[Jacqueline Dunster]

Jacqueline, it sounds as though you've rubbed elbows with a few folks who perhaps were jealous of your interest in and talent for drawing well, but they had their agendas and you have your own work to do. Part of their work, perhaps even unknown to them, might well have been to provide the sort of provocation that would make you all the more diligent in perfecting your skills, a sort of irritant around which the pearl of your own talent would develop.

What a lovely way you have of putting that!

Yes, in part, they made me stronger in my resolve. But there wasn't much risk that I'd waver in that. I was (and am) quite fixed upon honing my drawing and painting skills. I was just appalled by their apathy. It wasn't just the tracing, it was the unwillingness to pick up a pencil or brush for any project that wasn't required. If they weren't being paid for it, or required to do it for a class, they just didn't do it. I thought that was quite a joyless way to approach art. Yes, indeed. Quite a few bad experiences I've had!

"Some of the Divine Masters who come into your life are going to be real SOB's."

Ain't that the truth.

As to this matter of the ends justifying the means, my current perspective is that while I am of course always delighted to have a piece turn out well, and I'm not embarrassed to have others share in my delight, the truth is that I'm usually a little disappointed when a piece is finished, when the "ends" have arrived, because it's in the "means" that I have all my fun.

Exactly!!!

And while I have said earlier that, yes, sometimes I just have to -- or for whatever reasons simply choose to -- use various mechanical aids in the process, I find that to the extent I do so, some of the fun that is really the only reason I paint is diminished.

That's the way I see it as well. If it is necessary to use some mechanical means, it is, but that doesn't mean that drawing and painting is some sort of punishment. It isn't a "chore" that needs to be gotten through as soon as possible. It's a delight.

I obviously have been soured by encountering people who did not have this feeling of "delight". Their attitude towards drawing and tracing was just one manifestation of that.

I'm hedonistic, I guess -- I do what's necessary to maximize my pleasure in this beauty-filled vocation.

What a beautiful, poetic way of putting it! Unfortunately, I guess none of us can compell someone else to see the joy in the process. If they don't feel that joy, they don't, I guess.

The thing that primarily prompted me to start this thread was a reader review on Amazon.com. The attitude was kind of like "don't waste your time with this book - it's full of all that boring drawing stuff". Such a discouraging attitude. I really have a problem with that. I disagree (strongly) with people who are actively trying to discourage other artists from developing further art skills. As if it's such a miserable drudgery, that it should be done away with as soon as something "easier" comes along (like tracing).

The thing is, some "shortcuts" and "aids" just can't be used all the time (IMO). I don't know how a person can never learn how to draw a thing, and still think that it "doesn't matter", "doesn't make any difference". Well, I shouldn't say that absolutely. In some art styles, for some kinds of paintings, it probably doesn't matter. But the reason that artists have been drawing for ages is that it is still an important and vital skill. It is not unecessary or outdated. It's not a "waste of time". And that's the attitude I almost got from that Amazon book review. Such things just get me worked up sometimes, I guess!

David: sure, there are many ways to get to the same place. Each artist has different backgrounds, different "angles". The work must be good, that's the bottom line.