The Easel in the Dining Room

Archan Sukhita shows a video about her paintings.

(If you wish to look at a painting for longer you can push the pause button.)

Before I start I have no idea what to paint and, as I am self-taught, I do not know how to paint. I use 300 grs aquarelle paper (55 x 75 cm) which is strong enough to play with; I can get into an outburst with big brushes with the paper on the floor! Then, under the shower, I wash away what is too much. Giving my emotions free reign has always been such pleasure, though I remember at first the fears on this untrodden path… By and by I dropped the old restrictions of thought and feelings and found new worlds to enjoy. More and more I sense the deep mysteries of the colours and their healing qualities.

The art market asks for darkness and misery. That’s probably why the number of painters who paint from zero-point, from meditation are not known yet. It’s easier to paint what the market prescribes. As I have not adopted academic influences I enjoy the freedom to express the emotion of the moment. That nearly always has direct lines to what is going on in the world.

When the painting has lost its heaviness under the shower, a heaviness from layers of thick paint but of sadness too, I try to let the energy come up from my hara to the solar plexus and then to the heart. By and by I enter into a silent space where the painting progresses in meditation. Then I can sit for hours trying to protect what I have already painted, sitting there and doing nothing… Then all of a sudden I feel the final touch coming through mind and body. My heart is lifted; it is a surprise what wants to be born! I never stop painting when there is sadness in forms or colours. I don’t want to stop where market painters do (grief, misery and darkness sells).

My way of painting is a kind of symbol of my inner life – knowing the beauty of being dynamic in Osho’s meditation before entering the grace of silence, beauty and joy. And then the dance: How beautiful is that!

The birth process goes on till the light of love and joy appear, welcomed in the right moment. Then I hear the name or title of the painting and I sign it: Archan… (meaning prayer — Osho let me experience the one thousand ways of praying, a device for me to drop foolish praying, stand up and sign up for Life!)

My way has always been to paint while my other tasks were being done; I had three kids and a large home to take care of. This has given my work the touch of life; it is a part of me and gets attention daily. The easel stands in the dining room.

Archan Sukhita grew up in Holland in a Calvinistic family, married young and soon had 4 kids. She studied religions, arts, anthroposophy, archeology, education and languages. She divorced after 17 years of marriage in 1985, the same year she discovered Osho. In 1987 she travelled through Europe in a Volkswagen van, painting and singing. In 1989 she took part in an oil painting workshop in Pune with Ninad. Archan is still painting, now in acrylics on MDF panels.