A superb painter let me take a brush to a canvas that she said she was abandoning. I tried to continue a simple black stroke that she had started. The contrast between the controlled pressure of her touch and my flaccid smear shocked me, physically. It was like shaking hands with a small person who flips you across a room.
~ Peter Schjeldahl, The Art of Dying (The New Yorker, December 16, 2019)
Notes:
- His entire essay: Highly recommended.
- Photo: Klas-Goran Johansson
Live & Learn 
You know I’d love that analogy…
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😀
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this is the perfect way to explain the difference
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Yes. And the mastery of an artist
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This is terrific!
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Isn’t it though.
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Whoa.
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Yep. Exactly.
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Some years, one lumbers around the Internet looking for exactly this read. (Thank u, DK!) I’m even more glad that he enjoyed writing it!
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Smiling. Thank you Carol!
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As an artist, I am always surprised when people say they would love to paint but have no talent or simply cannot. It feels such an integral part of who I am there is no gap between wanting to do it and doing it. – then again, I don’t tend to abandon paintings. I just paint over them. 🙂
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You then work your magic!
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Beautifully said. Not something I ever would have thought of as I know nothing about painting.
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Me too!
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Bloody great
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“What we hope ever to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence.”
― Samuel Johnson
I love watching people do what they are gifted at!
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Me too!
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wow – such a powerful comment about the underestimated skill of an artist (although I think I could duct tape a banana to a wall). love the handshake analogy as well.
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Ha. I could do the banana thing too.
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This is really quite a wonderful mini memoir [The Art of Dying]. I’ve read it several times and it is a classic in its own way. Memoir, confessional document, commentary tangentially about a time and culture that is passing from view. Lovely.
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So agree Beth. I was swept away in his essay. Wonderful. Hope you are well.
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