Name: ________________________ Date: _______

An Officer and an Artist

(How Tia Lola Came to Stay)

My great-uncle Bob is an artist who has never sold a painting. In fact, he had a career that has nothing to do with art. He was a _________ (an officer in the army). He doesn’t look like an artist. He doesn’t wear a _________ beret or paintstained clothes. His face has no _________ to a dreamer such as the Dutch painter Van Gogh. No, Colonel Bob stands at attention, and he does everything precisely. Ever since he retired from the army, Colonel Bob spends hours every day painting. Having been an officer _________, or gives, him the income to now pursue his dream. You may see him _________ and waiting, as though to surprise an enemy, for the right light. He knows just when the sun should produce a _________, or shine, on a pond or a barn roof. He takes many pictures of a scene. Then he draws it on canvas and begins to paint. Nothing is just green, blue, or yellow. One flower contains enough colors to fill two _________. Colonel Bob says he sees everything with different eyes now.

Word Bank: affords

colonel

glint

lurking

palettes

quaint

resemblance