Lisa Velez

Due to the support of my eccentric but talented art teacher, I slowly expressed my emotions, feelings, or thoughts into physical pieces. My favorite art piece is a mediocre painting I made in 10th grade: a body, one half is Kim Jong-Un and the other half is an impoverished child. Poorly made, it still epitomizes my belief in art’s ability to capture political thought and passionate emotions to move others. It felt amazing to go with one’s inspiration and create something just for the sake of creation. I have taken art since 7th grade, and for my AP Art Exam this year, my concentration portfolio consists of figure paintings of my friends who were willing to pose oddly for me. Simultaneously drawing odd and interesting body figure with my friends’ cooperation makes the process even more fun. I enjoy the relaxing process of creating something by myself. Wanting to see how well I could do, I have submitted four pieces to a regional art competition and have earned high scores. Unfortunately, I never qualified for state and there is still much room for improvement in the future. And because of my love for art, I am the vice president for Art Club and the volunteer coordinator for National Art Honor Society- both organizations that allow me to become friends with others that are just like me. I am also involved in many of the organizations offered at our school, such as National Spanish Honor Society and National Honor Society, that have allowed me to give back to the community that I have come to love. Ultimately, I know that the memories I have made in these groups has shaped me into a person who will continue to work hard in the

The more I observe, the more I understand who I am. I come from a small town in a very cold part of the world, where very few exciting events occur. This means, I have to work extra hard to become an artist. I remember having my neighbor say, “You aren’t an artist until I buy a painting from you,” and she did. I never wanted the money, but I did enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that what I create makes others happy. So many people in town encourage me and support me with my dreams, and all I do in return is help them back in return. When people need a little sunshine on gray, winter days, I am there to lend them my happiness. That is why I am able to succeed. When failure strikes his wrath upon me, I learn from the mistakes rather be held back –being optimistic allows me to grow much quicker than if I were to be

The short story, The Right to Fail by William Zinsser, explains how it is acceptable to fail and learn from one's mistakes and to not go down the path society has made socially acceptable. Zinner has a positive outlook on the concept of failing, he explains, “Success can be dangerous- you feel you know it all. I’ve learned a  great deal from my failures.” As life goes on, everyone may not succeed the same way or even succeed at everything they attempt to do, but it is important to learn from mistakes and continue moving forward and to find the path that works for you. Trying new things and failing or succeeding can open new doors to something better.

“it’s impossible to live without failure , unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not lived at all , in such case, you have failed by default” J.K Rowling according to the “uncollege board” (2015)

On the surface level, one could assume that when a person makes a mistake, they have failed. Most would come to the conclusion that if one does not do something correctly then they will have failed at what they were trying to do, and this shows that the first part of this quote is, essentially, accurate. However, when paired with the second part of the quote, the first part becomes clearer. A person that makes a mistake is not necessarily a failure unless they learned nothing from the mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, but that does not make everyone a failure. Being a failure constitutes so much more than making simple mistakes. Unless someone repeatedly makes the same error and does nothing to improve, they should not be considered a failure. This can be exemplified by a rather simple comparison: if one forgets to turn in one assignment for a class, they will not necessarily fail, however, if they constantly do not turn in their assignments, they will most likely end up failing the class. Repetitious errors demonstrate a lack of ability to improve one’s self which probably shows a lack of caring. This would constitute a failure because the person is doing the same thing over and over again without trying anything new that would warrant a different result. Unless a person does not attempt to correct their mistake in any manner, they should not be considered a failure, but if they have gained nothing from the experience, then they are a failure because the opportunity to learn something new was presented to them and they did nothing with it. One mistake does not define a person, but rather the ability to learn or not to learn from mistakes is what defines a

In addition, the willingness to learn through failure can help to reach the desired destiny. Nearly everybody fears failing, because it has been associated with all sorts of negativity. Although an optimistic look on the other side of tripping or falling down in life can make someone to be successful in

It was my freshman year of high school when I took Drawing A; I quickly learned that I had a skill that I had previously ignored and began embracing it. Sophomore year, though, was when I truly started using my art. It was during this year that I received a 4 on my AP-Studio Art portfolio, and won four awards at Scholastic Art and Writing in photography. Art gave me a feeling of accomplishment that I didn’t usually get in the rest of my academics, so I always tried my

The pencil liberates my stresses and sorrows. Bare and unimpeded, my mind is able to isolate itself from anything that was happening in my life. At my art table, which is merely an escape from reality, my curiosity is able to wander. Within this room, five blank canvas's look in on me as I become a mold of my imagination. A step inside my world develops into a sea of color and exploration. The vibrancy of the walls resonates throughout. Over the years, my room has served as my oasis. It’s my escape from monotonous and mundane routines. It’s my exploration of another side of me. I observe such works of art almost as much as I create. Taking notice of my classmates’ innovations and inspired by their creativity, my paintbrush begins to alleviate stress. I strive to produce pieces others will appreciate, but often find myself to be the true admirer. My pride, in this world, is driven simply by my own curiosity to express myself. I credit this side of me as the “passion” that supplements my insane drive for success. This passion has sparked critical thinking in me as well as how I see failure. Life is a blank canvas and you can truly draw whatever you want, and if you fail, you start over and don’t make that same mistake again! Hard work takes ideas quite far, but true success is derived from ingenuity and the generation of

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”

This quote means that even when you try agin it still may fail, but through failing you become better. A time I have failed, but have failed better was when I was trying to read a book,but I would have to start over because I would not read it for a few days, and forget what would happen in the first half of the book. Now I read when I have down time, but sometimes I

The quote, “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough,” by Og Mandino is true and well-said. This quote is saying that if one has enough determination to achieve success, failure will not be an outcome. I agree with this quote because when one is determined, they do not have any intention of giving up until they have succeeded. A real life example that supports this quote is, when your grades are suffering and you really need to improve them. You must have perseverance to achieve this goal. With enough perseverance, you keep trying until your grades have improved and failure will not overtake you. Another real life example that supports this quote is, you really want to get chosen to be on the soccer

Perfection is impossible. There is no one in the world who has not failed at least a hundred times. However, the hard part is learning from that failure and growing from it. People tend to bury their failures and try to hide them almost like a time capsule, hidden inside for a long time until someone finds it again. They are afraid of someone finding that time capsule and expecting treasures and spoils, but to be disappointed to only find worthless failures. We view failure as something that is worthless and disappointing and see success as a treasure. We expect something good out of anything we’ve worked so hard for and are returned with disappointment, as we can’t always succeed . We need to learn to realize is that failure is good and allows you to achieve success, if you let it be a learning experience. You need to overcome the fear of failure, persist your way through challenges, and know where you want to be in the end.

Failure is something that we cannot go through life without experiencing. The best thing about failure is that failure can be used as a great learning experience to improve upon things in our lives and career. Using failure as a learning tool is dependent upon the person and how they view it as well as how they use it. Failure is a matter of perspective and the lessons in failure are important aspects towards growth and development. If we did not experience failure there wouldn’t be opportunities for learning. Failure can teach us about ourselves as well as provide an understanding for our

Failure often times leads a person to feel helpless, disappointed and depressed. However,one should not allow this to set them back in trying to achieve the ultimate aim one has set out to do. Failure in the beginning can often be a powerful incentive to reassess one’s position in wanting to achieve the particular aims; to analyse whether the purpose is worth the trouble the person has to undergo and the whether the obstacles are surmountable.

There is no finality about failure, said Jawaharlal Nehru. Perhaps, that is why learning from failure is easier than learning from success, as success often appears to be the last step of the ladder. Possibilities of life, however, are endless and there are worlds beyond the stars-which is literally true. What appears as success in one moment may turn out to be a failure or even worse in the next moment.We often do not know what is failure and what is success ultimately.