I was at art school in a life-drawing class. The teacher was wandering around stopping at various easels, guiding, and advising us. He arrived at one student’s easel and stopped the whole class before addressing us. He said:
When a drawing’s going wrong, what you don’t do is turn over the page and start again. You keep working on that drawing until it’s right. Only then do you turn the page over. That’s how you learn.
He then paused and added:
I suppose I’m talking about life as well.
This brilliant piece of advice about art and life has stayed with me throughout my career. Never move on until you’ve achieved what you set out to achieve. Keep working on something until you’ve got it right.
I remember listening to a radio interview with the British artist and sculptor Henry Moore on his eightieth birthday. The interviewer was naturally being effusive and overly flattering – or at least Moore thought so. He interrupted the interviewer to say that when he left the Royal College of Art there were about thirty other great sculptors. After forty years, there were just ten. And after sixty years, just three. His point was less that he was a genius and more that he kept at it, getting better and better as time went on. Persistence pays off.
Now, I happen to think Moore was a genius. But his point was well made. Unless you stick at it – whatever the ‘it’ is – you’ll never know how good you can be. You can bet Moore never turned over the metaphorical page before he was good and ready.