“He had the charm that makes birds come out of their trees… Thick mop of hair, blue eyes, natural, engaging, warm, and when he walked into a room you knew he was there, not pushing, not domineering, but exuding animal magnetism.”
These couples of drawings have a difference of 8 years between each other.
I just made this comparison because I don’t believe being able to develop any skill is about talent or just “having a gift”, it’s about perseverance and the wish to overcome your own limitations and get the goals you set for yourself, “making art” is not different, as anything else in life, you must fail until you start to get progress little by little, but I believe you never stop learning and evolving.
You have to be willing to make it “wrong” more times that it will turn out “right”, there’s nothing magical or exceptional about drawing, at least if you’re some Picasso or Caravaggio.
It’s true we all have different capabilities and our brains have different “kinds of intelligence”, but if you really want to get an hability like drawing, you just have to be passionate and stubborn, but also humble and open to constructive criticism.
Watching “I Am JFK Jr.” for the second time. I watched it the night it first aired, then went on a Kennedy (and all of the President’s) documentary binge, so this film can be credited with really getting me interested in politics and history.
I remember where I was the day JFK Jr.’s plane went missing, I was visiting my grandparents in Florida, and I don’t know that I really had an understanding of who he was at the time (I was about 13) but I knew something big was going on. I mean, I remember where I was and watching all of the news coverage.
Having become a huge JFK and RFK fan, I now truly feel the loss of not seeing JFK Jr. continue to grow. When I first watched the documentary, I felt very emotional, because you can look at his trajectory and recognize that it’s highly likely he would’ve run for office, and would probably be President now or someday. So I felt like we were missing out.
It feels like all of the Kennedy’s are promises of something special, the new frontier, and we lost all of them, far too soon.
Note:
I highly recommend viewing, in this order:
PBS’ American Experience: The Kennedy’s PBS’ American Experience: JFK (on Blu Ray) PBS’ American Experience: RFK I Am JFK Jr.
