Painting a fresco, unsurprisingly, was hard. As an engineer, I feel like I’m built to handle tough math and science problems, but the second you put a paintbrush in my hand and tell me to have at it, my brain short-circuits. Despite the guidance of the artists at the workshop, I still felt in way over my head and the perfectionist in me kept trying to fix all the details (to no avail). By the end, I was tired, my head hurt, and I came to the conclusion that the art of fresco was just not for me. And then I thought of the hundreds of fresco paintings littering the city of Florence around me, and that blew my mind a little because the technique is difficult and requires more patience than I’ll ever have. Although I think I’ll stick to my easy paint-by-numbers paintings, I think that this experience has left me with a newfound appreciation for the dedication and time painters of the Renaissance poured into their craft.
Swanson School of Engineering 