There has recently been a major switch in my perception of the world and I’m all here for it.
I’ve begun to realize how beautiful the world is as a whole but also how intricate and beautiful the individual things in this world are as well.
This is probably already coming off as pretty cliché and it’s likely only going to get worse from here, but hey, this is how my mind works!
In the past few months, I’ve set out to learn to paint with watercolors. I’m lucky to have a family friend who has been teaching me the techniques of watercolor painting and also how to take what I see in reality and put it on paper in interesting ways.
With every week that has passed since we’ve started painting together, my perception of everything around me has slowly changed and my appreciation for beauty in the little things has grown immensely.
I constantly find myself looking at houses, tree, fields, big buildings, abandoned barns, people, literally everything I see and I think to myself, “How would I paint that?”. By asking myself this, my perception of these things hones in on all the different colors I see, all the lines, shadows, spots, and shapes. I look at everything that makes up this object in front of me. I see every piece of the puzzle and realize how complex and interesting everything is.
If I asked you what color a tree trunk is, what would you tell me? Brown?
My teacher has shown me how wrong this is. Trunks are not brown. At least not in total. Sure there’s brown in there, but trees are quite gray. There are so many colors thrown into the bark of trees, but we never take the time to see them.
It’s the same with grass. We’re asked to paint grass and we just throw a bunch of green down on the paper. Look at any grassy area and you’re going to see browns, yellows, greens, and probably some other interesting colors as well.
This happens with everything. We see things as their whole. We see the big picture because what’s the point of looking at anything else? Why should you care about the cracks in a house’s foundation or the rust on the car in the driveway?
Because those are the things that make the world beautiful. Those are what make life interesting. I can’t imagine a world where everything was perfectly flat, perfectly painted, singularly colored. It’d be so boring!
If you’re not an artist, what I’m saying might not strike a chord with you. You may not feel like this affects you because you’re not planning on painting anything any time soon. But I think everyone can learn from the artist’s perspective.
I believe taking the time and putting in the effort to really look at details can make a person truly appreciate the world. When we look at all the breathtaking colors that make up one object, or the geometric patterns in the building along our path to work, or the way the sun casts a yellowish tint on the road, we start to see beauty in everyday things.
I’m not telling you to pick up painting, though I think it’s a rad hobby to have, but I do encourage you to look deeper than the surface. Don’t simply see things for what they are. See everything as all the little details that form the big picture. Realize how intricate and interesting even the simplest things are.
View the world as an artist.
March 19, 2021
