Sunday, February 26, 2012

A Lot of Lousy Paintings

I teach a beginning oil painting class on Monday evenings.

I tell my students what my painting instructor told me when I began painting:

Relax.

You have to paint a lot of LOUSY paintings before you can paint that GREAT painting.

The great painting destination you will consider MASTERY.

That great masterpiece that you will paint one year from now will only happen....well...one year from now.

I have found this simple but important axiom to apply to nearly every endeavor.

After crossing the finish line of my first sub-four-hour marathon this past October, I recalled the many LOUSY marathons I ran where every mile was a pride-swallowing grind due to amateur training mistakes. Mistakes like carbo-loading on spicy food the night before a race and washing it down with a milkshake for "protein."

LOUSY idea.

LOUSY race.

But it took those LOUSY races to get to the VICTORY race.

The race called MASTERY.

And such it is with any endeavor.

It takes a lot of lousy songs to get to that great song.

It takes a lot of lousy poems to get to that great poem.

It takes a lot of lousy golf games to arrive at that perfect swing.

So if you find yourself in the middle of "Lousy-ville" right now on your way to your destination, I say take heart.

And know that the state of "Lousy-ville" is only a TEMPORARY stop.

Because that awesome destination called MASTERY is just down the road.

It's just a few paintings away.

AMJ

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