("Just Add Water," As Danny Gregory would say)
While I've never had studio art classes, I've been an aficionado of things artistic all my life.
Several years ago, I decided to act on an impulse I've had for years, when I picked up a watercolor brush and six tubes of watercolors:
(two reds) alizarin crimson and cadmium red,
(two yellows) cadmium yellow and lemon yellow,
and (two blues) french ultramarine and phthalo blue.
I always had a secret desire to paint. I'd read books about artists, and mused about how it must feel to create something beautiful with your own hands. Since I wasn't sure if I'd be any good at it, I decided to try watercolors, (they were cheaper, for one, and it seemed to me you wouldn't need as much paraphernalia as you do with oils and other media.) If I wasn't any good at it, I reasoned, I wouldn't be wasting quite as much money, you see. I also had the interesting notion that somehow, watercolors must be "easy," since they're really just water and pigments in pretty tubes, right?
Well, my initial naive brush with color has grown into a passion and a healthy respect for all things watercolor. I've learned over and over that it's a difficult medium, but once you've dipped a springy brush into oozy, lush colors, and seen them magically meander on the rich surface of art papers, it's hard not to give in to the lure of this medium. I'm hooked, and now I'm always clamoring for more.
From those initial 6 tubes of watercolors, I've graduated to many shades and hues, each more beautiful than the last, and I've mixed hundreds of additional colors on papers and palettes. I've filled sketchbooks with images as I continue to learn. Art supply stores are my favorite haunts, and the people I've met who have similar interests are wonderfully creative folks for whom I have phenomenal respect and admiration. While I'm often not satisfied with my results, I'm committed to keep trying and working at it.
One of my favorite quotations is from Picasso, who said that "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." It's a healthy addiction. Of that, I'm certain.
Several years ago, I decided to act on an impulse I've had for years, when I picked up a watercolor brush and six tubes of watercolors:
(two reds) alizarin crimson and cadmium red,
(two yellows) cadmium yellow and lemon yellow,
and (two blues) french ultramarine and phthalo blue.
I always had a secret desire to paint. I'd read books about artists, and mused about how it must feel to create something beautiful with your own hands. Since I wasn't sure if I'd be any good at it, I decided to try watercolors, (they were cheaper, for one, and it seemed to me you wouldn't need as much paraphernalia as you do with oils and other media.) If I wasn't any good at it, I reasoned, I wouldn't be wasting quite as much money, you see. I also had the interesting notion that somehow, watercolors must be "easy," since they're really just water and pigments in pretty tubes, right?
Well, my initial naive brush with color has grown into a passion and a healthy respect for all things watercolor. I've learned over and over that it's a difficult medium, but once you've dipped a springy brush into oozy, lush colors, and seen them magically meander on the rich surface of art papers, it's hard not to give in to the lure of this medium. I'm hooked, and now I'm always clamoring for more.
From those initial 6 tubes of watercolors, I've graduated to many shades and hues, each more beautiful than the last, and I've mixed hundreds of additional colors on papers and palettes. I've filled sketchbooks with images as I continue to learn. Art supply stores are my favorite haunts, and the people I've met who have similar interests are wonderfully creative folks for whom I have phenomenal respect and admiration. While I'm often not satisfied with my results, I'm committed to keep trying and working at it.
One of my favorite quotations is from Picasso, who said that "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." It's a healthy addiction. Of that, I'm certain.
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