A Joy Ride in a Paintbox

“Painting is a companion with whom one may hope to walk a great part of life’s journey.”
— Winston Churchill, Painting as Pastime

The current state of my work table — watercolors and brushes, a stack of books, and found objects from nature

” . . . painting is a friend who makes no undue demands, excites to no exhausting pursuits, keeps faithful pace even with feeble steps, and holds her canvas as a screen between us and the envious eyes of Time or the surly advance of Decrepitude.”
— Winston Churchill, Painting as Pastime

I enjoyed reading Winston Churchill’s Painting as Pastime, a short book, a single essay about the virtues of hobbies and especially painting.  Churchill took up painting in his 40s, and he encourages those of us in middle or advanced age to forget about lessons and simply have the audacity to pick up a paintbox and have a try:  ” . . . the first quality that is needed is Audacity.  There is no time for the deliberate approach.  Two years of drawing-lessons, three years of copying woodcuts, five years of plaster casts — these are for the young. . . We must not be too ambitious.  We may content ourselves with a joy ride in a paintbox.  And for this Audacity is the only ticket.”

Isn’t he great with words?  I will leave you with one more quote:  “Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely.  Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end, of the day.”