I walk into the art museum with a closed mind, expecting to get very little out of this experience. The first room I enter there’s a dark black pitch fork leaning against a white wall, a dead sunflower, and a few pieces of what look to be bread on the floor. Many thoughts run through my mind. How is this considered art? How am I supposed to connect with a pitch fork? What hidden meaning does a dead sunflower have?

I see many paintings as I wander aimlessly through the museum, but find no meaning. Doubt starts to seep into my mind. What am I going to write about, if  I can’t find a piece that I understand? One painting draws my attention as I walk by it for the third time. Finally, I may have something to write about.

At first glance, I see outer space with no meaning behind it. Dark black lingers at the bottom of the painting, reminding me of all of the unknown in outer space. It gives off a vibe of emptiness. As I look closer in the black, I notice a few scratches. Very faint smudges of red occupy a part of the dark unknown, looking like small explosions. Fluffy streaks of color lay above the dark, gloomy bottom, just like clouds seep over the sky. Bright yellow-orange pops effortlessly through the fluffy sky, coloring the streaks many different shades. It reminds me of a sunrise on a partly cloudy morning. The sun draws my eyes to it, making it the center of attention. Small raised dots can be felt by touch and look to be different planets far off in the distance. Defined white lines flash throughout the colorful sky like shooting stars.

As I continue to examine my painting, I feel a sense of understanding. I no longer see outer space, but life in general. Life is filled with many failures and successes. Many times struggles and failures can lead to success. The dark colors of the painting remind me of all of my  struggles and failures, while the bright colors are the successes and victories in my life. I have the ability to paint my own canvas of life, and it is up to me to decide whether it is full of color, or full of darkness.

A particular image pops into my head as I look into the darkness of the painting. It’s of me sitting at my desk, at home, for the fourth night in a row doing homework. I can smell popcorn being popped in the kitchen, a smell I have grown very familiar with. I hear my siblings bickering in the living room, trying to choose a movie. It’s family movie night; I’m missing out, once again. A few hours go by, the movie is over, and my family is asleep. It’s now 11:30 p.m., and I’m still sitting at my desk doing homework. By the time I finish my homework and head to bed it’s almost 1:00 in the morning.

This describes one of the biggest struggles in my life right now, homework. I have always pushed myself to do my very best in everything I do, especially academically. One of my goals in high school is to be Valedictorian. To reach this goal, I sacrifice a lot of time that could be spent with family and friends, doing homework, instead. This is very hard for me. I sacrifice my own health and happiness to achieve my goal of being Valedictorian. Many nights I want to give up and stop caring about my grades, but I don’t. Why would I give up now? What an accomplishment it will be to achieve my goal. Being Valedictorian will add another colorful explosion to my canvas of life.

This painting reminds me to keep pushing through because greatness is at the end of this long journey. Pushing myself to do my best in school will only help me in the future. Not only am I going to be better prepared for college, but I could potentially save money on college tuition. Most importantly, I have the drive to succeed. I want more than anything in this world to succeed. I see the bright colors of this painting as all of the things I will accomplish in my life.

Success, a word so small but with so much meaning and so much heart. If I were to describe this painting in one word this would be it.

Stefanie Motto is an amazing artist. Through her painting, I learned a lot about myself. My interpretation of her painting, Rainy Lake, helped me realize things that I hadn’t before writing this paper. At first glance this painting meant absolutely nothing to me, but in the end correlated with my life in many ways. I was reminded through this painting that I need to see all of the colors in life and not focus on the darkness. The struggles in my life are just challenges that contribute to achieving my dream of succeeding. When my life comes to an end, I want to leave this earth knowing that I painted a beautiful canvas full of colorful explosions.