“MY WIFE got me an acrylic paint set some time ago, and I have dabbled with it enough to reach a few conclusions. One, painting really is enjoyable and therapeutic…I can lose myself in it in the same way I can lose myself in puttering in the garden or ironing (and yes, I do enjoy ironing, as most old Marines do). Two, I have absolutely no talent for painting. And three, I have a fresh respect for artists who can actually produce objects that actually look like what the artist envisioned. There is a certain arrogance among many today, helped along by the repulsive garbage known as postmodern art, that anyone can just grab up a brush, swish it around in some Van Dyke brown, and create art. Likewise, the same breezy assumptions crouch behind the oft-heard statement, ‘I may write a book someday.’ Two sides of the same tin coin. ‘If I can draw a stick figure, I can produce art, and If I can write a sentence, I can write.’

— S.K. Orr, Steeple Tea

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