How do other people pattern their lives?” I often wonder about that as I notice someone picking out apples at a produce aisle or parking a car in a busy shopping mall lot.
From experience, I have learned that I do not see the same way as a lot of those people. Before the second grade, I somehow stumbled upon using negative space in order to comprehend and draw a positive shape. This practice served as a key to many life lessons.
Sometimes I wish I were not compelled to stare in awe at trees and clouds and those people about whom I wondered. My brother told me I was too nosey. I had mentioned to him I wanted to know about some people I saw walking along the street while we were riding on a bus. As a visual artist for me, since childhood, I have trained myself to watch, wonder and record.
When a student comes to a painting class for the first time, it is that thirst for persistence I endeavor to encourage.
Several years ago I was standing in my booth at an outdoor art show when an artist friend came up and hugged me. I had not seen her for a number of years and she told me she no longer painted, “Like we used to do.”
She had previously attended art shows as I had and we both struggled as exhibitors through outdoor heat, cold, and storms. She shook me by the shoulders, ”But you didn’t quit!” she said. “You kept on going. How did you do it?”
Her comment startled me into the realization that in all my years of learning, I had not discovered how to quit. Nor did I want to practice that dreadful word.
Life is somewhat like an oil painting. It could take as many as six layers to create a desired work. There is little sense in stopping at layer three. Lesson learned? Mix more paint.