My painting journey

Welcome to My Painting Blog

I used to own an old set of watercolour paints. I was told I was using them wrong, and I suppose I was. I laid the paint on far too thick, didn't follow any of the rules of how to paint with watercolour, and produced 'art' you would never believe was painted in that medium. But with no actual training or guidance, I suppose I was just experimenting. I was painting the way I wanted to paint but with the wrong tools!.

So when, in March 2018, I found an adult ed class entitled 'Paint a landscape in acrylics' I thought I'd give it a go. I bought a basic set of acrylic paints, some new brushes, and headed back to school. It's amazing the difference a little knowledge can make. It was only four sessions, one afternoon a week, but he taught the basics - selecting and cropping the image, tonal painting, colour mixing and putting it all together.

My original photograph with the tonal study I did first

The light bulb moment!

Half way through the course, having worked on my painting a little at home, I took my work out at the start of a class and his reaction was 'wow!', as was that of my fellow students. I suddenly occurred to me that maybe I should be putting a little more effort into this painting malarkey and pushing myself a bit more. Years of painting sunsets with a silhouette of a tree in front, too scared to try anything more in case I made a mess of it, ended in that moment.

My work in progress

You don't know unless you try

The image below is the finished painting. Four weeks earlier I never would have thought I could paint something like that, and four years later I've progressed so much more. I guess you just don't know what you're capable of until you try. This image is now March's photo in the Adur Art Collective's 2023 calendar (it came third in the voting!).

Watch this space to see more of my painting journey.

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