Faldoni, parts 2868 - 2871

 2868. Because really Holman, at my age do you  want me to sit there in my studio all day long studying the shapes of ivy leaves and painting them one after another in their millions. Because even though they are all slightly different, even so, every one of them is exactly the same in the end. There is nothing for me to learn form studying those leaves, and really, I would rather be off someplace drinking coffee with my friends and talking about art rather than trying to do it.

 2869. At this point in John M.’s lecture he took off his eyeglasses and held them out as if he wanted Holman to have a look at them. Waving his glasses around is a small circle he said, “Here is the problem Holman, for me and for you also.”

 2670. It takes about twenty years to learn how to paint in the way we Pre-Raphaelites like to paint. And even after twenty years there still seems there is a lot to learn. But by the time we are established painters with commissions we have to go to the opticians and purchase these reading glasses in order to be able to see what we are doing.

 2671. Now, don’t you think if God wanted us trained painters to spend our time delineating these tiny details we love to paint, that he would have given us eyes that become sharper and sharper in their focus as we get older instead of just the opposite.