ukraine. A few days ago, I visited Independence square, or as they call it here: Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Walking on that square and reading more about what happened here 5 years ago, reminded me that some are willing to die for what others take for granted, or don’t even want.

Euromaidan started November 2013 on the Maidan. It was a wave of demonstrations, sparked by the Ukrainian government's decision to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the European Union. There was more to it, including the perception of widespread government corruption and violation of human rights in Ukraine. The protests culminated in February 2014. More than 100 protesters were killed. Here in Ukraine the victims are often referred to the Heavenly Hundred.

In one country, people get killed for wanting to get closer to the EU. In another, discussions about how to leave the EU continue for months. And the weekend I write this, during election night, a lot of EU citizens have not even bothered to vote.

Regardless of what you think about any of this, it is a reminder that you may be willing to die for something that others don’t care about or don’t even want.

What does that mean for you?

That you should listen to your inner voice.

Don’t doubt it just because others may think differently.

• Do you want to go for your own business rather than staying in your current job, but you doubt yourself because your colleagues are perfectly happy being employed?
• Or are you the one loving your job, but feeling as if you should be making a major change?
• Is everyone around you getting married, expecting you to be too, even if you like your life as single with short relationships?
• Do you wonder if it is time to get children, even if you don’t feel ready for it?

You will not find the answers by looking at others. They are not you. Only you are you.

Give yourself at least five minutes a day, to listen to your own voice. If you haven’t heard it for a while, be patient. After some practice, the chatter in your head will calm down enough for you to hear it.

You may love what someone else doesn’t care about.

That’s OK.

Figure out what is right for you, regardless of what others do. Then give it all you’ve got.