As a child, I would watch Bob Ross paint like a professional. I was in awe of his ability and quickly took up drawing as a hobby. Drawing was preferred over painting in my house merely due to the minimized mess. Throughout grade school, I would spend my summer months with Mark Kistler and his Imagination Station programming. To my despair, however, my drawings were never an art form that I developed. I can write, imagine, build idealistic architecture in my head...but I cannot draw. My penmanship is lacking as well. The thought occurred to me sometime in my early twenties that painting may have been a gift that I missed.
As I mentioned last week, one of things that I wanted to do before I turned 30 was to take a class that is totally out of my element, like painting, golf, or pottery-making. I envy the stereotypical individuals that can enjoy their Sunday afternoon in a grass field mimicking the colors and beauty of God onto paper.
So to accomplish my goal, I purchased a Groupon for a wine and paint event with some of my closest friends. We went to a local restaurant and watched step by step on how to paint an exact replica of Dr. Seuss's Christmas tree for Cindy Lou Who. We laughed. We shared stories. We created some great artwork.
I found out that night, and the other painting adventures with my friends that followed, that I am not really a painter. I really enjoy it and have only came home with one piece of artwork that is currently hiding in my closet.
Discovering new things is exhilarating. I love that moment when it all comes together and you can see what you've truly learned. It could be a painting, or new language, or the fact that you are able to run a mile for the first time. I really think that God gives us the desire to want to learn. If He did not give us a desire, we would never go exploring or adventuring or learn new things. And without learning new things, we would never be able to see the beauty that is around us that God created. Like a photograph, painting is just another form of capturing God's beauty in stillness.
Have you ever had that moment where you wish you could blink your eyes and pause everything that's going on around you so that you could just etch that beautiful scene or moment into your memory a little bit more? I think that's what painting does and I'm glad I learned that.
entertainment provided by: Vino van Gogh
