How do you Really feel, Bahari?

My intention of taking a leave of absence from anything to do with art was short lived after my son Timo arrived as he aspires to become another suffering starving artist as a way of life just like his Dad. So my plans of traveling around the nooks and crannies of this country is being put on hold for his benefit and my daughter's being in Penang for the next two months.

I have to play host and dad to my children making sure that they have all they need and then some. Karim is sort of happy in his own world of 'Warcraft' in between college and flipping burgers. Timo is slowly recovering from his Jet lag and Marissa is happy as a lark with two brothers to handle and I miss my eldest in this equation In the past few days I met up with a few of my close artist friends and chatted about the art scene in Georgetown, some are doing very well while others are still dragging along surviving as they have been all these while.

The Georgetown art scene is a Chinese dominated scene, things run by Chinese, organized by Chinese, bought by Chinese, bought and appreciated by mostly the Chinese. It is the people on the street that really genuinely appreciates what an artist does on the street. It gives you a sense of humility and purpose to have and audience while you are sketching, especially when they are children

I have done this scenario in many parts of the world in my life and I never regret one moment of it but savor the wonder of being the center of attraction for what I do.This is my way of saying 'Alhamdullilah! Thank you my Lord for this opportunity to serve You , this is the precious moment in my life of what I call , Being an artist.Knowing hoe to paint and draw is just half of it.

This 'blogging, this writing of my life as closest to the truth I could get, is another part of who I am. I call myself the  Cheeseburger Buddha." Why the Cheeseburger Buddha? a lady i was telling it to a young Chinese  lady asked me while Timo and I were  working on the GALA HOUSE Restaurant. Good question, I said, please read my blog. I live life itself as an art, (of sharing), of relationship, of caring and understanding, of making mistakes and forgiving and i could go on repeating like a broken record of Love and Compassion, expressing it in public, unconditionally, this too is what I call Being and artist.

Glamour comes uninvited! This too is perhaps what I consider Being an artist is all about. I am fine, I am keeping the balance still, my eyes are failing me sadly enough and i am starting to feel Arthritic aches and pains in my body some to do with working in the cold Winters of Wisconsin at one time for three years in a  Meat Packing Plant, among other causes like Fishing in the frigid cold of the Bering Sea  of the Pacific Northwest, could also be the result of long 'sittings' in meditation while studying Zen at Green Gulch, in Marin County, Ca. or perhaps part of the accidents i had while teaching the art of Silat Seni Gayong. in the East Coast and here in Georgetown! Well, i could go on telling my 'fish tales', but suffice to say ...I am not feeling too bad...Really!