happy trees!

this may sound a little odd, but Bob Ross has been coming up a lot lately. Bob Ross, you know the guy on PBS with the big fro who paints the happy trees. he's come up in conversation on several occasions and most recently in an art class i took. while the latter makes almost perfect sense, i'm sure you're wondering why Bob Ross would be the topic of anyone's conversation. i'm not sure i can answer that and it actually doesn't matter, because this entry is less about Bob Ross and more about me and the art class.


to expain the art class i need to go back a little bit further, back to july to be exact, because that's when i celebrated my birthday and i guess you could say it was one of the monumental ones. this year i struggled with it, didn't really want to celebrate it, maybe even a little bit sad about it. but really it made me begin to question what i was doing with my life and how i got to this point. and while this may sound like a mid-life crisis, maybe that's what it is, a mini mid-life crisis. anyway, my birthday, coupled with Amy Cohen's book "the late bloomers revolution," made me begin to look at all of those things that i've always wanted to do and thought that maybe i would do someday, like...learn to play a musical instrument well, speak a foreign language fluently, travel, learn to paint, and the list could go on and on.


i was inspired by Amy who at the age of 35 learned to ride a bike for the first time, so i decided to start checking some things off my list...fast forward four months and enter Bob Ross and the art class. i signed up for an oil painting class that touted "even an inexperienced artist can produce breathtaking results." and as i sat at the table saturday morning staring at the sample painting portraying what i was about to attempt, i seriously doubted that a beginner could do it, at least not this beginner. i looked for affirmation from those around me, asking if they had done this before, how many times, and if they were convinced that they could produce the desired outcome. i looked for any clue that i could actually pull this off. i found little solace in my Bob Rossian teacher's apparent confidence in my abilities. i had this fear that what came out of me would look less like a thirty year olds work and more like a 3 year olds. my insecurities were wrapped up in my pride because i secretly wanted to be good at this.


what i learned is that not only can i do it, but i did do it. and while i'm not ready to open my own art exhibit, i would say that i am good at it. of course a professional would look at my painting and point out its many flaws, there are some that even i could show you, but for my first time it's pretty good. and, i'm proud of myself and what i've accomplished, but not proud in the way that hinders me or stunts my growth as a person, but proud that i faced a challenge and i came away from it a more well rounded individual.


now on to the next adventure...