What am i-Doing?

i-Think, i-Can….i-Think, i –Can……i-Think, i-Can……nope, i-Can’t.  The i-pad Apps that make “art” are just not for me. i-Tried.  Okay, I only tried for about 30 minutes even after attempting to read the downloaded instruction manual for step by step how-to’s.   Correct me if I am wrong (on second thought, don’t correct me because I don’t care to be “convinced”) but didn’t manuals, paper or otherwise, have words that went along with the pictures?  Just giving me an onscreen image with arrows pointing out the buttons does not tell me what they do, when I should use them, and why or how.

I even (oh wait….that should be i-Even) did the introductory easy level following along tutorial. All well and good until I was “done” and then nothing told me what to do with it or how to get back to the other screen or anything even remotely logical for the next step. Tapping around blindly seemed a waste of time.  I know that thousands upon thousands of people depend upon such devices now to make “art”. i-Did manage to make one sketch, add some color and spray paint a question mark over her head. Then I went down to the studio to retrieve my spiral bound sketch pad. The same drawing took microseconds of time. 

i-Don’t get it. Well….yes i-Do really, and I have focused on this before…..”art” as us oldsters commonly understand it, has moved away from ability and landed in the lap of apps.  The artwork created by these devices, phones and pads and tablets etc….are gloriously rich and detailed images, but ummmm…they are brought to visual life by a machine programmed to perfect the ideas. It is no wonder kids can’t draw in art school anymore. They don’t have too.  Side note here, but the artist who won the reality show about art, did drawings and beat the esoteric, well crafted, conceptual work of her competitors. The judges and fellow artists were marveling over her work….done by hand. It seemed almost odd and out of place if not quaint in today’s world to see them so enamored.

Back to buttons…..

i-Suppose this onscreen approach is the future and i-Am going to be somewhere back in the dust cloud struggling to keep up. i-May have to rent a room to a teenager just so I can have an in-house IT department much like one used to have to have live in help for assorted reasons.  i-Shall not feel bad about not understanding such advancements however because nothing can replace sitting outside on a beautiful summer day with sketchbook in hand doodling away the hours. No need to worry about battery power, screen reflections, wi-fi access or other assorted amenities….just me and my i-Deas.

i-Must admit however, the little stinker does allow me to play continuous games of solitare, check my email on a different floor and gives me a google fix faster than going back downstairs. As for artwork, i-Can’t forgo the feel of a brush in my hand. No need to scroll down the list of available brushes, God me eyes to select one from my assorted jars, no need to pick a color from the provided boxes, God gave me hands to mix my own options and no need to push a save button, God gave me shelf space to store years of sketchbooks so I can lay out pictures side by side without flipping screens back and forth.

i-Can appreciate the technology, i-Just don’t have to fall victim to it in all aspects of my life…Do-i?