Bright Spot

It rained a little in the night, and it has been a misty, drizzly day. Occasionally the sun peeks through a hole in the clouds casting perfect light on the flaming trees. That was not the case when I took this morning's picture, but I liked the blurred landscape with glimpses of green grass coming up. The tree is the same Chinese Pistache I pictured on November 11th, taken from across the creek.

My continued struggles to read and comprehend the owners' manual that came with my Leica has is a struggle between my right brain , which wants to take better pictures, and my left brain, which can't deal with the technical jargon. Whether the concept is scientifically proven to be true or not, the concept is still appealingly useful. Although I love to take pictures, being a creative and spontaneous type, my brain is sorely challenged by trying grasp sections headed: EVF Disp. Style and Minimum Shutter Speed…even in the hope of improving my pictures.

Drawing is fun because it requires nothing but pencil and paper. I especially like "gestural drawing"--making a one minute sketch of an object without lifting the pencil from the paper..almost like taking the brain out of the equation altogether. Being a visual person, I clan relate to the idea that, "you can see something, but you have to learn how to look at it".

I have a lot of patience, and would rather fill an entire page with pencil lines than try to figure out histograms, white balance and ND Lock features.

A visit to the artists' supply store is a wonderful antidote. I spent 15 minutes choosing pencils and charcoal and another ten deciding between "hot press" (smooth) and "cold press" (textured) paper.