Thursday, January 27, 2011

What is Enough? Where do we draw the line between black and white?

A Great Critique: With our last post on Skull studies, we had a great critique today by our Professor. He mentioned a couple of important points for enhancing the image. At times it seems never ending and hard to grasp, at times his demands sounds very unreasonable and too much. BUT if we don't keep demanding a high standard from ourselves, how do we then improve as an artist, as a person? We couldn't thank him more on the pressure and standard he place on us.

When do we say stop in life?: With that said, we've been having this demand on ourselves for years and recently, we probably put too much weight on the backpacks. (Don't we all do that in life? Ok, maybe a lot of us don't...) Not just in art, many a times we find it important to uphold a standard in life, be it towards friends, family and even relationships.

This standards range from actions and duties we feel necessary and important and improving our quality of treating those around us has always been of importance; it makes us treasure what we truly have and not regret what we have not done should something drastic happens. Just like in the case of drawing, we can always say we've done enough on it, that the painting is beautiful enough, the illustration is detailed and aesthetic enough. Of course we should be content and grateful in our lives, but then again, where is that bar set on? what is enough?

What we want to achieve in life is far greater than saying enough. Having had the opportunity to live this life is not just about having enough, its about living the best in every moment and getting the most out of it; even if it cost you pain, sadness and even torture. For it is the experience of truly giving your last sweat that gives one the gratification and certification to say, " At least I gave everything I had." Sure, life is tiring that way, to constantly improve and push yourself. Sure, life is tough that way and all the more lonely for which road to success is easily achieved? It is almost always a lonely path, at times quiet, at times full of despair and most times painful. Some will argue that, " what if I gave my best shot and in the end I achieve nothing at all?"

That's not the point, the point is have you gave your best shot? If you have given your best shot in life and nothing happened, then start evaluating it again. Till then, I encourage everyone to try and die once while living, try to push the boundaries and limit.

If not now, then when?


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