The More You Know

...the more you know you don't know.

As I'm going through older images to post on Instagram for Flashback Fridays, I cringe over areas I see that could use improvement. At this point, I notice things that I could have done better in images from a few years back. But, I imagine in three or so years from now, I'll look at current images and think the same way.

I had a friend write to me laughing at the fact that I called myself a "hack" in an introduction on a site. But between that and noticing flaws in my older work, it made me think "the more you know, the more you know you don't know."

I don't think any honest professional today would say they know everything. If they do, they are lying and they are cutting themselves off from the beauty of learning. New techniques and new technology arise every day. If you call yourself an expert and don't think you have anything else to learn, you will stunt your growth.

The more you learn, the more you realize there are infinite possibilities and constant learning. There is no such thing as perfection. Sadly, that puts most artists in a torturous spiral of learning, loving, and hating what we do. It's a delicate balance to accept and love our flaws, while still striving toward perfection, knowing we will never reach it.

As artists, we should always study and keep our minds open to learning, but we should also be forgiving of our flaws.