Saturday, September 18, 2010

Never too old for...
finding our artsy fartsy

I found - and lost - my artsy fartsy in my 4th grade art class. We were being taught depth perception and had to draw telephone poles as practice. The poles were to be drawn so that someone looking at the drawing would see them slowly receding into the distance. For some reason, my "eye" didn't understand the concept and, as a result, my telephone polls ended up in a straight line across the page, like they were all waiting for a bus.

The teacher walked the aisles to take up our drawings and paused when she got to me. She looked at my paper, held it up for the other students to see, then led the class in a group chuckle about what she called "the stick men poles." Yes, I know. Humiliation issues. But that's a topic for another blog.

My artsy fartsy went AWOL. I didn't draw again until my early 50s. Because of a thoughtless grade school teacher, I remained convinced for decades that I had no talent for that sort of thing.

Thankfully, I am not without any artistic flair. I write. I play the piano and I love arranging flowers. But one night a few years ago, after everyone had gone to bed, I opened a water color set I'd received as a gift on my 50th birthday. I doodled around a bit and ended up drawing a big, colorful flower. There was no one there to make fun of it and doing it made me feel good. There have been several more drawings since then and I think I've got my artsty fartsy back!

If you've lost and found your artsy fartsy, please share the story with me here, under "Comments."

Note:
One of my favorite ways to enjoy a balmy day in Florida is cruising an arts and crafts festival. There are at least eight scheduled around the sunshine state before the end of the year. You can find more information about each one by visiting ArtFestival.com


~ Until next time, don't act your age! ~

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