It Flows, Even If It's Not Straight

Life never flows in a perfectly straight line. The road bends, water splashes, it hits a stumbling block, turns back, and flows on flexibly. The waterway in the painting does not follow a formalized path. It simply turns naturally, adjusting to the situation. That appearance feels like my own reflection, and like the honest heart of everyone living in this era.

While painting this work, I let go of many things: the pressure to 'draw well,' the obligation to explain 'what it symbolizes,' and the compulsion to finish everything perfectly. Letting go of all of it, I simply painted where my hand led, just as water flows. My heart followed that current. When the painting was complete, I felt as if I had, paradoxically, filled my inner self with much more.

It is okay for us to be imperfect. We can still flow even if we bend, and we can be beautiful even if we are crooked. Life itself is already a painting. The sight of embracing imperfection as it is—isn't that true beauty?