Cordon Bleu

[Mike Handley]

Twenty years have passed since I sat in an old truck, listening to the man behind the wheel explain what it’s like to have an artist’s sight.

The driver who so desperately wanted me to see through his Mr. Magoo eyeglasses was Ney Park (now deceased), about whom I was to write a newspaper story.

Ney steered onto the country road’s overgrown shoulder, parked, retrieved his pad and the old metal tackle box full of watercolors, and then asked me to look at an overgrown field.

“What do you see?” he asked, knowing full well I was going to rattle off grass, trees, an old fence, and maybe, if I had any adjective sense, throw in the word brown, which I did.

“Do you not see the purple in that dead grass, or how the sun sets fire to the western edge?” he responded, dipping his brush in spit and then applying layers of color I’d failed to notice.

Squinting hard, I looked from field to pad, and then I understood what separates an artist from a kid with crayons, a writer from a hack, and a cordon bleu from a Boyardee.

*Inspired by Angela

[Peter McNiff]

Neat parable, Mike. Paintings provide inspiration but to watch an artist at work brings understanding.

[Bill Floyd]

The best writers pick up on those details that we scan right past until they make us aware, and that's one of the greatest things about reading the best writers--the feeling of re-engaging with the world that was right there in front of you all along.  The last sentence delivers the moral perfectly.  Humble hat's-off to you & Mr. Park.   

[Cita]

Oddly enough, I am currently working on a poem called "Teach me to see."  Glad I clicked through to this.  Thank you, Mike. 

[Paul de Denus]

I was looking at John Singer Sargents paintings and I see all those colors too- what I wouldn't give to sit in his skin to feel as he painted

[Mike Handley]

Thank you all for reading and commenting. Ten years passed before I picked up a paint brush, and that's when I really got it, or felt it. And the hell of it is that my writing became much more colorful after I started painting. I read books differently, too.

@Angela: Ney's observation floated back to me when I read your last piece. You absolutely do see the purple in the grass.

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

How wonderful to have had that man as a mentor.  Most people would not take the time or effort. 

[Michael Brown]

Mike, the sketch is excellent as it succinctly states the realization of a philosophy, and Plein Air,which I just had a look at, is beyond beautiful. I think both prove your caze and show how much you have grown since the time stated above.

[Teresa]

Ahhhh, perfect Mike.  I adore this.  Pure perfection.

[Angela]

Sir, I wonder how it is that I inspired this.  Thank you for having thought of me as you wrote.

You see so much, and show it to us in words and paint so beautifully and with much careful thought.

Really, this is one of those stories where the writer could be the narrator and the subject at the same time.  I think you are both, the artist and the one who continually looks for more.

[bolton carley]

the last line got me, hard core.  i'm so glad i saw this.  it's always a good day when there's a handley writing and although he's an artist not a kid with crayons, i still prefer his writing (certainly not a hack job). :)