Elizabeth Justice

Janak - Part 5 of 5

"As you become you, you have to want to become better. That's the first thing. You have to want it. As you go and search for an answer, you get multiple perspectives. When you get multiple perspectives, you have a full range of answers. Not from just this religion or this faith. Intuitively, the right answer will come to you. I feel my art has helped me to find the spiritual core of myself.

Now that my children are older, I have more time to ponder. When I'm painting, I'm in my own cocoon. I talk to myself, my inner self, my subconscious, my soul. You can call it by any name. I have this beautiful conversation with myself. Hopefully, when I come out of that trance, come out of my painting, I am marginally a better human being. All souls are beautiful at the core.

I use the word faith versus religion because we all could be different, you know. We could be following different religions, but our faith on the inside is - be good, do good. That's the core of everything. I'm very curious about different societies, cultures, faiths, and how they all come together.

The more I'm painting, the more I see myself. I'm saying something with every brush stroke on the canvas. I am saying something that I myself may not know. I've been painting for 40 some years, but I was not always deeply connected. I was just making some beautiful stuff. It's lately, I would say in the last three years, it's merged with me. It's merged in a very holistic way.

Bad things happen, sure. You know, unfortunate things happen. Challenging times come, illnesses happen, but you have to overcome. Everybody is going to ask that question, 'why me?' There is no answer for 'why me.' We have to have faith that things will come together. We will find strength. Nobody is without challenges. And you need faith for that. I'm a practicing Hindu. But to me, it doesn't matter. I love to pick things from other faiths and see the commonality between everybody. Peace, love, charity, hope, all those beautiful things. It's not a religion if it doesn't preach these things. It's a cult.

I am human. It just takes one day for everything to unravel, and I have a terrible, terrible day. But I crawl out of that bad day. I will be honest, sometimes it takes quite some time. It's a journey, and I hope I'm one step better than yesterday.

I am always on a high while painting; it's always my place of bliss, even as a child. My art now has meaning. Now I can see a visual of my insides that was once abstract. I can tell a story. It is coming out in colors and forms and compositions. And, you know, others may only see it as trees and flowers. But to me, there's a lot more going on. I'm not just painting colors; each painting is a little piece of my insight. I can feel it. I couldn't before, but now, I do.

And that's a beautiful thing because you're starting to see things that are not just physical. You're listening to yourself.

My art and my spiritual core have come together. We now have a common journey, and it's beautiful."

Janak Narayan identifies herself as an Indian American Fine artist focusing on acrylics and oils. Health setbacks had her step down from her twenty-five-year career in the finance and banking industry, and she decided to pursue her passion in the arts. She has taken her passion for life and color to create compositions that are both joyful and healing.
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FB: Janak Narayan Fine Art
www.janaknarayan.com

Janak - Part 4 of 5-

"The amount of domestic abuse that nobody talks about really bothers me. These are women, they're crying silently, and they're not able to express their pain. It's the same thing with depression. You have to put on this happy face, and it's so difficult. I feel that pain because when I was so ill, I had to put on this happy face all the time. I was so clinically depressed, with the medication and with the pain. But everyone thought, 'Janak is this chirpy person.' I was trying to be happy. It is challenging because you have set a standard that you're this happy-go-lucky person, but the inside is crying. It's hurting, and you cannot continue the façade.

People don't talk about it. There's so much stigma. We need a place people can talk without being judged, and somewhere I know my art's going to come in handy there. It's not today. It's not tomorrow, but it's someday because it's brewing in my head. It's bothering me.

I am indebted to art because I feel that it's the only thing that heals. Art gave me the strength to fight through a difficult period of my life and come out stronger.

Whether you are a scientist or a mathematician, everybody needs art in their life. When people look at art, listen to music, or create, they are healing their brains. I believe for your brain to be fully developed, you have to have art in your life.

And so children need to tap into that part of their brains. We don't need to baby the kids when it comes to art. Have art and music in your home; they need to jump right in!

Art means everything. It's about completing the person. Art will complete a human being because it's the most beautiful part of your psyche expressed in beautiful colors."

Janak Narayan identifies herself as an Indian American Fine artist focusing on acrylics and oils. Health setbacks had her step down from her twenty-five-year career in the finance and banking industry, and she decided to pursue her passion in the arts. She has taken her passion for life and color to create compositions that are both joyful and healing.
IG:
FB: Janak Narayan Fine Art
www.janaknarayan.com

Janak - Part 3 of 5-

"We moved down here to the Dallas area at the Beginning of 2019. We were busy fixing the house, my stuff was still in storage, and my studio hadn't been built. I really started ramping up at the end of 2019. I was so excited. I had this game plan for my first full year.

Then Covid. It has been rough. I'm not going to deny; it has completely clipped my wings. But, you know, everybody is going through pain, but you have to keep the passion alive.

So I said to myself, the universe is saying something. This is a great time to build inventory. It's beautiful out here, the weather is beautiful. Everything looks nice. So I worked. I painted more than 20 pieces. I couldn't get out. But I could do my art. I read up a lot. I painted a lot. I reached out to a whole bunch of people to network.

If you're an artist - not just a painter but truly an artist, harnessing your inner resources when you create, you will be resilient. But, you know, finances can break anybody. How long can you go? Each one of us is trying to hang in there and succeed in these Covid times. We need the revenue. The art lover has to be in front of a painting to decide if they are going to invest in it. It has to connect with them. Not being able to showcase during the pandemic has been a challenge!

I think finances are the only thing that finally breaks artists because they can't buy the materials they need. That's a sad thing because we are losing a fantastic person in the community.

When you support artists, you are encouraging us. You are giving us the revenue stream that we need to create. When you buy an original work, you really prioritize the artist. You make a statement that you feel the artist is needed in your society.

Art collectors are supporting us financially, and they're supporting us by respecting our profession. It shows that folks are aware we are an essential part of the community. And that's amazing."

Janak Narayan identifies herself as an Indian American Fine artist focusing on acrylics and oils. Health setbacks had her step down from her twenty-five-year career in the finance and banking industry, and she decided to pursue her passion in the arts. She has taken her passion for life and color to create compositions that are both joyful and healing.
IG:
FB: Janak Narayan Fine Art
www.janaknarayan.com

Janak- Part 2 of 5-

"Another mentor of mine at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, a wonderful friend, said, 'live your life in thirds.' So for any problem, I use that formula to see if it works for me. If I look at success in the world of thirds, there has to be a balance. I'm first and foremost, a family person. My family is very important to me. I am blessed.

My art has to be of a certain caliber. A third of my success needs to come from the fact that academically I am being challenged. I want to paint, not what other people tell me, but whatever is coming from within me.

And a third is always projected to the community. My time, my money, my art has to be a source of joy and healing for others.

Success, to me, is not one thing. One without the others isn't going to work. In India, in Hinduism, Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity. People always think prosperity is about money, but, you know, she comes with eight facets. You have to have a bit of everything - children, good health, career, relationships. You have to be rich in money, rich in family, rich in love, and rich in career. People think it's just monetary, but it takes a lot more than that to be happy and consider yourself successful.

I first started painting when I was 10 years old. I was interested in everything artistic. I learned macramé, I learned ceramics. I wanted to learn everything I could.

My biggest inspiration is nature. I'm very fond of painting botanicals, especially trees. So, I look at the limbs and the light that comes in-between. I look at the negative space more than the actual form because the best color palettes come from filling in those little gaps. Those gaps have a fascinating mosaic of colors.

Nature is God. I'm not here to replicate it or one-up anything. It is divinity itself. I am here to give it a completely different brushstroke. I enjoy painting outside the lines and outside the color confines.

People describe my work as being vibrant and full of movement. I don't want my art to be static. Every time you look at it or even move your eyes, you should see a different part. It's about layering. It's organic, as it should be. It's about practice. It's all about knowing yourself as you change.

Art has to have heart, and it has to reflect you. When you look at my painting, it should reflect my state of mind. If it doesn't, I'm really not projecting 100 percent into my art. That is the process.

My art has evolved from being very representational to an expressive feeling. That's why I call my art Transitional Expressionism because it's neither representational nor Abstract in its pure sense. Like a Post-Impressionist, it moves in layers. This is how I see the world.”

Janak Narayan identifies herself as an Indian American Fine artist focusing on acrylics and oils. Health setbacks had her step down from her twenty-five-year career in the finance and banking industry, and she decided to pursue her passion in the arts. She has taken her passion for life and color to create compositions that are both joyful and healing.

IG:
FB: Janak Narayan Fine Art

www.janaknarayan.com/

Janak - Part 1of 5 -

"I am surrounded by hundreds of fabulous artists! Then when you look at social media, there's the whole world out there. I have to reel it in and say I cannot feel overwhelmed. So I go back and say, 'how do I make the best version of myself?' The simple answer is hard work. That means consistently painting, consistently doing creative work. Not getting into that, 'Oh, it's a hobby that I don't feel like doing today,' or 'I'm not in the mood, and the creative juices are not flowing.' I think those are excuses. If it's my profession, like a doctor, like any other person who goes to work, I have to put in the work. If I don't feel like painting, I'll go out taking pictures. Or read about old masters or visit some museums. Like one of my professors in college said, 'you have to be prolific.'

We came here to the United States more than three decades back, both my husband and myself. We've been married for thirty-six years, and we have two boys. He is a scientist, and my background was in finance. I came to do my MBA, and I had a career as a banker and in finance.

Then in 2003, I had a pretty bad health setback. In my profession, I was dealing with money and numbers. It was not working with me being heavily medicated, so I had to quit.

One door closes, another door opens. My faith is very strong in the positive energies of the universe. I’d been painting since childhood, and I told my husband I'm going to do graduate work. My younger son was going to graduate school, and guess what? I'm going to go to graduate school too. And that's how the beautiful journey started. I started in 2010, and I graduated with a BFA in 2015 from Indiana University, Fort Wayne.

The fascinating thing about the five years I went to school, to me, it was anesthesia. I would not feel pain inside the building. Honest to God, I could not feel that I was hurting. And I used to be in excruciating pain. I would be full of pain when driving my car to the visual arts building. Inside the building, the pain is gone. Nine hours later, outside the building, I'm again in pain.

That's why my tagline is 'Joy and Healing.’ It's joyful to watch a beautiful thing, but I have never found anything so healing. I just hope somewhere, somehow, an opportunity comes that I can give that healing, whether, to veterans, individuals with special needs, or within hospitals, I don't know. It has not happened yet. But that is something I would love to do. To create art to make people feel as if, even if just momentarily, the pain is gone."

Janak Narayan identifies herself as an Indian American Fine artist focusing on acrylics and oils. Health setbacks had her step down from her twenty-five-year career in the finance and banking industry, and she decided to pursue her passion in the arts. She has taken her passion for life and color to create compositions that are both joyful and healing.

Janak Narayan Fine Art

https://www.janaknarayan.com/

"All I ever wanted to do was reach for the stars. I had a good childhood. I feel fortunate to have so many teachers invest in me. Growing up with Autism, I always wanted to be like everyone else. I was trying to be friends with everybody. Sometimes it was hard to relate to other kids. I always wanted to be normal. It took me a long time to feel accepted. I denied my learning disability, and acceptance has been my journey. Accepting people for who they are and not what they are. I am comfortable with people being different than me. I can have conversations and love people with different beliefs. Once I accepted myself, accepting others was easy.

If I could go back and talk to young Ryan, I would tell myself I will be accepted. I am intelligent, and I have the potential to be something. There is nothing wrong with having a learning disability. Embrace it. Live life and embrace the gifts God gave you. You are a big part of this world."

Elizabeth Justice is a storyteller, documentary filmmaker, journalist, and enthusiastic lover of humanity. She is a life long learner and looks for the good in everyone she meets. She knows every person has a story, and she feels fortunate to be able to tell them. This piece is an excerpt from a documentary film series coming soon.

CLC- Part 3 of 3 - Sarah: "We pride ourselves on having a friendly and understanding staff. A lot of us have been in situations similar to this. We get it. There's no judgment coming from us."

Scott: "It is absolutely a judgment-free zone here. Let us help you. We have resources here. When you come out on the other end, come on back, and you can help other people."

Sarah: "And we've had that happen a lot recently, people who get back on their feet and become monthly donors."

Scott: "If you're hungry, the rest of life goes downhill in a hurry. You can't function at all."

Sarah: "There's so much stigma associated with it, but that's why we're here. We're here to help as many people as we possibly can. There's an online application. If you don't know where to start, you can call our office for assistance. We'll also match you with any referrals that might be helpful, like Baby Booties Diaper Bank or an ongoing utility assistance group. Anyone can call or email if they need information or referrals.

If you'd like to help, we need help in three ways.

First, financial assistance because we can stretch dollars so much further with the food bank partnership. Right now, all the food is free, and the food bank only charges a handling fee.

Secondly, food donations. We recommend people reach out to us for a list if they're going to do a food drive. It enables us to suggest our top five most needed items as they vary week to week. Hygiene drives are great, too, because those grant funds are harder to come by.

And then volunteers. Volunteers are definitely needed. We're looking at some programs going into the summer, where we're going to need more volunteers weekly. There is a genius link pinned to the top of our page where people can go sign-up to volunteer. We don't require background checks because they're not dealing directly with the clients.

Money, food, and help, that's really it.

We also appreciate the value of a like and a share on Facebook. So if anybody wants to help, but they can't provide financial gifts, sharing our page with their friends is hugely valuable. The excessive hard-boiled eggs post was the most successful posts we've ever had on Facebook. We reached 50 to 60 thousand people. And we were able to share them all!"

Scott: "We gave out 273 dozen on that Sunday afternoon. Then everything we had left went to an animal sanctuary who offered to do a fundraiser for us."

Sarah: "That was a cool connection, and they found us from a Facebook post."

Scott: "We also want to drive home the message that we want to work with other agencies. People will argue that a crisis develops character. I think it just shows character or lack thereof. We are building wonderful relationships and partnerships right now, and we want those to stay. There are two ways to build a team. It's either uniting in pursuit of a common cause or uniting to fight a common enemy. Everyone united after September 11th, two years later, we were back to being grumpy again. My hope is we can keep this sense of unity going forward. It's a great goal."

Community Lifeline Center is located in McKinney, TX. Their mission is to guide individuals and families back to self-sufficiency. Scott Elliott is the Executive Director, and Sarah Switzer is the Operations and PR Director.

CLC - Part 2 - Sarah: "I love working with the clients. I've been here a while, and I've gotten to know a lot of the clients personally. They bring in their new babies and their family. For me, that's the best part. Watching their kids grow and seeing them overcome in new jobs. It's pretty cool."

Scott: "I love being able to provide what's needed. This is where I should have been a long time ago. No question."

Sarah: "I've always been someone who cared about other people, but I used to be pretty ignorant about what was happening. People sometimes complain about nice cars showing up for pickups. Some people have been in this situation for a while. It's a cycle. But then there are people who have never experienced this before and are having to ask for help for the first time."

Scott: "One family, both mom and dad lost their jobs in the crisis. Prior to this, they weren't rich by any means, but they were doing OK. And then two job losses in two weeks. They have kids, and now they're on the rocks.

There is a couple that used every bit of money they had to move here from Florida for a job opportunity. He went into work and was immediately laid off. Now they are destitute. They literally spent every dollar to get to McKinney for an outstanding job.

We have people that may have a nice car, but they have zero income. We've had so many people come to us recently saying, 'I've never been in a bind, I've never asked for help.'"

Sarah: "'I've never had to do this before.'"

Scott: "'I've never been in need. I've never been hungry.'"

Sarah: "It's such a weird time because so many are struggling. Agencies are struggling, fundraisers are being canceled, and all of that. It's been difficult. We've had events canceled, and we've had challenges. But it really drills down the fact that our mission is important. Anyone is a crisis away from being in this exact position."

Scott: "COVID is equal opportunity destruction."

Community Lifeline Center is located in McKinney, TX. Their mission is to guide individuals and families back to self-sufficiency. Scott Elliott is the Executive Director, and Sarah Switzer is the Operations and PR Director.