Greetings! My name is Peter (nice to meet you), and I have been creating art for over two decades now. I have always seen making art as a job, and spent the majority of my career trying to create pieces that were as precise and pleasing as possible.

My Dad was also an artist, and would often encourage me to let loose and express myself. But I never did, because I thought that was just a silly thing pretentious artists did for art’s sake, and so I continued to pursue what I perceived to be perfection.

After my Dad passed away though, I found myself waking up every day at 3 in the morning, confronted by this unshakable feeling that I was heading down the wrong path. Unable to fall asleep, I started making art in this drowsy semi-conscious state, experimenting with different styles until sunrise.

I would anonymously post my 3 A.M. pieces in the Art section of Reddit, where members vote on their favorite pieces. The results were disheartening to say the least, as I would often get only a couple votes. It was truly embarrassing, with anonymity being my only saving grace.

After months of little to no results, I was starting to lose faith. So one morning I closed my eyes and asked the universe to show me a sign. When I opened them, low and behold... everything was still the same :/ But I did feel super focused, and so I threw caution to the wind and made a new piece without pausing at any point to second guess myself. I called it “Taking A Long Hard Look in the Mirror”, and went to sleep as soon as I was finished.

When I woke up an hour later, I scoffed at what I had created, as this piece was clearly too crude for anyone to care. But I figured I would share it with my Reddit Art community nonetheless, because I had become a glutton for punishment at that point. To my surprise, it garnered over 100 votes pretty quickly, and so I went to make breakfast, pleased to know some people enjoyed it.

When I returned, the piece had gained over 40,000 votes. I was truly baffled at how something so raw and emotional could connect with this many people, as I had never fathomed being able to make art solely with instinct and emotion.

Needless to say, I have been making all my art in this fashion ever since. I hope my artwork now serves as a reminder to us both to trust our instincts and express ourselves as we really are, without compromise or concern for how imperfect that expression may be.

What I have come to learn over time is that perhaps the most beautiful thing in life is not sterile perfection, but rather raw honesty and self-acceptance.

“Taking A Long Hard Look in the Mirror”