What's up? It is time for me to post another entry in my blog. I decided to set aside for now the artwork topic... well, sort of. Today is my birthday. I can hear many people saying: so what? :) Well, I am not very fond of birthdays... correction, I am not very fond of my own birthday, I am very low key about it. But, today I'm turning 40, which is, want it or not, a good opportunity to look back and see how I've done. And that's exactly what I'm doing: I am trying to evaluate how much I have improved my art skills (see? I told you I wasn't really done talking about my artwork). As in most things in life, we can be overly rigid when we evaluate ourselves... or just the opposite, overly soft. I personally think that it all depends on what we want to achieve in life. We ourselves can see our lives as a complete failure or a great success. Often times, the how we feel has nothing to do with our real achievements or shortcomings, it is more a question of how content we are with what we've done. I mention this because, I am looking at my life as an artist at this moment, and I see a lot of things that I did wrong... or at least not in the optimal way. Many things that I could have done different, that most likely would have put me in a better path regarding my artwork. Oh, how different things would have been... but, as strange as it sounds, I wouldn't trade my life experiences for anybody else's. I wouldn't change the decisions that I made in the past, even knowing that they might not be the best ones. I learned a long time ago that my mistakes have as much weight on who I am as an artist, as my successes do. Yes, my path would have been different, probably better if I had known better from the beginning... but at the end, I am who I am, due mainly to every single one of my actions. Then, I am content with who I am, with what I've done. Does that mean that there isn't any room for improvement? Does it mean that I am content and therefore I don't need to change styles, switch directions, take risks? Of course not! It just means that I am ok with the path that I've taken through my life. I am content with the artist that I am today and the potential that I have for tomorrow. If you are an artist, be it a newbie or a seasoned one, this is my sincere advice: do what you like, do it because you like it. It will make things a lot less harder. Now that I am officially 40 years old, I can take a minute to sit down and look back. I can see the artist that I was when I was a little kid; the artist I became when I was a teenager; the artist into whom I evolved when I became an adult. Each one of those different artists, along with the countless gradations in between, are what constitutes me an artist as a whole. Artists paint, sculpt, compose, etc., from their inner persona, from their life experiences and feelings. I am not exception, and I am proud to do so. I am also proud to be able to share what I create, with anybody who will appreciate it. I want to share a couple of toons from my oldest batch, back when I started to draw pin-ups in cartoon form (late 2004). The style is completely different, as well as the technique. Some of you might remember these images from the early days. Seeing images like these can give you a better perspective of how much I have learned in the past and therefore how much I can still give. Not that there is something wrong with these images, they worked very well back when I was at that stage. But, same as I pushed myself back then, I still do it today. So, cheers for these past years of my life, a big chunk of which taught me to be the artist that I am today. Being an artist is my life, not a hobby, not a job. It is who I am. And I look forward to keep feeling like this for at least another 40 years. After that, when I'm 80, I might become a airplane pilot, a stripper, a superhero... who knows? it's too early to tell. :)
Thank you for the birthday wishes, I've been getting them since yesterday and still are coming. Thank you for all your support to my artwork. With that kind of support I have no other choice but keep creating. As I said before, let's keep going for another 40 years at least. See you next! ~Pops.
2 Comments
JT Peterson
11/9/2016 08:28:17 am
Thank You Popeye for your Radiant Inspiration!!! You make our World Beautiful in SO MANY Ways! LIFE gets SO MUCH Sweeter from 40 my Friend!!! WE are NOW the "Grown Ups"!!! Let s teach better ways of being AND The Artist's Way you so exemplify!!! I am HONORED and BLESSED to know you💥❤️💥!
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Popeye Wong
11/9/2016 08:23:21 pm
Thank you so much JT! Life is pretty good, so I look forward to live in the 40's, he, he. I am the one who feels honored, for having your support and for being able to call you friend. Thanks!
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Popeye WongPin-up artist by day… and also by night. Well, mostly by night, because night time is my favorite time to paint. Archives
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