PAINT IT WITH ANY COLOR YOU LIKE....

Today is a new day, paint it with any color you want…
By Muffet Dolar Villegas


A new day is like an inviting pristine white canvas, primed with expectations and excitement. A canvas has no life, yet through the artist’s passionate strokes it becomes vividly alive with meaning and colors.
We have unlimited choices to paint our day or year. We can paint it with darker, more subdued tones which is an expression of longing or emptiness. We can paint it with vibrant, brilliant hues which signify joy, faith and hope. A painting needs a patient hand with a heart and a soul. A day likewise needs someone who decides whether to make it a beautiful gift from God or just another falling leaf.
A cancer patient like me fights for life each day. I am grateful for today, and I grab it with vigor and enthusiasm like I have never done before. I have stopped teaching this semester, and I spend most of my time in my small cluttered studio, (I can’t work when everything is in order) which is filled with old but firm paintbrushes, oils, acrylics, and watercolor tubes and primed canvasses. Some unframed and unfinished works are discreetly leaning on the walls. This is where I create my own world. They could be a profusion of colors of a garden filled with flowers or a lonely cottage in the woods. The freedom of expression in this small corner is more exhilarating than the freedom of the press.
Here, I pour out my soul, my thoughts, experiences and hopes, even the exact time of the day is reflected on each leaf. A painting is an expression of the soul like an open book for all the world to enjoy. It is a lonely profession since the artist works with lifeless objects like paints, brushes and a canvas. Yet life springs out from this inanimate objects as the artist pours his own life and passion into them. The finished work is the product of everything that goes on in the artist’s heart and soul at the precise moment that he or she was in the creative process. Even how simple the painting is, whether it is done just to express a certain feeling, it becomes an extension of the self. A part of the person is recorded in a timeless piece of work, and it becomes a treasure to keep.
The magic started when I was three years old, when my mother would encourage me to draw and paint. When I was in grade school, she would bribe me with a bottle of coke when I was a bit too lazy to do any artwork. She would not mind if I consumed all the blank pages of her lesson plans with drawings of smiling faces, even as I filled all the walls and blank spaces of our rooms with women in long flowing gowns. She would still hug and praise me for what I have done. I was so proud when for the first time when a small piece of my drawing was sold when I was seven years old for five cents. My younger sister Louella, who was barely six years old would sell all my drawings to other kids during our elementary years. The thought that my sister was very bold to sell my works and that others would part with their money to buy something like that was an extremely rewarding and encouraging experience for me. I treasure those times even in later years when I would exhibit and sell my works in my few one-man shows in museums and galleries. My sister and I were so happy that both of us could draw and paint, and until she decided to focus in marine biology and finished her Ph.D in the US.
Like Vincent Van Gogh who had his brother Theo sending him art materials and all kinds of support, I am also doubly blessed by having my sister Louella, and her husband Dr. Bell Perrin, also a scientist, who have been providing me with quality art materials, encouragement, and support. Bill would personally hunt for varied art materials which he would send in his LBC boxes. The sight of these paints and brushes was enough to inspire more pieces of work. I could not ask God for more wonderful people than I already have.
Even if cancer is unpredictable, I don’t want to waste today’s blessings because of tomorrow’s fear. Today is a beautiful gift. I can paint this new day with any color I want. You too, can choose your colors for the day.