I am old enough to remember the paint by numbers books. I disliked them. I struggled to keep the colours within the lines or use the right colours to match the numbers and was often admonished for not "following the rules". Inadvertently I was being taught that art was about following rules and that I was not good at it.
It wasn't until my early college years while attending Drew University1, that I dared to try my hand at creating art. I took a summer photography course. The instructor was "artsy" and pushed us to explore light and composition with my Pentax P3. I still have the camera.
I learned how to develop film and make prints, mostly black and white. By the time I had finished my engineering degree and graduate school I had forgotten the craft.
- Drew University is a liberals arts school in Madison, New Jersey where I majored in Physics and minored in Mathematics (of course!). ↩
danielbrinnemanphotography
11th May 2018 at 12:44 PM@khurtlwilliams Enjoyed your story. I remember oil painting by the numbers.