SA

A New Hobby: Watercolors

July 21, 2014

On a whim a few months ago, I decided to start watercolor painting. Why? I still don’t really know. Whether it was a need for another creative outlet or just a way to disconnect from the internet, it has been one of the most challenging and fun things I have done in a while. After some hilarious first paintings, I now paint about once a week for a couple of hours. With that, I think it is now safe to call painting a hobby.

This new hobby started out rough. Like starting anything new, the first few attempts were laughable. A tree looked like a first grader did it. A self-portrait looked nothing like a human. The “abstract-modern-art-thing” was nothing more that random lines, dots and self-disgust. Such things need to be forgotten… that is why they will never grace the pages of the internet.

Here we are a few months later. I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos for tricks of the trade. I’ve gone through a couple notebooks of paper and my brushes are broken in. Through this I have learned two things about myself.

When you get frustrated, just stop.

&

When you’re on a roll, just keep going.

Those two things have turned the frustrating early days of painting into a fun hobby. The two paintings attached to this post took about 5 hours and were inspired by my recent weekend at a cabin by the Mississippi River. I shared them here, not because they are amazing or museum worthy… But they were fun, challenging and provided for a very relaxing day. The time flew by as I sat on my back-porch listening to music and enjoying the perfect afternoon weather.

They are my best work yet… and thats saying something!

"River Road"