Once I grab my blank canvas, my different-sized brushes, a variety of colors, and my palette, I know I’ll be gone for at least two hours. It’s like diving into another world; as if I could immerse myself into the canvas I’m painting and start swimming, creating. Hours pass by so quickly that I lose track of perception and the notion of what is going on around me vanishes. I'm only focused on the now, on the infinite possibilities...what will it be? I choose one with violent passion and so I find myself caressing the top of my canvas with a very thin brush. The point of the brush, which definitely has no more than 6 bristles, is creating intriguing textures, unexpected patterns, and amazing colors. These gentle brush strokes on the canvas start creating amazing figures. Similar to a writer, who needs to finish a thought in order to stop writing, the painter, the artist in me needs to find the perfect moment, the culmination of "a thought", in order to stop and put the brush down for a while.
I take some steps back and watch how the little dots of paint I’ve added have combined to create fascinating figures that seem to be coming to life. From a distance, the forehead of the tiger seems like a vivid section of a photograph, and the stripes are starting to create a beautiful composition.
Suddenly, I realize that I've spend over an hour working on a small section - the tiger's forehead. But this realization goes much deeper than just the time I spent on the small details that make up his forehead. It’s about how long I take in everything I do and the detail I put into everything I do.
On a daily basis, I receive comments about my slowness and how much time I take in doing things. Whether it is eating, taking a shower, writing a blog post, designing a graphic in Photoshop, completing an exam, or finishing a painting. This semester I’ve taken on different projects and tasks that have allowed me to know myself better. Through painting, through my pajama business, through CrepeZ, and through writing once every two weeks, I’ve been able to reflect and learn a lot upon the way in which I approach tasks and projects. These projects and experiences have not only taught me business terms and other concepts, but they’ve also left me with extremely enriching experiences and a tremendous knowledge about myself. Through this important journey, that I've had during the first semester of my last high school year, I have finally noticed that I do not have a physical slowness, or that my slowness hinders my work. It took me a long time to realize this, as it is hard to do so when you’re constantly receiving comments of how slow you are, no matter what you’re doing. Yes, my pace is slower than that of others. Yet, there is something beautiful and worthy beneath that apparent weakness. I believe that my gradual and steady pace, reveal my focus on detail, my calm, well-balanced character, and my measured passion for what I do. I attribute my detained focus on detail on a high interest in the task I'm in. And no, I do not consider myself a perfectionist, I would rather describe myself as meticulous.
No matter if I’m working on painting the stripes of my tiger, on adding each expense on my pajama excel sheet, on designing an advertisement campaign for Crepez, or on writing a blog post to publish at the night - regardless of the task - I always try to do it the best I can. On most occasions - if not all - I take more time than the rest of my classmates to complete things. This used to frustrate me a lot as it’s very annoying to always finish last. But now, I’m totally cool with it; I embrace it and I even value it. I’ve learned to not only understand myself and the way I work and learn best, but also to love it and make the best of it. It is because of the attention I pay to detail that I produce a lot of excellent work that I am proud of. It is because of my meticulousness that I am able to run two businesses at a time and produce the quality work I produce.
I may take longer than most of my classmates and the people around me doing things. It may take me three hours to complete something that someone claims, could be done in one. But this is no longer something that worries me or frustrates me. It is now something I'm learning to love and an amazing discovery I’ve done about myself, that will improve my journey in projects. Everyone should look into themselves, take the time to better know who they are and how they work, to discover the ways they learn the best and perform the best. I’m grateful I’ve been able to do so this semester, through many wonderful opportunities and projects I plan to continue. I look forward to keep on exploring who I am as a person, a student, a business woman and a citizen of the world.
I take some steps back and watch how the little dots of paint I’ve added have combined to create fascinating figures that seem to be coming to life. From a distance, the forehead of the tiger seems like a vivid section of a photograph, and the stripes are starting to create a beautiful composition.
Suddenly, I realize that I've spend over an hour working on a small section - the tiger's forehead. But this realization goes much deeper than just the time I spent on the small details that make up his forehead. It’s about how long I take in everything I do and the detail I put into everything I do.
On a daily basis, I receive comments about my slowness and how much time I take in doing things. Whether it is eating, taking a shower, writing a blog post, designing a graphic in Photoshop, completing an exam, or finishing a painting. This semester I’ve taken on different projects and tasks that have allowed me to know myself better. Through painting, through my pajama business, through CrepeZ, and through writing once every two weeks, I’ve been able to reflect and learn a lot upon the way in which I approach tasks and projects. These projects and experiences have not only taught me business terms and other concepts, but they’ve also left me with extremely enriching experiences and a tremendous knowledge about myself. Through this important journey, that I've had during the first semester of my last high school year, I have finally noticed that I do not have a physical slowness, or that my slowness hinders my work. It took me a long time to realize this, as it is hard to do so when you’re constantly receiving comments of how slow you are, no matter what you’re doing. Yes, my pace is slower than that of others. Yet, there is something beautiful and worthy beneath that apparent weakness. I believe that my gradual and steady pace, reveal my focus on detail, my calm, well-balanced character, and my measured passion for what I do. I attribute my detained focus on detail on a high interest in the task I'm in. And no, I do not consider myself a perfectionist, I would rather describe myself as meticulous.
No matter if I’m working on painting the stripes of my tiger, on adding each expense on my pajama excel sheet, on designing an advertisement campaign for Crepez, or on writing a blog post to publish at the night - regardless of the task - I always try to do it the best I can. On most occasions - if not all - I take more time than the rest of my classmates to complete things. This used to frustrate me a lot as it’s very annoying to always finish last. But now, I’m totally cool with it; I embrace it and I even value it. I’ve learned to not only understand myself and the way I work and learn best, but also to love it and make the best of it. It is because of the attention I pay to detail that I produce a lot of excellent work that I am proud of. It is because of my meticulousness that I am able to run two businesses at a time and produce the quality work I produce.
I may take longer than most of my classmates and the people around me doing things. It may take me three hours to complete something that someone claims, could be done in one. But this is no longer something that worries me or frustrates me. It is now something I'm learning to love and an amazing discovery I’ve done about myself, that will improve my journey in projects. Everyone should look into themselves, take the time to better know who they are and how they work, to discover the ways they learn the best and perform the best. I’m grateful I’ve been able to do so this semester, through many wonderful opportunities and projects I plan to continue. I look forward to keep on exploring who I am as a person, a student, a business woman and a citizen of the world.