Artistic differences

The NABM household headed west on a roadtrip for the long weekend. We had a ball catching up with family and as we made our way back to Sydney on Monday Mr G and I had a funny little conversation. I was (and remain) completely flabbergast by my sister and brother in law. We all stayed at the cottage they've been renovating for the past year and the results are amazing. Not because of an extravagant budget, the help of an architect and interior designer or a team of tradesmen. They have done virtually everything themselves on a tiny budget and have almost transformed a dilapidated country cottage into a lush family home. The results are ridiculous.

The colours, the finishes, the furniture, the lay out...it is a fabulous visual feast. Among other things, I was immediately struck by various pieces of art hung around the home. I can't do them justice in words but the walls are adorned with all manner of bold and beautiful bits and pieces. From a gorgeous poem printed on distressed wood, to a large canvass dotted with small hearts, to bright animal prints, to photo frames filled with paper butterflies, to vintage mirrors spray painted glossy black....all the various pieces make the space sing. I walked around staring at each one wondering where on earth my sister B could source such fabulous things without spending a fortune. Naturally I nearly fell over when she admitted she was the artist. She had conceived and created every single piece. And therein lies my awe.

It blows my mind that someone - particularly someone closely related to me - can do such things. Every step of the process...which I insisted B explain to me in minute detail...from coming up with her ideas, to sourcing the materials, to actually creating it...is foreign to me. And I am not being at all modest. I genuinely don't have any artistic aptitude whereas B is filled with it. To her colour, design, decor and art are the easiest things in the world. Which is why it blows my mind.I explained this fascination at great length to Mr G during our trip home. He was also mightily impressed by the handiwork and talents of B and her husband but he was also blown away by someone else.

My tech-savvy, iPad-toting, Facebook-using, Tweeting, octogenarian Pa was with us for the weekend. His social media prowess is light years ahead of Mr G's but it wasn't that that caught his attention. Over dinner one night Pa  was recalling the various developments in technology during the 70s and 80s when he was running a large regional department store. He remembers basically every piece of technology that came out and told us about how he used each development in various parts of the business. His ability to recall facts, figures and dates about pretty much anything is uncanny and to Mr G that is completely foreign.

Whereas Mr G could conceivably renovate a house or build a piece of furniture, he cannot conceivably imagine being able to remember details a year on, let alone, three decades later. Which is different to me. Whilst I have a knack for remembering names and dates, even the idea of  attempting a piece of art or a renovation project is so far beyond my skill set that it intrigues me. 

And I think it's one of the things that makes us humans so very interesting. Each of us has a completely different set of natural skills and talents. Obviously with education and training you can improve them or develop completely new ones but I don't think there is any escaping what comes to you naturally. What are you good at without trying? And what skills do other people have that blow you away?