For years I've wanted to learn to paint with watercolors. About twenty years ago I played around with acrylic and oils and really enjoyed that challenge. I wasn't especially talented, but I had fun and was better than I'd expected.
Still, watercolor really appeals to me--even though the technique is almost the opposite of what I became comfortable with back then.So, thanks to a recent gift card, I ordered a book on watercolor technique, suited to the meanest understanding, and a beginners set of water colors. Reading the book Friday night, I began to feel the excitement of striking out into new territory. And Saturday morning I began with some of the easy projects.I'd almost forgotten the very real pleasure of painting--the colors, the attention to detail, the challenge of making a picture. It's a perfect meditation--no room for anything else.A banana, a pumpkin, a tomato, and lots of free form doodles in the extra space as I faff about, seeing what the difference is between putting color on wet, on half-wet, on dry. It's been a long year of a kind of malaise with almost nothing new in it--I'm embarrassed I didn't think of trying this earlier. It may be the effect of the approach of Spring (I find myself also doing bits of long overdue cleaning.) And thanks to the vaccine, we had dinner last night at friends' house--the first time in a year. Before and after a fine meal, I caught up with what's been going on in our circle of friends and the guys watched basketball. To make the evening perfect for the guys, Carolina won and Duke lost. 2021 is beginning to look up!