The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

52 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 3 wooden chairs mostly from yard sales, but she did find one of them on the side of the road (which is nothing short of awesome, in my estimation!). The idea was that each student would choose a famous artist to research, select one of the artist’s paintings, and then do his best to replicate the chosen painting on his assigned chair. I chose an Australian impressionist, Robert Hagan, whose beachscapes are simply breathtaking! After sanding and priming my chair, I worked for just over a month painting one of his masterpieces on the seat of my chair. The finished product was better than I could have ever hoped and the reactions I got when I brought my chair into school made me realized the lucrative possibilities in furniture painting. Two summers ago, my momwas collecting furniture from our home to get rid of. In her pile was an old piano bench. Upon noticing the bench, I quickly salvaged it from the “to be disposed” pile (with my mom’s blessing, of course) and sanded it down until it was silky smooth. Then, I selected another beachscape painting of Robert Hagan’s to use as a guide. During the next few months, I often trekked over to my neighbor’s basement, a location that was generously offered as a “studio” for me, and pushed paint around on the top of the bench until I decided to stop for the day. I continued this ritual for two summers until, finally, I finished painting the bench this past October. Every Christmas, our school puts on two Christmas concerts, one featuring the high school students and one featuring the elementary and kindergarten students. For the past few years, the German language department has hosted a craft market during the intermissions of both concerts, selling handmade items ranging from earrings to Christmas cookies. The proceeds of the sale go to the German students who are trying to fund a study trip to Germany, and that year I was one of them. I brought my custom, hand-painted beach bench to the market to sell in a silent auction. At second concert, aman bid $300 for my bench—he was the winner! I expected to get $150 at the most for my bench, even though I felt it was worth much more because of all the hours I had poured into making the painting as precise as possible. I was speechless! Before the sale, I had not committed to going to Germany because I simply did not know if I could scrape together enough money for the trip and I needed a clear indication from God that I was supposed to go. The sale of my painted bench was the sign I needed. After the sale,