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
You know I’d love that analogy…
😀
this is the perfect way to explain the difference
Yes. And the mastery of an artist
This is terrific!
Isn’t it though.
Whoa.
Yep. Exactly.
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!
Smiling. Thank you Carol!
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. 🙂
You then work your magic!
Beautifully said. Not something I ever would have thought of as I know nothing about painting.
Me too!
Bloody great
“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!
Me too!
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.
Ha. I could do the banana thing too.
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.
So agree Beth. I was swept away in his essay. Wonderful. Hope you are well.