“What It Used To Feel Like”
An enormous hand wrapped in billowing blue fabric stretches down from the sky, holding an ordinary number two pencil. The pencil touches the ground as it begins to draw, adding to the rural scenery around it. The flowing fabric around the hand is intended to convey the nature of the young, wild, and untamed artist who did not know what he was doing, but was having fun in the process. He did not care to use special tools, nor did he need an array of expensive artist materials, but a singular number two pencil.
I made this painting to articulate the idea that children’s imaginations are powerful and unbound. This is reflected in the idealistic and primary color palette, similar to how a child might envision the world when they are young. Drawing for me used to feel so carefree and simple to me. There wasn’t yet pressure to make anything “good”. Children do not think too much about what they make, and yet, they find joy in it. This is because the act of creating itself is special, and simply existing in a body that is able to express itself is serendipitous. I understand what Picasso said when he expressed, “It took me four years to paint like Rafeal, but a lifetime to paint like a child”.
Now, as an adult pursuing a “professional art career”, it takes constant effort to remind myself to keep the process enjoyable and not think too much about what others will think. I try to embody my younger self, who was enamored by the simple act of creating and intuitively knew at the time that art does not have to make sense to anybody but me.
oil on canvas
36 x 96 inch.
2025
“What It Used To Feel Like”
An enormous hand wrapped in billowing blue fabric stretches down from the sky, holding an ordinary number two pencil. The pencil touches the ground as it begins to draw, adding to the rural scenery around it. The flowing fabric around the hand is intended to convey the nature of the young, wild, and untamed artist who did not know what he was doing, but was having fun in the process. He did not care to use special tools, nor did he need an array of expensive artist materials, but a singular number two pencil.
I made this painting to articulate the idea that children’s imaginations are powerful and unbound. This is reflected in the idealistic and primary color palette, similar to how a child might envision the world when they are young. Drawing for me used to feel so carefree and simple to me. There wasn’t yet pressure to make anything “good”. Children do not think too much about what they make, and yet, they find joy in it. This is because the act of creating itself is special, and simply existing in a body that is able to express itself is serendipitous. I understand what Picasso said when he expressed, “It took me four years to paint like Rafeal, but a lifetime to paint like a child”.
Now, as an adult pursuing a “professional art career”, it takes constant effort to remind myself to keep the process enjoyable and not think too much about what others will think. I try to embody my younger self, who was enamored by the simple act of creating and intuitively knew at the time that art does not have to make sense to anybody but me.
oil on canvas
36 x 96 inch.
2025