Bricks are Heavy

We were let loose around campus to paint whatever structures that we wanted for the day. I just wanted to paint bricks on the side of a monument. I think my art professor felt I was taking the easy way out. A campus full of beautiful architecture and I was painting bricks.

First, I could not travel to the other side of campus where all the older, fancier buildings were housed. The side of campus where the art building was located looked more like a warehouse district (incidentally, the art building itself was demolished almost fifteen years ago). My back was killing me and the effort to carry a tackle box full of paint supplies and a three foot square piece of wood to paint on was agonizing. I could barely walk back and forth to the art building itself, let alone go on a painting hike. The monument itself was essentially in the yard of the art building. It was not a hard decision.

Second, the monument itself was not interesting. Until that day I actually thought it was a kiln or a barbecue of some type. It was literally a pile of bricks, stacked like someone was going to play a game of Jenga. Only it tapered off slightly at the top, so someone really sucked at setting up Jenga. Yet the bricks themselves were nice to look at. They weren't as vibrant as I painted them, but I never liked painting realism anyway. I prefer to bring the subject's personality out. I had to dig pretty deep, since I remember finding and reading the plaque on the side of the monument and now I have no memory of what it was for. I feel like a bit of a jerk for not remembering, but I don't think it was anything memorial. It was likely a piece of "art" donated to or purchased by the school.

Third, I don't find anything all that interesting. Those bricks are equally as interesting to me as the fancier buildings. I understand that other people find the decoration and architecture to be neat or pretty. But it has to be unique or special for me to be interested. The United States isn't exactly that old, and we have a habit of ripping down buildings when they get old. So the so-called "interesting" buildings were pretty mundane anyway.

The point of this story is to remind everyone that painting topics don't have to be at the top of mountains (let's face it, with my back troubles, asking me to stomp around campus with art supplies was pretty much asking me to climb a mountain) or on a safari. Find something you haven't painted before. Or paint it on a micro or macro level- whichever is more unique. Play with it, give life to the mundane.