Ars longa, vita brevis

 As part of my daily doom scrolling, I recently happened to click on an ad link for an art supply store.  And naturally, my web pages were instantly full of all manner of similar vendors.  One product that caught my eye was for a tiny little portable watercolor painting kit.  This touched a poignant corner of my psyche:  I'm fascinated by the creative arts, yet long ago I accepted that I have absolutely no talent in that area.  In addition to so many other areas.  Nope, no athletic talent, no artistic talent- performing or creative arts, and no talent in business or any other human occupation.  And yet, I admire those who show ability in any of these endeavors.  My vacation earlier this summer took me to the Farnesworth Museum where I sat in awe of the works of the Wyeths - a whole family of gifted artists.  The cruel trick, of course, is that people with talent make it look so easy.  Shooting a fadeaway jump shot, painting a beautiful painting, acting in a play or playing a musical instrument- when done by experts, it looks so simple.  And in hawking watercolor paint kits, a multitude of online sellers play to my precise emotions and aspirations. 

So, with a firm self-knowledge developed over decades, I purchased one of these inexpensive kits.  Despite, I re-emphasize, having absolutely no artistic talent, I really would like to be able to create joyful little paintings.  So when the kit arrived, I daydreamed of the beauty I would create with it.  And a significant amount of joy was had via just the daydreams.  After several weeks of that, I decided I might actually try to use the kit.  A nice thing is that the particular vendor who provided mine, Tobios, does have some resources for abject beginners like me, to guide the first attempts.  Now, I don't know if it's possible to teach myself this craft, or if some more formal instruction would be necessary.  But today I made my first attempt, using the web page's step-by-step instruction.  The Wyeth family has nothing to fear from my artistic talents, but I did manage to produce a work that some astute observers might recognize as... a leaf.  From such humble beginnings, what will follow?  Stay tuned.