To express one’s self is a desired trait. Let me re-phrase that — to express one’s self positively is a better trait. I have always admired artistic talent. I have never possessed this gift. Is it a gift or a lack of effort?

Two months ago I chanced to find pieces of yellow poplar at a sawmill, the colors intrigued me, yellow, green and brown through-out the board. A desire to enhance its beauty cost me $3.97 for tapered brushes and several bottles of acrylic paint at 50 cents each. I did good — but I had used up my supply of free boards. Looking around my shop I found scrap plywood in abundance with intricate designs. My first effort encouraged me to do another and another- now, with this new found confidence of applying paint, I have advanced to simple landscape painting.

Staying busy is a good mental health regime.

When Art styles are created or when an effective person is elected to public office – I give credit for the thought to Mr. John Steinbeck’s authorship of “East of Eden.”

“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man. Nothing was ever created by twomen. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.” — John Steinbeck

— Tom Rogers

Moultrie, Ga.