Painting

 

   I gave my mother a set of watercolour paints, a drawing tablet and a kid's book on how to draw. A few weeks ago she started using the watercolour paints instead of coloured pencils in her colouring books. Since she goes through the child's set of paints so quickly, my Dad got her a set of waterbased acrylic paint to use. C bought her an inexpensive set of brushes.

   Usually when I visit Mom, we work on a paint by numbers kit. Last week I wanted to play with Mom's paints. Her set has some very bright colours. I took a wide brush and dipped into the hot pink paint. I started painting wavy streaks on the paper in a sort of radial fashion. I likes the way the the colour faded as I moved the brush along. I did this with purple, blue and a little yellow. In the space where my rays of paint started I painted little dots that were the same colours as the rays.

   Once I got done with it I looked at it. I liked it. It was pretty. 

   Then I attempted to draw a butterfly. I looked at a sample on the internet and tried to copy it. My drawing wasn't very good, but I decided to paint it anyway. I started painting a rainbow on the wings. It was fun choosing the colours and painting stripes of colour. It was sort of relaxing. I can understand why Mom likes it so much.

   Inwardly, I had to laugh. When I was in grade school and junior high, I didn't like art class. I wasn't good at drawing or anything else we did. I'm sure the art teacher wondered what to do when it was time for the student art show. Every student had at least one piece in the show. My projects were so bad that I'm sure he didn't want to include them. It was amazing how much more fun painting could be when you aren't getting graded and you paint something you like.

   Now  many many years later, I had discovered how much fun painting can be. All I was doing was playing with the bright colours that I like so much.  In the process I made a design that looks nice. I'm tempted to frame it and put it somewhere. ( I won't, that would be prideful.)

   As much as it might be fun to take up painting as a hobby, the last thing I need is a hobby where I accumulate stuff. There are only so many pictures you can hang. I'd like to try painting some dishes like a platter or a set of cups. Maybe I could paint a design on a shirt. Then it would be useful.

   For now I'll help Mom with her paint by numbers set and admire the things that she paints and draws.