BEHIND THE QUICK SKETCH

   Once upon a time, a famous artist was  asked by a prince to draw his favorite pet, a beautiful dog. The prince left the dog with the artist, and the artist told the prince to return in a week.

   When the prince returned after a week, the artist requested for a two-week postponement.

   The two-week delay stretched into two months-and then a year.

   The prince missed his dog, so one day he stormed into the artist's studio demanding both his pet and his painting. The artist turned to his workshop table, picked up a brush and a large sheet of paper, Within moments he had effortlessly painted an exact likeness of the lovely dog.

   "Why did you keep me waiting for a year if you could have done the painting in such a short time?"

   "You don't understand," the artist replied. Then he escorted the prince into a room where the walls were covered with paintings of the same dog. None of them, however, matched the grace and beauty of the final rendering.

   Excellence doesn't come easy.

   It never does. 


                         - jo adriatico
                           march 2012