The Artist's Journey

Tommy was a boy who liked to draw. He had a sketch filled with his attempts at animals, landscapes, and people. Each line was drawn with passion but was still not yet developed the skills. His classmates often teased him for his simple drawings, and even his parents, who perceived his efforts as just doodling, turned it down. Not when he was feeling it. He liked to hold the pencil in his hand and the clean sheet that was left to be used.

One day while walking home from school, Tommy passes by an old house he had not noticed before. A riotous wild garden had been let to become overgrown, at which its eye caught the beautiful paintings in the windows. He let curiosity get the better of him and he went closer.

An old woman with kind eyes and a warm smile appeared at the door. "I see you really like my paintings," she said. Tommy nodded gently, and she invited him in. Her name was Mrs. Wren, a retired art teacher. Her house displayed the unusually intricate paintings and sketchbooks which were alive with the colorful characters.

Tommy was not very convinced at first, but Mrs. Wren assured him to bring his drawings over. She examined his sketchbook and responded with a nod. "You have a good eye for details," she replied. "You just need some direction."

For the next several weeks, Mrs. Wren instructed Tommy the essentials of drawing such as shading, perspective, and the way to perceive things as shapes and lines. She discovered the correct way which Tommy had to use his pencil. She taught him how to blend and, subsequently, how to create his own living sketches. His abilities slowly but certainly started to develop under the direction of his solicitous teacher. He was having a sketchbook brimming with new drawings, each of which is the best with the last.

Tommy's self-confidence increased as well as his happiness. He had no longer worried about the fact that he is mocked by his classmates and the hostility of his parents. He had found a person who was the one to believe in him and helped him to decide in favor of himself. Mrs. Wren had not only taught him to draw but had also shown him the real pleasure of making arts.

While he was still riddled with excitatory thoughts, Tommy, out of the enormousness of his heart, continued the days drawing, and his pictures became a token of encouragement and the graciousness of a stranger who had now become a friend.