Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Watercolors

So, in high school I really found my love for art. I always enjoyed doing arts and crafts, doodling and such - but I never really felt like an artist until high school. I didn't even take my first real art class until my junior year. At that time, I started learning the basics. Different types of paints, how to sketch an accurate point of view, shading techniques, etc. and I was in love. I started thinking of ways I could incorporate art into every class. Which made the coolest Algebra notes of all time, but not the coolest Algebra grades... ahem.

One thing I dabbled with a tiny bit in high school but never really fully understood was watercolor. If you've ever painted with watercolors you know that the setup takes much, much longer than say, that of acrylic painting. Acrylic - canvas, jar of water, tube of paint, you're ready to go. Watercolor - watercolor paper, jar of water, tube of paint, masking fluid, board for mounting paper, tape for mounting paper, paper towels, paint a little bit, wait for it to dry, paint a little more, wait for it to dry, etc. I am not that person. I don't sit and wait on projects. I sit down in front of the TV, or next to the iPod dock, and I do it. Start to finish. Or start to never ever going to finish sometimes (usually when I'm not happy with the start.) But, I don't often work in stages. So, when the mandatory watercolor projects were finished, I stopped.

Then came several years of hating doing art (because it was ALL mandatory) followed by the period that I'm in now where I'm falling hard in love with it again. So, I decided to try my hand at watercolor again. I bought some masking fluid and went to town. I ended up with this little (and QUICK!) project, and I couldn't be more pleased. I have a feeling someone will be getting some of these for Christmas.