‘I remember the first thing I created’ John tells me. ‘It was a chalk dinosaur that I drew on a blackboard when I was very young... I was drawing away when suddenly my mother came into the room, appearing totally amazed, and said “wow, John did you do that?” and from then on I felt that I had a bit of a knack for art... and that’s the thing, as soon as you feel confident doing something then you can start to build upon that feeling... this what I try to do as a teacher... I try to build confidence, because all it takes is one person to recognise what you’re doing for you to start to believe in yourself ’. Interestingly, such a sentiment has been a constant theme throughout these issues.
For there have been many artists that have featured over the past while now who once chose to throw in their artistic towels early on in their lives due to a lack of confidence in their ability, only to then pick that paintbrush, pestle, or camera back up again later on thanks to someone else’s kind words. Indeed, in such an intense, anxiety invoking and competitive world, wouldn’t it be great to meet one of those people who stand on the other side of this wind of inspiration? Well, you’re in luck, because now for the first time in the magazine we get to meet one of those good Samaritans; someone who, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, aspires to light other people’s candles in the knowledge that his own won’t be dimmed in doing so; teacher and oil painter – John Hicks.
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