ACT English Practice Test 7

English Art

Our Advanced English teacher Mr. Peale; Q1 decided to end the semester with a unique and unexpected challenge. He wanted each of us to find a picture of a famous oil painting that we especially liked and Q2 bring it to school. We were certain he was going to have us write something about our pictures, so we all happily shared: Q3 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. The brushes were not real boar 49 bristles, but Mr. Peale said they would work just as well. Q4

I will never forget how terribly insecure I felt as I began my painting. As I secretly glanced looking at others around me Q5 , my anxiety and self-doubt only seemed to grow. It appears Q6 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 proclaimed Q7 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. Q8

[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 could hardly wait to get back there and work on my masterpiece. Q9

By the end of this odd assignment, I was actually thrilled with that being which Q10 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. Q11

The painting is actually hanging on my wall Q12 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 somewhat Q13 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 keeping us preoccupied with busywork Q14 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 what I will still think Q15 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.