On The Words of Others

An attempt at painting "Opa"

“Oh, that’s nice,” she said insincerely. “What is it?” Someone else asked. “It looks like a gorilla,” said another. “Izzat supposed to be a person?” spoke someone.

The artist quivered and shriveled back into his shell and said quietly, “Well, I guess I will never try THAT again!” And he didn’t. And that was the end of that. Afterwards, all he did was the ‘easy stuff’ where it was comfortable.

He made the mistake of listening to someone else . . . .the wrong voice.

Too bad!! That person might have developed a terrific skill had he not listened and persisted in spite of the words of someone else. So many of us hinge every activity and attempt in life on the words of others, as though their opinions were more important than our own personal beliefs or ideas.

I am, at this point in my artistic development, not very skilled at figures . . .especially if I don’t have a model to work from. Some of it is unfamiliarity and lack of practice. Some of it is the lack of experience with a new medium. This painting of “Opa” is an example of that stumped development. (The sketches in preparation for this attempt appeared a few days ago. Scroll down and find them.)

Mind you, I am not one to shrink from challenge or experiments. Further, I know that failure is more of a friend in my education than easy successes. As I painted this attempt and fully experienced the DISAPPOINTMENT in the outcome, I found myself recalling the succinct and very wise admonition of another person to whom I have listened carefully before; Winston Churchill. . . . . . .

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“Neva! Neva! Neva Give UP!

(Obviously!)