This is a RAVE!!!

I painted all day today...all day! My painting teacher asked me if I wanted to paint with her once a week at her house. I jumped at the offer because she is a wonderful painter and a very nice person. We picked a project which scared the hell out of me...it was lillies and roses and pansies and alot of "stroke work" (no dirty jokes now!). It involved 40 different paint colors.

Now, I never painted in my life until about a year ago when I retired and came up here to NH. (I have always wanted to learn to paint.)I enrolled in classes and have been plugging along every since. I have learned a great deal but I am in awe of people like this gal who just seem to make it so easy!

I also have a slight "disibility" when it comes to stuff like this. I have what is called a "filial tremor" or an "intentional tremor" which I inherited from my father. It means that I have a mild shake in my hands...I take a beta blocker for it or it would probably be much worse. This make fine painting a real challenge. What I discovered today is that the longer I paint, the less I shake.

Anyway, we sat down at 9:30 this morning and before I knew it, it was 4 pm. My poor old dog Gypsy was home with her legs crossed! I learned alot, had a nice time and have the beginnings of a beautiful project (if I do say so myself). It's days like this that take my mind off of abuse and beheadings and wondering where the hell the world is going. Thank God for small things! :hi:

always nice to come across a ray of sunshine on these boards, because real life does get wearying and depressing and emotionally numbing.

:hug:

:hi:

:loveya:

How great that you got to spend the whole, uninterrupted day painting. Keep it up! One of the best pieces of art advice I ever got was to do something every day; draw, doodle, write creatively, whatever but just do it.

I haven't been able to do any art projects for several years now. I'm too busy paying the bills. I hope I can get back to it someday. I live for days like you had today.

And I'm thinking about taking it up again.

The question is: Oil, Arcylic or Watercolor?

They are so easy to work with, come in hundreds of colors and clean up with water. You can work them in ways that make them look like oils or watercolors...now, I sound like I really know what I'm talking about...but that's what my teacher tells me. It you water them down they do begin to look like watercolors and if you "double load" your brush with two colors, they begin to get the depth and variation of oils. They are also pretty inexpensive.

I developed a technique that allows me to make my drawing look just like paint or watercolor. I haven't done it for a few years now, so I'm a little rusty. I'm sure that it would come right back to me.

It's so cool to discover different "distractions", isn't it? I did the same with throwing clay.