In Which I Fail to Create Art, Mostly

First, the temps here barely broke 40 degrees for most of last week, which made me loath to step outside at all.  Dog walks were quick and chilly.  Outdoor sketch adventures were entirely out of the picture.  And I had to bundle up like Scott of the Antarctic to rake and bag the darn leaves that keep blowing into my yard.  In other words, BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

So I thought it would be good to make art indoors.  I had this idea about painting a large (for me, that is -- which is 16 x 20") and colorful acrylic painting to go with the very large and very colorful acrylic painting that I bought recently.  After several days of messing about with that, I discovered a few things.

1.  I didn't have any idea what to paint.
2.  I didn't have any clue how to paint it even if I figured out what the subject was.
3.  I don't really like painting with acrylics. 

This turned out to be a problem.  I am not sharing the messy, ugly, crappy effort that was sort of a scene with rolling hills and trees with a puffy cloud sky.  Trust me, you are better off without seeing it.  I know I am, which is why it now sits in the back of a closet far far away.

Then I did this:

This is watercolor.  I like painting in watercolor.  It works for me.  Why am I not painting a colorful large picture with watercolor?  Well, because I wanted something for the wall, and to display watercolors, you have to mat them and frame them and I didn't want that particular look.  The large colorful acrylic painting I bought is on stretched canvas, unframed, with the sides painted so you can just hang it on the wall as is.  A matted and framed painting would look odd next to it, if you ask me.

Imagine my happiness, then, when I discovered that you don't have to frame a watercolor!

See that?  It's watercolor paper glued to a wood frame!  You can just hang it on the wall as it is!  Aha!

I tested it out, as you can see above, on a smaller 8x10" panel, and having found success, decided that was the way to go for the bigger piece.  I ordered two more panels, one 9x12" and one 11x14".  They should arrive soon, and then we shall see if my new plan works. 

Otherwise, the only artistic effort I made last week involved a little bird.  My friend Mary sent me a photo of a slightly cranky looking fledgling with a note saying, "Why don't you paint me?"  So I did.

It made me happy, because drawing in ink and painting in watercolor works for me (well, most of them time...) and that's what I should stick to. 

Of course, I still need to figure out what to paint for those larger pieces. 

Argh.