More paint

 I haven't had time to get on here lately and regale you with my fabulous stories and witticisms.  Did you miss me?

There has been a lot going on in the past three weeks or so - there was the wedding, my mom moving into a nursing home ( lots of trips north), the fair, terracotta pot hunting (looking for big ones to transplant my clivia into), appointments, painting, Scrabble,  haircut, gardening, and a couple trips to Fort Wayne for movies, food, and fun. 

I am fortunate to have time to do whatever I want to do, however I sometimes take that time for granted and just surf the net.  I am all over the internet and what I should do is get all over painting.  Skills don't develop without practice!

Anyway, I wanted to show you what's been happening in my painting world.

This first is mixed media - colored pencil and water color paint. Simple, really but I am struggling with the washes that go over what is already on the paper. Practice practice practice!

 

Below is a technique used for creating a fog-like background.  I need to work on this technique a little more too, I think.

 

 

 

 

Three barns, two ways.  The top is  just a plain old water color the bottom two are painted on a surface of modeling paste.  I love working on this medium and have two more pages ready to go.  Let's hope it's not a barn.

 

 

 

 

And these little  birds I just drew with an ink pen and then colored in with water color paint.  They make me smile because I have been trying to draw cartoon-like birds for a while and finally found an easy way to do it.  While I probably wouldn't hang this in my house as a "piece of art", I will put them on my bulletin board and smile when I look at them.  I think they are cute!

 

 

 

I have mixed emotions about pursuing this method of art.   I wish it was just a God-given artistic talent but it's clear that it's not.  However I do enjoy it...but when I tell people I am taking classes I get that look and/or response that says, "Oh.  Empty nest?"  "Midlife crisis?"  Well, the nest is empty and I am in mid-life and really hate thinking that my activities are cliche!  I want to be good at this, not just bide my time!  I am going to think of a clever statement to this look/response.  Trust me, the one talent I do have is sarcasm.

 

Have you ever tried something determined to succeed in but struggled the whole time?  Did you succeed or did you give up?  I take no issue with giving up as long as the effort is valiant.   How long should someone continue to try something before stopping?  For me, it's until I stop enjoying myself. 

 

Trust me, I have thought many times to just quit but I keep getting called back.  This is a new life-lesson.  Funny how we never really do stop learning.

 

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