The Noticing Project

(Photo credit: Nat Hansen)

My senior year of college, I took a short painting course from a professor who loved to work al fresco. We painted scenes of Georgetown in watercolor for three hours every morning and I loved every minute of it.

When you take art like a vitamin - every day Vitamin A -  you develop muscles you never knew you had. Your eyes really see what you are looking at; breaking it down into bits that the brain can translate for the hand that hopes to place it on a page.

You don't see just a house anymore, you see patterns of light and shadow on brick, sixteen different greens in the embrace of a tree. You begin to notice everything.

To this day, every time I smell bacon I am reminded of the day I worked on the roof of the art building on a painting of the monuments, looking down the Potomac. Breakfast was cooking at Mother's down below.

From my vantage point, I watched as two of DC's professional panhandlers changed shifts at 10:00, one taking over the milk crate the other had kept warm. I passed by them every day but, until then, it had never registered that they worked on shifts.

During graduation week, I walked by the two panhandlers on the opposite side of the street. I was on my way to mass and hidden in the folds of my black gown and hat. One yelled across, "Congratulations Painter Lady!"They had been watching me watch them and they could recognize the real me under all that stuff.

Today, visit The Noticing Project or 3191. Both are collaborations between artist-friends. Both make visual explorations of their every day surroundings. It is amazing, even inspirational to have someone show you what they see.