FIB- what does that even mean?

Art became an obsession at a young age. 

There was nothing I wanted more in my life than art. 

I carried a sketchbook with me everywhere. School, church, home. 

It never left my side. I was always drawing.

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Being an artist served two purposes:

• It gave me a safe place to work out my thoughts (I hid behind it- and behind my sketchbook) 
• It drew people to me

Somewhere to hide that also attracted people...

Seems ironic, surely. 

But making friends was (and still is) hard for me. 

Back then, I didn't think much of myself or my personality (luckily this has changed a bit).

Yet with art, I could at the very least say I was an artist, and be interesting because of it. 

If someone was interested in my work, I figured they'd be someone I could get along with because we shared similar interests. 

It was a decent way to make friends. 

Pretty smart for a nine-year-old. 

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The reason I bring this up, is because I think there's something about ourselves that we all like. 

Whether it be a skill- like art, cooking, or even tech stuff- or simply one of our better personality traits, like being kind, selfless, eager- we all want to be proud of something. 

But what about the things we aren't proud of? 

Our hidden emotions. 

• jealousy
• rage
• depression 
• cynicism
• melancholy

These are all very real, very strong feelings.

But they are not the pretty ones. 

Feeling Is Being (F.I.B) holds two meanings. 

• Our ugly thoughts and emotions are human and naturally occurring. "Being" meaning our human nature. 
• F.I.B. or fib, means to tell a small lie. By hiding how we feel, we are lying to ourselves and pretending. 

Now, to clarify...

I don't necessarily mean to imply that you should just accept whatever "ugliness"  you feel as a side effect of who you are (I think the way our brain reacts to things can be rewired, if we so choose)…

But rather that there's no need to pretend these "ugly" emotions don't exist for the sake of saving face or to keep up our public-image. 

Pretending they don't exist is like pretending through life. 

Every negative emotion serves a purpose, and ignoring them is bound to make them come back stronger. 

It you see them as character flaws, imagine how relieving it would be to just accept them and let go? 

That's what my artwork does for me. My paintings are my "ugliness" outlets. Although they can be happy too. 

Better put, they are my unique reflections. 

The big takeaway here is that I understand. 

You and I are simply human. We are flawed. 

But we are trying.

Sky. 

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P.S. Human nature is crazy and beautiful. If you'd like to see more of my work as the weeks go by- what "ugliness" will present itself upon my canvas- feel free to follow on either Instagram or Facebook. 

Thank you sincerely, 

Skylan Abraham of Art by FIB

www.facebook.com/feelingisbeing

www.instagram.com/art.by.fib