New York had one of the worst winter storms over the past weekend. Trapped inside the house gave me a unique opportunity to do something I had not done in a long while – drawing. Notwithstanding my passion for start-ups and investing, nothing else gives me more satisfaction and a sense of tranquility like art creation. An hour and a half of complete focus produced this drawing of Miyamoto Musashi, the famous Japanese swordsman and author of “The Book of Five Rings,” a text on martial arts and strategy. The drawing is based on the original artwork of Inuoe Takehiko’s masterpiece “Vagabond,” which was done with ink and brush. I guess my attempt at replicating Inuoe Sensei’s expressionism with a pencil was not a complete failure.

Drawing requires a state of mindfulness. The satisfaction stems from two sources:

1. Executing a vision in mind and producing a tangible (or sensible) outcome
2. The possibilities are infinite within the two-dimensional space of a piece of paper – one could create characters, drama, emotions, and a universe out of the seemingly limited space.

Not to get too philosophical, in the jargon of consumer internet, creating art stimulates and satisfies some my primal instincts 🙂 – instant gratification, “narcissism”, a sense of control. It’s a blessing to have found this passion at the age of 5. I hope I could make some progress toward my goal of self-publishing a comic book, maybe not in 2016, but certainly in the next few years.