Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Crow- Watercolor Painting "Lesson" learned


Crow
Originally uploaded by CLBcreations
My current art project seemed to take me in a different direction.

After lingering in Hobby Lobby to blow away an hour of my time, a travel pack of watercolors was calling me. I thought it was the cutest little compact of paints I have ever seen...and quite reasonable in price to. Funny how it wound up in my collection shortly after.

As I was driving home from the store there was no "wonder what I can do with this now" type of inner conversation with myself. No, it was more like "BAM!...can't wait to get this crow on paper" and even went over the process a couple of times on how I wanted it laid out, how I was going to color it, and how I was going to line it. But how the heck did I know exactly what I wanted to do? I'm more of a wishy washy person when it comes to making decisions. However, in this case, it was clear what was going to be painted. No arguments there and I accepted it for what it was.

After a brief internet search for some reference material I was soon to put pencil to paper. A few adjustments here and there, and I was quite surprised and how well I had drawn the design. Great right? Yup..but (isn't there always a "but" in a good story?) I had no clue how to use watercolors. I mean I knew how I wanted the color to be laid out, but had no idea on the technique to do it. So, I just did it. I wet the section I wanted to work on..then started slowly adding color. I admit I did make some mistakes and had to work that out with a few YouTube lessons..but all in all I accomplished what had sparked my imagination.

Was it worth it? Heck Ya! Would I do it again For Sure! Whats the lesson to this story? "Just go with the flow babe". If something is calling to you and it's something that is completely off your radar, just go with it. There is something that you need to get out, whether it's the end product or the process to get to it, it has to be done. Otherwise, if we bottle ourselves up as artists, it's like making a broken promise to our souls. Thats like becoming a number on the wall and no one wants to pay much mind to that!

So, don't become a number on the wall fellow artists and crafters. Take heed to your artistic insight, trust yourself and let your spirit soar in the process. Let the artistic spirit lift your wings and be the Crow that you are.

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