REVIVING
A LOST SKILL
Have
you ever looked back to a time when a
once-honed skill had produced a satisfying feeling of fulfillment in your life? Maybe a hobby or a pursuit that you
“just loved” doing in a bygone day—something that, at the time, brought you a
feeling of industriousness and creativity? Enough with all the questions!
Having read these few lines, perhaps, vivid scenes are already crowding your
mind with nostalgic, but aging memories.
After
my retirement from industry (last year) I came home with ideas of just taking
it easy and catching my breath, hoping to lead a quiet and peaceful existence
by reading books, watching TV and going for coffee with a few of my cronies.
What a misconception! I soon found that although I enjoyed reading, it just did not feel feasible to be sitting on the couch, reading the whole day away, and as much as I enjoyed relaxing in front of
the box, it quickly became boring. My old cronies had their own lives and
coffee meetings were few and far between—besides, how much coffee can one
drink in a day?
It
was a no-brainer that some soul-searching in the area of viable hobbies had to
be undertaken but everything I looked at either cost too much money or would
take too long for me to master. It was then that I revisited my past. At the
age of four years my parents recognized that I was good at arts and crafts. My
older brother, Robert, was also an excellent sketcher in his younger days, so
my father decided to send both of us to a Saturday art class in the big city. I
spent three years of Saturdays doing all sorts of painting, drawing, sketching
and clay modelling, which served me well in my primary school years. I loved
doing it and often would be found sketching when I should have been doing
school homework.
It
was the teenage years that killed the dream. Life, with all its excitement and
temptation, got hold of me and it was not long that art was totally on the
back-burner, despite taking it as a subject in high school. By the time I was a young adult that
back-burner had all but extinguished itself. I can honestly say that I never
put brush to canvas or pencil to paper, the latter being my real forte, until
last year, when my career-years suddenly and finally came to an end. After those
soul-searching moments I surrendered to the nostalgic emotions of my youth by
tentatively purchasing some water colour paints, pencils and ink-sketching pens, to start the process. An out-of-touch talent was immediately
invigorated and after several attempts the old skill began to revive, returning
with a hesitant intimacy. Check out my paintings and sketches below
THE TWO BOOKS THAT I CURRENTLY HAVE FOR SALE.
THESE TWO EXCITING SAGAS ARE AVAILABLE AS EBOOKS ON AMAZON.COM, BARNES & NOBLE, ITUNES, FOUNDRY PAGE AND MORE.....
THESE TWO EXCITING SAGAS ARE AVAILABLE AS EBOOKS ON AMAZON.COM, BARNES & NOBLE, ITUNES, FOUNDRY PAGE AND MORE.....
PLEASE GO TO ANY OF THE ABOVE OUTLETS FOR PURCHASE - READ ON ANY DEVICE