Sunday, November 13, 2011

Random Thoughts: Feeling creative

Disclaimer: This post doesn't really have a point. I'm just going to ramble.

Lately, I have been feeling creative. I really would like to do something like paint or draw or photograph stuff. It was triggered by a recent trip to a Fine Arts museum. It's a tough thing for me to visit a Fine Arts museum. I walk from room to room, seeing great master works of art and think, "I wish I could make something like that." Then I go to the commercial/pop art and think, "I really don't like this crap hanging next to those masterpieces." The problem for me is I have no skills.

I have watched Bob Ross paint a landscape on PBS probably hundreds of times. I have even seen a few other painting shows now and then. I have even gone as far as buying canvas boards and actual canvases with the idea that I might try painting. That said, other than finger paints and paint by numbers painting when I was a kid, I've only painted houses, decks a shed and a chicken coop.

I don't know why I haven't ever sat down and tried it. I think it's because I know that my skill will not produce a painting that comes even remotely close to what my eyes (and brain) see. I know I could try it, learn techniques and build a set of skills that will produce a reasonable facsimile. That said, it would take patience, dedication and time... lots of time.

That's one of the benefits I really enjoy about photography. Photography allows you to capture a real instant of time. With proper development, it produces an almost exact duplicate of what you see. To toot my own horn for a second, I have always been good at seeing something that would make a good photo, framing it and capturing the exact moment just as I intend it. Of course, all of my photos are opportunistic. I am in a place. I see something. I take a photo of it. I don't wait for a day of perfect light and scene, set up with $2000 worth of equipment and snap 600 shots of something and then select the best one. I just have a camera and take a photo that I think will look nice. Lately, the problem is that I haven't gone anyplace or done anything that allows me to take photos other than candid shots of my kids.

OK, my ramble is over. As I said, there isn't really a point. If I had to make a conclusion, this would be it: I really want to try painting, but I think I might take the wife and kids out to the beach today or something, so I can go take some candid shots of my kids with nice backgrounds.