"Days Like Today Make Me Realize How Far I've Come as a Human"

Notice Progression Over Time

Waking up in the morning, I feel like every day is a fresh canvas that we can make special if we work at it. It starts off blank, & can stay blank if you don’t proceed to add color, style, & flavor to it. If we take the time to mold our day into something we can be happy, satisfied & content with, I think we slowly begin to build structure & value into our lives. Not everything we make is going to be a smash hit, & not everything we produce is bound to fail, but the important message is to notice progression over time.

Horrible things happen on a day to day basis & sometimes it feels like nothing ever changes. The same bullshit keeps negatively effecting the world & history is doomed to repeat itself, or so they say. We can be the change we want to see in the world. We can be the bright light used to guide others to safety. Safety in knowledge & wealth. Not financial wealth, but spiritual & mental wealth. Some days we wake up deflated & unmotivated to take on the world. It can be struggle to get out of bed & take that first step. It hurts to move our bodies forward & progress through the endless cycle of life. But I say all that to say this, do it anyway.

Even when it sucks to pick up that pencil or begin typing your first words, do it anyway. The more you do it, the easier it’ll become over time. Like art, progression takes time & nothing happens overnight. There are days that may seem stagnant or moving in the wrong direction, but do it anyway. Everything is practice, & that will help you in the long run. Over time you will notice progression, it may not be from last week or last month, but next year you’ll look back & see how far you’ve come. I look back at one of my first sketchbooks & I already see a difference. Things I was doing wrong & things I was on the right track for, but didn’t quite go all the way. I think it’s important to be critical of your previous work, because that will help point out the things you can improve on.

I said a few posts ago, that I don’t care about the end result of my paintings, which is true. But, I do look back at those end results & try to analyze the things I did correctly. More importantly, I look at the things I could have done better or things I completely messed up on. I don’t have the most skilled hands or the most creative mind, but I’m ambitious & motivated. I enjoy what I do & I enjoy making the content for others to view. I don’t care if they love it or hate it, I’m more so happy they are watching. It’s not the validation from others, it’s the thought that someone took the time to watch something I made. It’s validation that I exist in this world & I’m a person who is interesting. A person who has an eye for beauty & a lover of the world.

I’ve said it before that I’m my biggest fan, I love everything I make, both good & bad. I may not be proud enough to show everything to the world, but I’m proud enough to say I made it. I’ve never been the most creative or artistic person. I used to rap when I was growing up though. That’s about as far as my artistic abilities allowed me. I used to be a young middle school rapper with a full heart & a stomach full of monster. I shot a music video for my friend’s high school project. We rapped over the Stay Schemin’ beat from Rick Ross, French Montana, & Drake. It was for High School so of course it had to be PG-13 & vulgar language had to be kept to a minimal. I admired French Montana’s bars on the original track so I tried to mimic my flow after his. I learned how to mix & master audio tracks using Fruity Loops & Logic Pro. I spent long nights in the “Studio” trying to make it all sound good. I had a good microphone & pop filter, solid headphones, & had it all hanging from my light in the center of the room. I thought I was hot shit, I had all my friends over in my tiny ass bedroom & we had the speakers on blast. Listening to ourselves & the different takes we’d make in attempts to make it sound official.

Those days are long gone now. I still have all the equipment & the knowledge learned, but I don’t put it to use anymore. It was a period in my life where I was experimenting & learning more about myself. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone to learn how to become a better human. I still try to do that today in my works. I find ways to push myself into situations that I have to think myself out of. I try to find different things that may fit for me & see if I can make it happen. I’ve applied to jobs that were out of my league & grants that I wanted to obtain. I faced rejection many times & each one has better shaped me into a well-rounded individual with a solid head on my shoulders & the ambition to learn anything I put my mind to.

Be proud of your works of art & thank people for viewing, even if they don’t like it. Life is too short to be negative & unhappy. Smile, even when it hurts, because over time, you’ll notice how much easier it is to do so. Enjoy these pictures from another fun night writing on freight trains.

Picture I took right before drawing my tank. I almost didn’t paint it because on this trip I was focused on doing floaters & I wanted to paint.

I took this picture in hopes that when I got home I could read what was written on it. It was a long message & I was surprised to see something like this. Could they have been hanging off the ladder provided? Did they bring their own ladder? It was almost New Years of 2018 when that was written, how cold was it in New York? There are always so many questions I wonder when I see things written. But that’s part of the lore & mystery.

The neck of the tank looks funny. I made it too skinny or short length-wise.

Handstyles

3rd Box Car!

Moron 2 & The Sin City Kid

Solo adventures from GO from the 413

I eventually got a better picture of this during the day time. Love the owl tho

Could it be, Ichabod the Rail God?

Shoutout to everyone who supports me by reading & viewing my pictures. That means a lot to me & I’m happy to keep the content rolling in. Not for the sake of others, but I’m happy & proud to say these reach people & I get real life feedback. Thank you!