PAINTING AS A PASTIME - Winston Churchill

I fully admit that I don't know nearly as much as I should about Winston Churchill.  I've seen clips of him in video footage of the war, and I've seen him as a character in historical dramas, but I'm not big on history, so he's generally passed me by.

But then I saw that Churchill wrote a series of essays about painting and that he himself did a fair amount of painting. Color me intrigued.

The book includes copies of a number of Churchill's paintings and what makes this essay 'work' is the fact that Churchill was a very talented artist! And ... his essay writing is rich, direct, and very engaging.

The premise of Churchill writing about his painting is that he has observed that people need hobbies (three, preferably) in order to de-stress and to avoid worrying themselves to death. Pursuing a hobby means that the brain is both rested from not thinking about what is stressful, as well as strengthened by focusing on something new or different.

While I really appreciated and agreed with Churchill's assessment for the need for the hobbies, the one thing that I was surprised didn't get more of a nod was the idea of art, specifically, being important as a means of stretching the creative side of the brain. I often find I just need to do some a little creative in order to feel less stressed.

The 'book' is maybe a half an hour's read - an hour if you spend time really looking at the artwork as well.

Looking for a good book? Painting as a Pastime by Winston S. Churchill is a meditative essay on the importance of having a hobby to get away from the stress of work.

4 stars

* * * * * *

Painting as a Pastime

author: Winston S. Churchill

publisher: RosettaBooks

Kindle Edition, 44 pages
 

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