Some non-quilting fun…

Is it possible to have fun when you aren’t quilting????

That is the question!!!

One of my plans for this wide-open summer was to spend time trying some different things…..things that would push me outside of my comfort zone

To this end, I purchased an online lesson series about watercolor painting!! As a teaching tool, It has not lived up to its hype, but at least it made me START!!!

In the first sessions, she spends a lot of time talking about all of the best equipment and supplies to buy, but I simply couldn’t justify the expense. So, one day I took all of my art supply store coupons and purchased paints….Watercolor, Gouache, and Acrylic.

This past week it was time to break the out and give them a try!!!

It got everything set up……

….but facing the blank page was a bit much!!

I watched the videos for a few minutes and finally mixed up some yellow paint……

….and made the first stroke…….

Well……THAT was anti-climatic!!!

Then I realized that I hadn’t added any WATER…..you know, the thing that WATER-colors work with!!!

With the addition of a bit of water and a peach color paint, it started looking better……

I let it dry for a few minutes while I watched more of the videos. The tutor makes lots of flower bouquet arrangements so I watched her and decided to try to copy what she was doing. The first step was a stylized flower vase…..

Well, it is a start!!!

Next, she suggested adding leaf groups around the outside of the “bouquet”. I watched her paint the leaves, starting with a thin line for the leaf stem, pressing the brush down for the leaf proper and then releasing off of the brush to make the leaf point.

I practiced a few times……

….and then took the plunge……

After making lots of leaves, I followed the teachers lead and started adding stylized “flowers”…..

It was fun to think of details that I could add to the flowers……

This is the final result……

It certainly isn’t fancy, but I am happy with the effort!!!

I have since found another class on Craftsy (which cost me $1.25 for a one year membership….check out their specials). I had looked at this class last summer but didn’t have time to play, but remembered that she starts with basic brush strokes and then goes from there.

Now I am REALLY looking forward to the next day that I can…….

What other creative outlets do you have???