Painting for Absolute Beginners - Week 2

I finally found a spot to keep my paint items set up in the house. No bathtub is involved despite the fact that it would facilitate water acquisition and cleanup.

I have put all paper and paint (not the water) on and around a t.v. tray, near....what else?...the t.v. That way, I don't have to pack up and I only need to bring a small, stable container with water when I'm ready to watch t.v...and paint. I like to multi task especially when it comes to t.v. It feels as though less time is wasted. The only occasion when this might become a problem is if I accidentally sit on the chair remote which will recline me more rapidly than I can retrieve the gizmo and thus fling my feet into a horizontal position directly in line with my painting supplies. Fortunately, I don't keep the water on the tray but on a large wicker trunk (no elephants were harmed....) next to my chair.

This week, in class, my eyes were swollen and I had major hives all over my body...an attractive look. I probably won't use that as an excuse for my painting efforts. I will use it as a reason for another blog, possibly today or tomorrow.

We received a course summary, and I soon saw that a week's Caribbean beach vacation was looking more desirable than some of the paint weeks. The fact is, I don't really care for water colours and saw no sign of acrylic usage as I had hoped in the later stages of these sessions. Ah well.

I learned more about colour theory and followed the instructions we were given to work with wet on wet, wet on dry, and dry on dry. I hope I have this all correct. Wet on wet involved wetting the paper and using thinned paint atop this. Wet on dry...hmmm...sounds like wet paint on dry paper. Finally, dry on dry wasn't quite as it seemed although the brush had minimal amounts of water and made a scritching sound on the paper.

Once finished following the instructors suggestions for trying these techniques, we all brought our work to place it on display along a wall...a gallery exhibit as it were. I immediately noted and announced "One of these things is not like the others." I got a laugh if nothing else.

Mine was different, probably wrong....was I already lagging? Am I unteachable? You know the old saying about "those who can, do and those who can't....."

Yep....that's mine, last one on the right. Not to worry, there won't be a test at the end, I thought. I've always been a bit different. Besides, I've got a terrible case of hives.

We received our homework assignment. Make shapes. Experiment with different techniques. Add paint at different times. Seemed simple enough. I'll just keep plugging away. Here are a few of the messes I made while watching the State of the Union address (listening actually).

Mucking around #1....lines, shapes, mixing colours, dry on dry...who knows? I think I even started a game of watercolour tic tac toe in the corner.

Mucking around #2....Let's try something else. I filled a whole page with colour, wet on wet, dry on whatever....just running things together. And what would happen if I put a Picassa frame around it?