profile

Brush And Sword

The Mirror of Portraiture - What You See In Another Is A Reflection

Published 6 months ago • 1 min read

Brush and Sword

The newsletter by Sameer Sharma

Issue #10

The Mirror of Portraiture - What You See In Another Is A Reflection

“You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.” -George Bernard Shaw

All art is autobiographical. An artist cannot help but reflect themselves in their work. As a portrait and figure painter, I strive to capture my subject’s likeness both visually and emotionally. Sometimes, I see in others what I hope might be in myself. This recent portrait painting of a wandering Indian ascetic is as aspirational for me as it is representational. I can’t help but admire what this man has renounced in order to gain something far greater than anything the material word could give him- freedom.
​
Maybe one day, like this man, I will have the courage to move through the world emotionally naked, unguarded and fearless.
​
Maybe one day, like this man, I can let go of wanting what I know I can never get from outside myself.
​
Maybe one day, like this man, I can be detached yet fully present.
​
Maybe one day, like this man, I can be in this world but not of it.
​
Maybe one day, I can answer the question his gaze asks of me, “Can you see the shackles that bind you?”
​
Yes, I do. May my art be the key that frees me from those shackles.

Maybe one day.
​

Best,

Sameer

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA, 98104-2205​
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Brush And Sword

by Sameer Sharma

Painter, martial artist, and student of eastern philosophy. Sharing my insights on creativity, self-mastery and living an authentic life of creative self-expression. Discover the principles, techniques and mindset to help you cultivate your own authentic path.

Read more from Brush And Sword
Zanshin

Brush and Sword The newsletter by Sameer Sharma Issue #11 Find What You Love And Let It Kill You- What you love is the means, and you are the end. "Zanshin", Oil on Canvas (Click for Details) The Bones of Me My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you Let it drain from you, your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you, and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you both slowly and fastly. but it’s much better to be...

4 months ago • 7 min read
I Contain Multitudes

Brush and Sword The newsletter by Sameer Sharma Issue #9 I Contain Multitudes- Accepting My Shadow And My Art "I Contain Multitudes" Oil on Linen, (Click for details) “Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)”-Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass The Wild Horses of ‘Should’ Whitman’s verse was the inspiration for my latest painting above. These questions kept running through my mind as I was painting… "Can a monk smoke a cigarette?" "Is he any...

8 months ago • 7 min read
"Little Drop" Self-Portrait

Brush and Sword The newsletter by Sameer Sharma Issue #8 Live The Questions-It's the search that matters; not the answers. "Littel Drop" (Click for details) Living the Questions "I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live...

12 months ago • 7 min read