ARTLESS

One of my great regrets in life is that I have absolutely no artistic ability. None whatsoever. Zilch. That mess of color above represents my one attempt at oils about 35 years ago. One of my friends looked at the painting and very kindly remarked, "It's hard to paint water." Tell me about it. Needless to say, I gave away my brushes, tubes of paint, etc. The young man I gave them too, Scott, became an artist. Here's a sample of one of his murals.



I was disappointed that some hidden talent didn't emerge from my exploration in oil because I thought it might make a nice hobby in retirement. I recall President Eisenhower did some painting after he left the White House and Winston Churchill did quite a bit when he finished being Prime Minister for the last time. Ha! Who am I to compare myself to Eisenhower and Churchill?

I've never had artistic ability. I think it's a combination of not being able to see things the way an artist does and not having the hand-eye coordination to turn an imagine in my mind into a physical representation. It's doesn't matter what medium I used. I can't draw right with pencils, ink or charcoal. My clay work always came out looking like lumps of dinosaur droppings. Even my pop-sickle stick art in Vacation Bible School was a fright.

I did have one success in fourth grade with tempera on wet paper. I did a pretty nifty vase of flowers. When the teacher looked at it she gave me some advice about adding some yellow on one side, which I did a couple of times. She was quite busy helping other students, so when I brought the painting to her for the third time, she said, "Very nice. Hang it on the wall." This was the first time that ever happened to me. After art class was over, she looked at the paintings on the wall and came to my flowers. "Who did this one?" she asked. I raised my hand. "You!" she exclaimed utterly astonished.

That was my first and last successful bit of art. By eighth grade the art teacher declared I was "a waste of paint" and assigned me to clean up the art supplies after class in return for a passing grade. I wish I could have worked out a deal like that with the mechanical drawing teacher in high school. I passed by the skin of my teeth.

It's a shame that I lack any artistic talent because I enjoy looking at art so much. I have dozens of books, especially on the impressionists, that I pour over. I go to museums and galleries for exhibitions. I even own several original oil paintings and one water color. But creating something myself? No, that is never to be. I don't think about it very much, except a few weeks ago when the newspaper had drawings of school children on the back page. That's when I saw this one by a first-grader, Tianna.



Great, isn't it? I wonder if she would give me lessons? Probably not. Anyway, I'd be afraid to ask. She might tell me I'm a waste of crayons.

May the Lord bless you on your way and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne

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