SELF-PORTRAIT. Practise your reading skills.

It is really to encourage everyone who would like to start painting that I have drawn this protrait of myself, before we turn to flowers.  Perhaps you have not painted since you left school and do not know how to begin?  Maybe you feel nervous and unsure of yourself?  If so, please read on, I will not only give you all the help and encouragement I can, stage by stage, but also, I hope, convey something of the enthusiasm and delight I feel when I am painting flowers.  It is a very contagious feeling, so be prepared , you may easily catch it yourself.

To start with, I want you to remember that painting equals pleasure, and painting flowers in particular is pure pleasure.  If by any chance you think you are too old to begin you can immediately forget such an idea, for by my very existence I am proof that it is never too late to start.  From the vey day we leave school most of us drop art and music out of our lives, only to regret it later on.  We continue to expand our knowledge and our skills in many other subjects, but in art - no.  A few go on to discover a lasting pleasure in painting as amateurs, or rewarding careers as professionals, but most of us step out of the world of art and do not know how to step in again.

I know how many of you will feel when you begin, because I have been through it all so comparatively recently.  When first faced with a blank sheet of paper, a brush full of paint in my hand and no idea what to do with it or where to begin, I felt a raising panic, like stage-fright before a first performance.  All those lifelong artists who wield their brushes so easily and competently have long forgotten - or never had - those first-night nerves.  It may be an absurd feeling but it is there for many of us, and prevents us from taking the initial plunge into art.  All you have to remember is that it is merely a mirage arising from the mystique which surrounds painting.  Go back to childhood, play around with paint, get the feel of it again: splash it all over a sheet of brown paper if that is all you have at hand.  Use a large brush or your fingers and watch the colours mix and run and clash together in varying shades.  It is a lovely thing to do and when you have finished you can throw it away and start again.  It is as easy and as painless as that.  The mirage has vanished and you will find that you are enjoying every minute of your painting time, because you can but improve and that is what makes it all worhwhile.  It is also one of the few occupations in which you can indulge that is therapeutic and pleasurable without ruining your purse; it won't annoy your neighbours, take up a lot of room, pollute the atmosphere, destroy mankind, wildlife or the countryside.  You will be entering an absorbing new world which you will see with fresh eyes, and if your family complain that you are spending too much time in it, get them to read this book as well and you can all paint flowers and so turn your home life as well as you holidays into new adventures.

M. BLAMEY, 'Learn to Paint Flowers in Watercolour'

COMPREHENSION AND WRITING

1.-  Say whether these statemets are true or false; if false, give the correct one: 

a)  The author describes her experience as a painter in order to convince the readers that they can also start painting. 

b)  Experience has taught the writer that it is important to start painting at an early age. 

c) Most people go on developing their artistic and musical abilities after school. 

d)  The writer felt nervous and insecure when she first held a brush in her hand. 

e)  In her opinion our attitude when first faced with a blank sheet of paper, a brush and colours should be that of a child. 

f)  Painting is pleasant, even therapeutic, but it is expensive. 

g)  The author thinks painting has an elitistic character and only a few people can really enjoy it.

2.- Reorder the following sentences according to the ideas expressed in the 3rd paragraph:

a)  Paintings is not only therapeutic but also inexpensive.
b)  Famous painters do not remember that initial anxiety.
c)  Your family will perhaps join you in your new passion and not only your home life but even your holidays may change.
d)  Your fright will vanish if you play around with paint, like a child.
e)  I felt frightened when first faced with a blank sheet of paper.
f)  This new activity will make you watch the world with fresh eyes.
g)  I know how you will feel when you start painting because I have gone through the experience not long ago.

Source: Lengua Inglesa I.- Mónica Aragonés González e Isabel Medrano Vicario UNED