ACT English Practice Test 91: English Art

Mr. Peale, our₁ painting that we especially liked and₂ shared₃think, which you're having more fun there then₄ bristles, but Mr. Peale said they would work just as well us glanced looking at others₅ appears₆ proclaimed₇

Light Bright, Light Bright: Turn on the Magic of Colored Light

As a child, I used to catch fireflies at dusk when I was young.₈

The painting is actually hanging on my wall₉ somewhat₁₀ keeping us preoccupied with busywork₁₁

what I will₁₂ still think₁₃

English Art

Advanced English teacher, decided to end the semester with a unique and unexpected challenge. He wanted each of us to find a picture of a famous oil bring it to school. We were certain he was going to have us write something about our pictures, so we all happily our Picassos, Van Goghs, and Cezannes in class the next day. Then the surprise announcement came. We were each to attempt to copy our picture onto a full-sized canvas using real oil paints and brushes.

I will never forget how terribly insecure I felt as I began my painting. As I secretly , my anxiety and self-doubt only seemed to grow. It to me that my peers were not only brilliant English students but accomplished artists as well! Mr. Peale walked around the classroom and suddenly became an art instructor as he loudly to the other students what an excellent job they were doing. I felt quite tentative and barely had a mark on my own canvas. I was way out of my element!

[1] Mr. Peale finally walked over to me and I silently gulped. [2] He said very little about my attempts, which was both a blessing and a curse. 53 [3] His lack of comment kept me from turning beet red, yet his quiet demeanor clearly told me that he was unimpressed with my torturous efforts. [4] He continued past me to the next student, which, to me, was an obvious message that I was completely hopeless as an artist. [5] I had been so reluctant to begin my painting, despite my love for the artist's rendering of a beautiful bronze, pink, and yellow sunset and a single leafless tree in the foreground. [6] Something snapped inside me as Mr. Peale announced that we were done for the day, and we would continue this week-long project the tomorrow. [7] I was suddenly excited to get back there and work on my masterpiece. 54

By the end of this odd assignment, I was actually thrilled with I had reproduced. While my painting wasn't as dramatic as many of my classmates', and it didn't look exactly like its original, I did feel I had captured its essence. 56

for years afterwards. I had moved past my fears and lack of self-confidence and allowed myself to explore the space of the canvas, the enticing oil colors, and a variety of brush strokes. I actually felt that inside of me there was an artist.

To this day, I have no idea what Mr. Peale's intention was when he asked his English students to reproduce a famous oil painting. Was he merely trying to fill up the end of the semester by while he sat at his desk and red-lined the novelettes we had written earlier in the semester? Or was he challenging our self-importance as Advanced English students, trying to knock us down a peg or two? I do know about what that assignment taught me about myself: the absolute beauty of surrendering to the possibilities in life, and that for a small moment, I too was an artist.

English practice 29