Bottle of Lighting

Portrait of yours truly by @somerrunner 🖤🎨
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I’ve pushed myself so far out of my own bounds this year, with painting with colors, sharing my story and putting my work out into the world, to name a few ways. It’s been incredibly uncomfortable, but I’ve probably been more productive and grown more than I ever have in such a short period of time.
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If you want to grow as an artist you cannot hold back. This is a problem as we are in a system that keeps telling you “no no no, just do what you’re told.”
And here’s a good exercise to prove it:
Quick, raise your right hand.

Now, raise it higher.

Everybody holds back every time because
that's what you got taught to do. You got
taught to do that by your third grade
teacher, by your soccer coach, by that boss in
that job you hate. They teach you not to go all in because if you put
everything into it, they're just going to
ask for more anyway.
They’ll tell you what to do and then try and get you to do it faster and cheaper than yesterday.

You know who
doesn't hold back? Artists.

Shakespeare didn’t say ‘oh I got a great
line, I'll save it for a future play, I'm
not getting paid enough for this play.’
Jackson Pollock doesn’t say “oh, this
brushstroke, I need that one for later.”
So, find that bottle of lightning
and rage.