Escaping with art

For years I have listened to artists talk about how they can lose themselves in their work; how they can pass hours without even noticing, without thinking about anything but the matter at hand. I have always felt a kind of wonder and a bit of envy. I longed to find something that I could immerse in like that! And now I have.

When I left full time work I took up handbuilding pottery. I took a few classes and now do drop in at a local studio. I am obsessed. When I can’t actually be at the studio I think about clay, I read about clay, I watch videos of other people working with clay. When I have my hands on clay I am focussed and completely in the moment. As a person who tends to be anxious it is such a break. I have never known such peace!

I tell you all this because of this latest conversation that I have posted on the podcast. I talked to award winning water colour artist Sandhu Singh who has a show on now at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and this time when he talked about being immersed in a piece of work I felt like I could understand and appreciate his experience in a whole new way.

I first met Sandhu when he won the Sydney Fine Art Show quite a few years ago. This was early in his painting career and he was delighted and surprised to win! I recorded a conversation with him then and was struck by his story and his way of talking about what painting means to him. Since then I have talked to Sandhu a few more times and I always relish the opportunity for another meeting.

Sandhu has quite a life story, which he alludes to in this conversation. It has lead him from his early life in India to his new home in Victoria and eventually a diagnosis with PTSD. He started painting after he moved to Canada and he talks about the vital role it now plays in his life.

I hope you enjoy the conversation and looking at Sandu’s webpage to see some of his very energetic paintings!