Through another's eyes

Sometimes he's a little bit hard to understand.

Though he is speaking English, it is heavily accented and sometimes you have to listen very hard.

But it's worth it.

Because he always has something interesting to say.

This time especially.

This time he was telling me about his trip to Europe and his visit to the museum in Amsterdam and the chance to see the work of Peter Paul Rubens.

Ben is an artist. He sketches and paints, mostly portraits.

So he knows good art when he sees it.

And he, more than the rest of us perhaps, appreciates it.

He told about one painting that was as big as the wall, and he went over to a wall and showed me with his arms making large motions, just how big that painting as big as a wall was.

And then he told about some of the things he saw when he looked at it, and how he could have looked at it all day long.

And he positively glowed when talking about that painting and that day.

And then he talked of how impressive it was that those artists could paint small figures in their paintings with amazing detail. And he picked up a pen and showed me how small with his fingers at the end of the pen, and talked about how difficult it is to do small details with paint on canvas even with a small brush because the paint -- and he couldn't think of the word so he showed me with his fingers what the paint does -- and the only word I could think of was smushes.

But I believed him about how hard it is to paint small figures on canvas because he is an artist.

He was all smiles as he recounted his time at the museum, because he had seen something so amazing done by someone with such talent, and because he of all people know how amazing the art and how talented the artist.

And I was all smiles because I am quite sure that when I go to museums I miss most everything that he was telling me about but all of the sudden I wasn't missing it anymore. Even from a distance.

And it was not just a Thursday afternoon conversation at the gallery that day Ben came to tell me about his trip.

It was a gift.