So, Fresh Read has been taking an art class. It is first of all a lot of fun. Second it offers the discipline of seeing. Often we glance and assume. I was working on this picture,
which I thought turned out pretty well. What is interesting was that the instructor, who has a well-developed eye, noticed that the two background trees on the left and right seemed somewhat indistinct. In particular the one on the right.
She is right, that area was actually a mix of brushy leafy stuff when I started the scene, but several weeks later when I got back to it, the leaves have fallen. So I just put in an imaginary tree. Hence the blobby look.
the Point? When we read a text, we sometimes notice the overall outline, or perhaps a bit that interests us, and then we quit looking, and start to mentally fill in the rest. just as nature is more varied than our natural mental ability to fill in, so the text is more varied and interesting than what we project into it.
For me an art class is good practice int he discipline of seeing. Even if you are all thumbs, I’d suggest taking a sketch pad out to your favorite places and working on recording what you see. Who cares if it looks any good, it is for you, to develop your sight.
The bridge picture, by the way, is about 300 feet from where I live in Madison. I plan to fix the trees, after a little observing.