Everyone of us has the responsibility to stand for truth,
to stand authentic, and un-freaking-breakable.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never hurt me."

If we allow ourselves to get broken,
then three will be no future.

Don't expect those doing the breaking,
to create any future, they can only feed on destruction.

While we are not animals in the terrible sense of the word,
we are still Great Warriors, it is our heritage.

I repeat not a single student, or dreamer, or geek, or beautiful loser, or the truly beautiful cursed to never see it that way,
is allowed to retreat into their room, into their depression, and darkness.

Be it loss, or tragedy, or because some hollow creature,
did or said something cruel.

The hollow,
or the unfortunate that bullies turn to bullies... for hate can only spread.

Can't really remember you,
and even if they could, they live in a crumpled piece of paper universe.

The tragedy of a bully, aside from the harm they cause, is that - for as long as they live in their sorry state,
their time in life has already passed, maybe short of some flicker in their final days.

In a way, those who feel pain, or dread, or fell hurt,
and never do the hurting - are being called to greatness.

Because those who cause harm to the beautiful,
can't perceive futures and thus can build.

Do you understand,
if the hurt don't rise - there is no future.

The hurt,
are the only hope.

It may come as a surprise,
it certainly comes as a surprise to many.

That Ariadne has left a string for us all,
we don't even have to reach for it, you just need to touch your index finger to your thumb.

And imagine you are holding a brush,
the string is art.

And yes there is a problem,
yes there is a problem with the on ramp.

Because in dread,
you can't get the colors right, in dread the shapes will slide.

But this is not a problem of the soul of an artist,
this is a mechanical problem with the way we hold the brush on our out of darkness.

You mess with computers a little bit, you install Krita,
you stretch the image reference over your entire canvas and make it transparent.

Now no matter how hard it is to hold the brush,
no matter how hard it is to see through the tears.

You have your colors,
and you have your shapes.

And in three, five,
or whenever you are satisfied with your perfect portraits and finally convinced you were an artist all along...

You will let go of the realistic colors,
because you will know better - nay - you will neeeeed better.

You will need more sunshine than a reference photo could possibly hold,
and the temperature of your work will have to match the temperature of the color in your best visions.

And just about at the same time,
you will need better shapes too.

By making the eyes bigger, you make the painting speak more, by adding a touch of fish-eye perspective, you can lean your subject into the space of the person looking at it,
and by that time you will have memorized how to paint the eye ten times over.

Eventually, your soul will pour your own special color into your works,
and your touch will speak with larger eyes, and that edge of sunlight, and the cheek bone highlight.

Art is here for all of us, whether it calls to you or not, know that you are an artist,
You Are An Artist.

Painting Challenge and Time Lapse