I went into an art store today. Actually, two. They were standing next to each other and I lined up with them and watched in awe. I saw frames and paintings and walked right in. Wow, art store! Did this place exist? There were shelves with paints from around the globe: acrylics, oils, and all in various sizes, and canvases of many textures. Then brushes, the fine, soft type. To some, I could barely see the tip. Then pencils, chalks, crayons, and more oils, powders, acrylics, water colours… An entire universe of colours I use every day on my screen, yet colours I can never actually touch. And brushes, real brushes.

There were actually a few people inside, so I bought myself some graphite crayons, the heavy, professional type. I thought I might give type design another, more serious try. That was it, though. Nothing else for me there: I could never break the barriers between me and painters, oils and acrylics. But to get the feeling you’re walking into another world, that’s an experience to remember. So, next time you go out and have nothing better to do, pick an art store and try to grasp its possibilities.

Posted in personal on Monday, February 25th, 2008 12:29 pm