The Art Journey

I am currently spending time in Vietnam for a couple of days vacationing, so I couldn't really focus on doing any big, significant projects following the last one. This has left me kind of itching to create something at the very least... And yesterday, I found some time to just sit down and do a quick and simple landscape.

Since my entry into the foray of digital painting, I have always called myself an "artist traveling its waters in a journey to discover her true artistic potential". This description still holds true to this day: I am constantly seeking to develop my skills as a digital artist, learning various new things albeit at my own pace. In the last 2-3 years, I recognize that I've come far from where I had begun, especially when I look at the paintings I've made over the last 8 months alone. All of these paintings would not be possible if I hadn't reached my wits' end about my ineptitude and made the decision to just change that... And I'm grateful I finally made that first step, after years of telling myself it just couldn't ever be.

This was a journey not without its own share of hardship, however. There have been times when I began a painting only to feel unfulfilled by the end of it. There have been times where I have struggled to achieve certain things in an art piece and I find myself settling for something less than satisfactory. This, though unfortunate, is just simply part of the adventure; after all, there are many things you can learn even when you fail.

This is also a journey of continuous learning, and so it naturally takes an incredible amount of time and dedication on one's part. This also means that the journey is a very lonely one. You may find yourself with like-minded kin walking alongside you, but even they have their own paths to follow, and they shouldn't have to wait for you to catch up to them, and vice versa. Everyone learns and goes down their paths on their own pace; you shouldn't have to feel pressured to keep up, or feel like you need to lag behind other people. The only thing that really keeps you going is that determination to keep learning new things.

This painting depicts how I see my journey in my mind's eye: drifting across a cloudy sea, its waters devoid of life, yet sailing ever onward towards the light, spurred ever on by my self-borne desire for knowledge.

As seemingly bleak as this seems, it's not to say I don't enjoy going down this road. It's quite the contrary, in fact; it's more fulfilling than I could have ever expected to learn how to master my craft, and it takes me back to the days when I used to learn Japanese (though, minus the pressure of needing to learn as much as I could in a short span of time).

I'm glad to be on this journey, and I don't think I'd have it any other way.