The Great Artist

There is a Chinese story about a great painter who was commissioned by the emperor to paint for him the finest painting of an ox he had ever seen. The great painter agreed. Many months passed and the emperor was curious to see how the artist was getting on, so he summoned her to his palace.

The artist arrived carrying a box.

‘My painting is in that box, I presume?’ The emperor asked.

‘Yes sir.’

The artist retrieved a silk scroll from within the box. But it was blank.

‘You’ve done nothing thus far?’ Asked the emperor, who was starting to feel the blood rush to his head.

Saying nothing, the artist laid the silk on the floor and retrieved her brush and ink from within the box. In an instant she painted the finest ox the emperor had ever seen.

Astonished, the emperor asked why it had taken her so long. The artist opened up her box and revealed hundreds of ox paintings on rice paper.

‘Practice,’ she said.

Often talent is confused with hard work and endless years of experimentation and discovery. The price does not reflect how long an artwork took. It is not always the case, but a painting may have only taken a couple of hours and turn out to be a masterpiece. Likewise, it may have taken months and turn out to be a failure. Although our failures are a vital sign pointing us in the right direction.