I’ve been reading a book, Mindset, Carol S. Dweck, and it’s a great read. I would recommend taking a look at it. The clear message comes from her experience with children and education. Basically, she notices that children are not afraid to fail and largely welcome chances to learn and play.
Of course, some children learn early in our education system that taking chances and being wrong are “defects”, and they quickly learn to conform to a belief system that encourages them to “play it safe.”
So, while reading, I was considering the recent election, and a thought formed. President Elect Biden had managed to flip Arizona, which I thought was something of poetic justice, as did many others, as it was the home state of Senator John McCain – an American hero – mercilessly attacked by Donald J. Trump, in life and after his unfortunate death,
Well, as a veteran, this never sat well with me, and an image formed in my mind. A little jest, which I thought would be cool to see, but I am not a “cartoonist.” Still, the image was so clear in my mind, I thought, “what the heck, let’s try to render it!”
My artistic skills are… well, improving, but this project seemed doable, and I marshaled some fortitude and decided to tackle it, in the spirit of “Try New Things”, and without regard to how bad it could be (failure).
In the end I manged to create that image, and had a lot of fun doing it. On the whole, I think it was worth the effort, even if it ultimately passes as an amateurish effort. It doesn’t matter. Trying new things is a reward in itself.