ART

I would like to have time to learn how to draw and paint.

A few years ago an friend and I decided we wanted to paint.  So we bought our (water color) paints, brushes and paper and set off on an adventure.  We went to Austin to paint the capital.  We went to San Antonio to paint the Alamo.  We were terrible.  Really- really terrible.

We decided maybe we should learn how to draw, then we'd paint what we could draw.

I know some people think that activities like drawing and painting are  talents, either you have them or you don't.  However, I think they can be learned.  Some people are obviously more adept at learning these skills than others, just like some people are better at learning languages, or math, or music.

We went shopping again.  We happily bought pencils, erasers, paper, more pencils, those little smudgy things, how to books etc.

I think we may have been more enamored with shopping for supplies than we were with the actual activity.

We went to parks and coffee shops and restaurants.  We drew trees and fruit and fence posts.  We were getting better.  We signed up for drawing class.  We were the only ones in there with no art back ground or ambition.

Our "not so bad" in the park was again terrible in the class.

We got busy and fell out of our drawing/painting habits. One day I asked her if she wanted to get together for drawing and she said "No. I'm not good at that.  I don't do it any more."

Oh.

What I think it really meant was, "I don't want to be your friend because I've decided other things and people are more important to me now."

It could have meant,"I have found other things I'm good and and would rather do, without you."

I wanted to say, "Can I have your art supplies?"  But I thought that might be rude.

I have often wondered what combination of events caused her to decide she didn't want to be my friend.  I know some of the elements.  I did some things wrong, but there must have been more.  Some poor council from people in bad situations, bad advice from people who didn't have the whole story.  Pride.

I tried a few times to get together.  Each time she politely excused herself.

I read an article a long time ago.  The idea of the article was that you should go ahead and do things that you know you aren't good at.  Keep doing them.  When you continue to practice doing things you aren't good at you will either eventually get good at it, or build humility and/or character as you come to understand how other people feel when they have to do things they aren't good at (maybe for their work or family obligations.)  If we always only do things we are good at we can get a sense of false pride, as though we were good at everything.  But we don't do everything, only the things we're good at.

I'm good at knitting, crocheting, sewing, embroidery, needle point.
I'm good at reading and writing.
I'm good at teaching and creating materials for the classroom.

I'm not good at drawing, painting, photography, design, or color work.
I'm not good at math or science.
I'm not good at sales, fund raising or pressuring people to change.

I'm good at some things.  Excellence . . . well excellence is something to keep working on.

My brother was an artist.  He was Excellent. He had a natural talent to look at a thing and recreate it.  When he got older he could look at a style and make his own creations in that style.  Later he learned many styles.  But he died young and I wonder where all that potential would have taken him.