24 The Love of Art.



The Love of Art.

I disliked art when I was at school, and that dislike went on into my working life. Then I discovered that art was nothing like the idea I had built up about it.

There was a little boy called Mark who like me disliked the art time at school. He just could not for the life of himself draw. he was continually getting into trouble because the more he tried the more he disliked it. Then one day he found a beautiful pencil. He just could not resist. He picked it up and drew a circle. He immediately knew it was not a good circle and was about to throw it away like all the others before. But then he heard a voice saying to him, " You are not going to leave me like this? No mouth or nose or eyes. go on give me a mouth."

So he did and was told not a good one and rubbed it out and tried again the drawing telling him how to make it better. This went on for most of the day until he discovered he had a good looking face before him. He was pleased. 

The next day he took it to school and showed it to the art teacher who gave him much praise. That afternoon he and the magic pencil worked again and it was even better. 

He said to the magic pencil how pleased he was only to be told that the pencil was just like any other but had he noticed that rather than give up he had kept on practising and trying. He was bound to get better. 

Next day he could not find the pencil, he had lost it. Hey, presto he discovered that just about any pencil worked. The harder he tried the better it got. 

It is not always the case that there is an innate skill, many great artists will tell you how much practice they put in. We just have to want to do it, as with anything in life. Things of worth and value do not always come easy.


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