Burning Desire

BURNING DESIRE

The eyes are our natural windows through which we view the world around us; they are among the vehicles we use to integrate our ideas with our environment to gauge whether what we think of as ideal or desirable is viable. Our organs of vision may also and often do belie our state of mind allowing gifted observers a chance to peek inside our minds; hence the expression, ‘I can see it in your eyes’.

In this painting, the title ‘Burning Desire’ is a hyperbolic phrase that describes determination, the kind that becomes an obsession when we want to acquire or do something so badly until it is attained — the kind of determination that is said to be ‘seen in our eyes’

A burning desire to achieve something, whatever it may be, is not only a prerequisite for an individual’s potentially life changing accomplishments but it is also traceable to the very core of humanity’s most amazing break throughs! Let me clarify; while the phrase ‘break through’ is often used to herald scientific or technological innovations that benefit everyone, the term is equally applicable to psychological, spiritual or philosophical shifts we must engender to triumph over intrapersonal conflicts.

Having a burning desire is therefore not a mere wish for something, it is a craving for that something to the point of not allowing anything to stand in the way of making it a reality.

Pablo Picasso was right when he said “Everything you can imagine is real”, he however could have added “…but you must have a burning desire to arrive at its reality”

Have you heard…..

THE GRAPEVINE (Gossip Portion #1)

To be sure, “The Grapevine (gossip portion #1)” is an art study for “The Grapevine”; a much larger image comprised of numerous gossipers assigning each other the blame of having started a rumor that turns out to be about everyone in the community.

The ability to communicate with words distinguishes humans from other creatures. There are as many different languages as there is a diversity of the people who speak them. Strangely, while the spoken word may be uttered in different tongues, what matters is what the intended audience does with it.

In ‘The Grapevine’ series, the spoken word is a rumor about a certain community member. The rumor is delivered the old fashioned way; person-to-person — or should I say ear-to-ear. As it is being passed on, it inadvertently becomes a form of entertainment for the gossipers at the expense of the one it’s supposedly being rumored about.

Everyone receiving it seems to add her own spin to it – so by the time it gets to the one it is being rumored about, it’s so distorted she thinks it’s about someone else. Since it is entertainment, she recycles the rumor the way she perceives it, of course with a little spice of her own added into the mix and so round and round it goes.

So, have you heard …

Elegance opens doors

Elegance

Beauty is strange it dazzles the mind
It’s got names other forms can’t share
Perceived differently by each pair of eyes
Beauty is natural and not just made up
It shines through the simplest of rags
Beauty has power that bends all rules,
It knows no boundaries it opens the purse
Beauty is simple and natural it is

Seek for beauty and lose your mind
Beauty and love is a sure mad mix
To remain sane is to keep beauty at bay
Wasn’t it beauty that knocked on your door
Keep good score of beauty’s moves
Meet the gaze but don’t you blink
If you blink you lose the bout
Beauty is fast it moves with grace
Watch out for elegance leading the way

Beauty and elegance are one and the same
But elegance is that walk with a stride
It can be seen from quite afar
With elongated limbs that move in style
They carry the body with a jaunty stride
Isn’t it elegant that elongated neck
Adorned with charms to please the eye
Beauty and elegance may be one and the same
But it’s  elegance that opens the door

The secret is in the ….well, …the tea!

Green Tea Power

I grew up in Uganda on a large tea estate that was the main provider of employment for the folks of my village. We would play hide and seek in the thicket of the short shrubs that made up the farms which supported nearly the entire community! I can still smell the unmistakable aroma of freshly plucked tea leaves heaped on the wooden bed of ‘cyaraboze’, the nickname of a large rickety commercial truck – also known as a ramshackle lorry back in the part of the world I grew up.

The tea plantations were regularly flat-top trimmed, a pruning procedure that optimized production. They were maintained at about a three feet tall level so the tea pickers would easily reach all the harvestable leaves from any side of the shrubs. That height was also our yard stick for who got to play in the thick plantations.

No matter how badly you wanted to follow bigger kids or your older siblings for that matter — to their rendezvous in the estates, height among other things was the ultimate test; if you were not taller than the tea shrubs by at least your entire head, they would not let you in. It was a safety measure against getting lost in the plantations that covered square miles – causing unduly trouble for the older kids.

We were often pricked and bruised by the pruned branches but that would not hinder us from our escapades. I guess we took it as part of the fun, the thrill of squeezing through the narrow paths tea pickers established in the estates to ease their movement with large harvest baskets strapped on their backs. These paths were short cuts to our hideaways and meeting places which we had plenty of in the numerous zones that made up the vast estates.

There is no doubt in my mind that the fondest moments of my childhood were the adventures in the Namutamba tea estates. No wonder after all these years, I can still vividly see my childhood blossoming into adolescence and manhood but still feel so nostalgically inseparable from the tea estates.

While green tea possesses well documented powerful health benefits, to me green tea was a way of life. When others talk about the health implications of green tea, I have only songs of praise for how green tea paved my way into the person I am today!

Between Our Ears…….

Between the human ears resides an arguably the most amazing creation in the universe as we know it. The human brain has evolved to an incredible level of sophistication relative to that of our ancestors of a few centuries ago — I am referring to the technological advancement that has given birth to the digital era and all it has made possible in all fields!

What never ceases to amaze me though is the achievement divide between peoples from different parts of the world.  On one hand people of mostly the west have come up with the lion’s share of the inventions that make their livelihood much easier, while on the other hand, people who are not burdened with inventing existing modern conveniences can not seem to access them either.  I am not even talking about the most advanced lifestyles here; I am talking about basics that several communities around the world take for granted such as running water, reliable energy resources, relatively moderate health care and shockingly– food preservation facilities for later use under inclement weather conditions.

Clean running water should be a human right in the twenty first century but sadly, a larger percentage of  communities in mostly rural Africa still have to walk miles to collect untreated water from streams and wells in vessels carried on their heads as illustrated in the above image entitled “Dawn To Dusk” !

Going back to this topic, …between our ears resides a 3 pound miracle that has given flight to the wingless,  medical breakthroughs that prolong life, global positioning systems that map every square inch of our planet and many more conveniences that facilitate good living  – yet puzzling questions loom on;  what makes it so hard for underdeveloped countries to make significant steps towards better lives? What does it take to inspire all humankind to use their heads for thinking  rather than functioning as water and firewood carriers?

What is the opportune time to have productive dialog on issues of this nature?

Circle Of Friends

My first post was accompanied with one of my favorite images entitled “Great Expectations”. That was me thinking kind of aloud in a pictorial form, you see, I am an optimist and optimism tends to open doors.

This time, I would like to express my gratitude to all the bloggers out there who visited my blog whether or not they made a comment or a “like” gesture regarding it.

Allow me to include you in my “circle of friends” as the accompanying image expresses, I know that my circle of friends – I take that back — our circle of friends will grow and multiply a myriad times!

An ancient native legend has it that at the end of the day,
friends would gather around a bonfire and share
their experiences and speak of the good qualities
of each other and remember times shared.
As the embers faded, their friendship was said to be
sealed anew, bringing them even closer together.

As you sit with a light in the middle of your circle of friends, it surrounds and
embraces all who sit with you and brings good fortune to those who stay together.

In the same spirit of togetherness, we can tackle and conquer any adversity that may face
humankind in the twenty first century and beyond.

Our ancestors summed it up wisely in the proverb;
“If you want to go fast, you go alone, if you want to go far you go together”

I am so excited about my new blog

Art is among the fundamental forms of human self expression, it comes so naturally and spontaneously in our early stages of life usually before we utter intelligible words.  I believe we are all equipped to create interesting works of art  if there were no other fields of interest that vie for our most limited resource of all; time!

I have devoted my time to creating artistic things and I am so excited about the idea of sharing my experience via the blog-sphere. I am not sure arranging the blog in a chronological order will be necessary but from time to time I may be compelled to blog in a series of  sequential events.

Thank you for coming into my life and please let me know if I have connected with you in any way.

Your fellow human being

Dan Sekanwagi