Faldoni, parts 2472 - 2475

 2472. The master said to his students, “If you would learn to paint, here is what you must do. Follow these two rules, and you will surely succeed. The first rule is: take a paintbrush, stick in some colors, and then apply different colors all over the surface of your little painting. That is the first step.”

 2473. “The second step is, repeat the first step over and over for twenty years, and the sooner you begin the better.”

 2474. Only Faldoni understood what the master painter said, as all the others thought it was just a jest. He returned to his cell that evening and had another look at the face he had painted. If he was going to paint the entire back wall of his cell as a fresco painting he had to do one of two things.

2475. He had to scrape out the face he painted and start over, or he had to compose a drawing that would incorporate the face into a large composition. He was unable to do either of these things. He could not conceive of a picture for the entire wall, much less one that would utilize the face he had completed.