Churchill on painting
The other day I finally got around to finally reading Churchill’s fine essay on why he enjoyed his amateur painting. He singles out how much it improved his powers of observation.
The other day I finally got around to finally reading Churchill’s fine essay on why he enjoyed his amateur painting. He singles out how much it improved his powers of observation. “You would be astonished the first time you tried this to see how many and what beautiful colors there are even in the most commonplace objects, and the more carefully and frequently you look, the more variations you perceive,” he wrote in “Painting as a Pastime.”
The other day I finally got around to finally reading Churchill’s fine essay on why he enjoyed his amateur painting. He singles out how much it improved his powers of observation. “You would be astonished the first time you tried this to see how many and what beautiful colors there are even in the most commonplace objects, and the more carefully and frequently you look, the more variations you perceive,” he wrote in “Painting as a Pastime.”
That resonated with me. I felt the same way when I was writing a novel. It made even the commonplaces of daily life interesting. For me, that might mean covering a dull hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. I’d notice how a senator held his hands while making a personal attack, or how an aide watched a general respond to a hard question. My novel didn’t get very good reviews, but I still enjoyed the writing of it.
Churchill also has some interesting views on grand strategy in the essay on painting. I’ll get into that in the book I currently am writing, about Churchill and Orwell.
Image credit: Amazon.com
Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1
More from Foreign Policy

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose
Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy
The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now
In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet
As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.