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THE WEIGHT OF THE LIGHT
Have you ever thought that we can be surrounded by so many blessings that we no longer even notice them? Yes. The simple fact that you are still here, admiring my work, is already a blessing. To still be able to see the beauty of this world, to inhabit your body, to feel its presence, to exist fully. Sometimes, we darken our own path and forget to appreciate what we already have.
RETREAT
The painting speaks about stepping back from overwhelming negative emotions. Withdrawing from your emotions does not mean suppressing them. You control them. That doesn’t mean you feel nothing, but that you believe in yourself. It is a form of self-mastery, a virtue deeply valued by the Stoics.
Sometimes, giving too much of your energy to a person, an event, or even a dream can end up consuming you entirely. But the moment you realize that you have done enough, that is when your flowers begin to bloom. That is when you accept that constantly fighting against yourself only serves to darken your soul.
WHAT ONE MAKES OF THE WAY
In life, you will get to face different directions to chase (illustred as nothern lights in the artwork). Every direction will lead you to a different outcome, but none of them is good or bad. The best direction you will take, isn’t because you hit the jackpot, or that you’ve taken it by chance, the best direction is the one you’ve chosen to shape a certain purpose in life. A purpose that you build, brick by brick. Which concludes, that every direction you take me eventually takes a good or bad tourniture, but you shall know that it is what’s meant for you. Let the Lord guide you unto it.
KEEP FLOWING
The water brushes against you, pushes you back, and you know the path will bring you nothing but challenges.
With every climb, everything seems to grow darker, heavier.
But you must persevere.
Even if the current drives you backward, do not give up.
Climb again and again, until you reach the entrance…that dark entrance, intimidating at first glance, but one that gradually fills with light once you cross its threshold.
UPS AND DOWNS
This painting is very dear to me. It took me about a week and a few extra days to complete. I wanted it to progress slowly, for a very specific reason.
Ups and Downs is a painting about the highs and lows of life. There are no happy moments without difficult ones. It is the hard times that help us appreciate, even idealize the good ones.
As my favorite artist, Bob Ross, once said:
“You absolutely have to have dark in order to have light. If you have dark on dark, you absolutely have nothing.”
So if you are going through a dark period, even if it lasts a long time, hold on and don’t lose hope. The good days will eventually return.
NOTE TO SELF
The world won’t change, the grass will go darker, than orange, than green.
The trees will either grow or die, depending on its season
and The water will move endlessly,
Its your turn to put your weapons down.
I know you want to change your life, but you must change your view of it.
All the hatred that you have within you won’t disappear until you decide to.
It is your way of reacting to it that will keep you calmer than you think.
All the disillusionment , the anger that you hold, all the worries that keep coming into you, dragging you from head to toe is nothing but external noise.
You are inadvertently hurting yourself, again and again.