Entry posted by Jean Valjean
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The above thumbnail links to a much larger image that counts as my first piece of artwork here in a very long time. It took about eight hours between the dates of 11/17/12 and 11/18/12. The dimensions are 11"x16". Also, while I usually listen to music while doing my art, this time around my audio diet was a bit anorexic, although I did listen to some Don McLean.
It's interesting, because even though I titled this piece "That's Love!", I never met the people who commissioned it because a third party accepted the commission for me, and I really know nothing about this couple other than that this is an engagement picture. Apparently the woman is a teacher in the middle school I used to go to, but I'm unacquainted. In hindsight, it's odd that I penciled in such a title, because I have no way of making any judgment on what sort of relationship I had. This is a picture of a hug. Anyone can hug. Calling it love was a leap of faith and an expression of my hopes. They do, after all, come from a community with strong family values, and I hope that those virtues make their way into the union between what I can only pray are two individuals of strong character. Let us all wish them a wonderful marriage.
Speaking of which, for all those unmarried people out there who are uncertain about the success of marriage in our culture today, I have good news. The figure that most marriages end in divorce is a bit misleading, because that takes into account second, third, fourth, et cetera marriages. The number of individuals who manage to marry once, get it right, and stay married, however, is in the majority. Here's to all those happy married couples.
This is also where I talk about some of my views on marriage and love, and I most certainly believe that there's a lot more to these things than heat of the moment feelings, and they don't exist for the purpose of these impassioned embraces. It works the other way around. Moments like the one you see in this picture exist for something greater, to achieve some ultimate purpose, but in the meantime, on their own they are really small. They're just works of art. These people felt it; I saw it and drew it. Two different mediums, but essentially, the same thing. We see a manifestation of something greater, something worth believing in, and deep down inside there's a faith in that idea. Aristotle talked about happiness - eudaimonia - in his Nicomachean Ethics, in which he said some very interesting things about achieving an ultimate end. These are big thoughts, too big to be expressed here, but they weigh in the back of my mind as I ponder the future of this couple.
Whatever this faith in something better is, I can simplify it in the excited exclamation "That's Love!" It's more than two people just liking each other. It's more than just a desire to cling onto something good. It's love, and even though I have no way of knowing what's in their hearts, I will be praying for these two nameless individuals out there in the real world that they may find selflessness through each other.
Also, since this picture was too big to fit on the scanner all at once, I scanned it a second time to cover the other corner so that you may see the hands. Enjoy this second link.
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