Do all wanta-be artists and writers beat themselves up? Do we all spend too much money on new supplies thinking if we had just the right paint brush or a new book of inspirational quotes our mojo will come back from the dead? I signed up for a watercolor painting class here at the CCC.
I hated working with watercolors in the past and I downsized all my watercolor supplies and books out of my life when I moved here. So don’t ask me why I signed up for one of those wine and paint afternoons guaranteed to help you produced a “fine” painting by dinnertime. Then the class got canceled at the last minute because only seven of us here at the CCC signed up and the instructor required ten. I guess she’d rather not work that day than to accept $140 for two and half hours of her life when she places a $200 value on them. I don’t know what to think about that. Yes, I do ---My first boss would had said, "A bird in the hand is worth more than two in bush."
I was a pouting, unhappy camper after the cancellation. I had myself all psyched up about that class, thanks in no small part to the posts of Jeanie at her Marmalade Gypsy blog. She’s been taking part in the Sketchbook Revival, which if I’m understanding it right is a daily prompt kind of thing to get your creative juices going. I tried to sign up for their free workshop but for some reason the sign-up link kept taking me to a 100 day course for $97, so I backed out.
Then I got a bug up my nose and googled art subscription boxes and obsessed for several days over comparing them. You should see my Facebook page now because google apparently got a few cents referral fee from every art subscription company on the face of the earth and my feed is filled with colorful art and free demonstrations. For once I don’t care that my online information is being tracked and sold. I’ve tried the DuckDuckGo search engine, by the way, that doesn’t track you but I don’t really like it because there are times I want to go back in my history and find a site I saw earlier.
Back to my art obsession: I ended up on Amazon and bought a medium-to-low priced watercolor set, some paper and a workbook designed to teach you watercolor techniques. I have visions of myself sitting out on my deck teaching myself to like watercolor and I have Jeanie to blame for that. Her work is so colorful and fun and playful that I decided I’ve always taken art too seriously. I’m going to teach myself how to play. I’m also a gadget person and I’m fascinated by the new-to-me water brush pens. The paint set and paper came and by Tuesday I’ll have the workbook so if all goes according to plan I’ll be famous by Saturday. Just kidding of course, but I’d at least like to be good enough not to be embarrassed by my explorations if someone walks by my deck and wants to see what I'm working on.
I did order an art box from a company that does single sales and subscriptions both and they sent me a half off coupon for being such a good searcher on Google, I’m guessing. I ordered a watercolor lesson on doing portraits. I may do an unpacking-the-box post on it like Deb from The Widow Badass does with her subscriptions to treats from around the world. It’s all her fault that I’ve wanted to have a monthly subscription of something. After reading her last post about Universal Yums I’ll admit I spent too much time googling food subscriptions. Funny thing, though, none of those searches resulted in my Facebook page getting filled up with ads for a monthly delivery of chocolates, cheeses or other goodies. Thank goodness, because apparently my willpower against buying stuff I don't need is at an all-time low.
Back in the ‘70s I once subscribed to a perfumes from around the world service. I still had one of the perfume bottles up until I downsized last year. I absolutely loved it but you can no longer buy. The bottle was empty but it still held the scent. I tried to google it and found people selling used bottles with varying amounts still left in the bottle and they wanted a small fortune for it. Evidently I was not the only person who loved that heavenly sweet perfume from India. I did a makeup subscription once as well, but I didn't see any, now, curated for old women. I loved and still do love getting things by snail mail.
After ordering the portrait box I took an inventory of all my art supplies and discovered I have pastels, acrylic paints and pencils sets curated for doing portraits. If I’m anything at least I’ve been consistent over the decades. No matter what I try I keep coming back to my first love---trying to depict people with words or paint. ©
Photo at the top is of a pastel drawing I did of my nephew back in my heyday of doing art --- late '70s, early '80s.
