Artistic Taste and Talent

Taste, which is synonymous with sensitivity is neglected whenever talent is discussed. I cannot recall an occasion when this has not taken place. Yet every mark, brushstroke one registers on the canvas requires the utmost taste and sensitivity to produce a beautiful painting. This quality of caring and consideration is what makes the art of the discipline so wonderfully difficult. It is not the technical problems. It is understanding that everything matters-in painting and in life. Sensitivity doesn't begin when one picks up an instrument or a crosses the threshold of the studio. It must be cultivated by paying attention.

David Leffel, An Artist Teaches