To Tell The Truth

Dahling, you simply must see the newest Portland Center Stage production, "The Importance of Being Earnest." Receive a lesson in social graces, thusly:Gwendolen (Kate MacCluggage) responds to tea served by Cecily (Nikki Coble).


Wonderful and fun, a great foil for Oscar Wilde's wit. I love Jack's confession in Act 2: "Gwendolen - Cecily - it is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind."

Funny. But most of us, like Jack, are inexperienced in telling the truth. We have learned to give and receive lies about many things, daily, in miniscule ways. Nobody realizes this until they take up art. One of the little lies is that a "face" is made up of eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks and chin. Not so. In drawing a portrait, one learns that nearly half of the face is actually the forehead.

In your art, always aim for the truth, even when it's a bit rusty from lack of use.