Painting

For the longest time, I've wanted to get in to painting. Canvas painting. I wasn't sure what kind of paints to use or how to start. I went out to Grandma Adams' and got some advice. She told me to start with the acrylic paint versus the oil paint because acrylic dries faster. I went to the Craft Warehouse and much to my surprise, all the paint stuff was on SALE! woot!! So, I bought some brushes, a huge! canvas and some acrylic paint. I think I spent about $25 for all of it. OH! And since Belle was with me and everything was on sale, she got a little 8 x 10 canvas for $1.50.



I wasn't sure what I was going to paint so I didn't do anything with my supplies for a few weeks. It just sat in the spare bedroom. Finally! It came to me and I figured it was pretty simple so I could do it. But, I had to find time to do this... Sunday night, Belle and I got out our supplies and started painting.



This was NOT at all how I thought it was going to be. I borrowed an easel from Grandma Adams but the canvas I bought was too thick to be held in place. So I couldnt use it. Oh man... I need an easel. My back is that of a 70 year old woman's so hunching over on the kitchen table was not fun. Plus I would block the light from above me and this caused me to have to hunch over and to the side so I could still have some light. Ugh. I need an easel (Tren please build me one). Then there was Belle, constantly talking and talking and breaking my train of thought. That one is a Chatty Kathy! I bought the small tubes of paint so I was afraid I'd run out before I was done. I didn't use as much as I probably should have. I started at the top and did my blue sky. Loved it. I was happy. Then on to my 4 rolling hills. Great... looking reallllllll nice. Then I had in my mind to do some sort of sage brush along the bottom. So, I keep going with my brown hill color and I didn't use as much paint to try and distinguish between hill and dirt where my sage brush is going. This looks hideous. I am getting mad. Belle is still talking. So I stop about 4 inches from the bottom. Belle tells me I should do a little trail there along the bottom. So, I get the lighter brown paint and go for it. OH MY WORD!! I want to throw this thing away! It is so ugly. So, where the mountains meet the dirt, I paint some "sage brush" in a dark green. These actually look like pine trees! Crap! So, I decide I'll put a few scattered pine trees in my light brown dirt. Oh wow. Not good. Looked like Belle (no offense Belle) had painted this thing instead of me. So. I sit and want to just cover the whole thing in black since I've used nearly all of my tiny little dark brown tube of paint. I decide I'll try and throw some clouds in the blue sky. HA! That was a joke. I need better brushes. So, I let the white dry and then cover it back up in the sky blue. What a mess this is becoming. I keep staring and getting more annoyed with my inability to paint. ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! Then I covered the bottom "trail" in light green. Ohhhh yessss.... This is getting better. So I cover the pine trees all up with dark green. This is looking better. Then Tren comes home and tells me it looks like I did a mirror image of the mountain... like part of the dark green is reflecting the mountain in a lake! What is this he is talking about? So I start looking closer and finally see it. Woot! With his advice, I mix black and the dark green and then paint a little line across, splitting up my dark green and making this "lake". Not so bad now! Woot!! I made the line a little thicker and then got the dark green and smushed some bushes on the edges of the lake to give it a good look. Woo woo! Then I decided I wanted to make 3 hills instead of the 4. Grandma Adams told me a long time ago that when painting you do odd numbers. Well in anything art-y you should to odd numbers. So, I pulled the 2 center hills together to make one big one. You can sort of tell it's 2 made into 1 if you are at the right angle. Then I signed and dated it and now I love it! What do you think?




I'm out of dark green and dark brown paint.

I think my next ones will be more just shapes and random things... I didn't expect to be a pro at this right out of the gate, but I thought I would do better. I really think with a few tips, some better brushes and an easel I can improve.