No longer an amateur

Oh but I am feeling oh so important and professional today. Yesterday I actually sold a watercolor. A friend of mine saw the painting on my Facebook page and wanted to know if she could buy it. I named a price to cover my expenses and she paid me double that. I was so excited. Isn’t that silly? You wouldn’t think someone of my age and life experience would need that kind of affirmation, but it was such a new sensation for me. Now I don’t intend to go out and do an exposition or try to repeat the experience, but it was nice to know that my little hobby paid for some more supplies. One paint brush actually costs more than I was paid for the painting, but a paint brush lasts a lifetime. I’ve had people ask on Facebook when I’m going to do an exposition. No plans on that, as it costs a lot of money to frame the paintings. But I did ask our teacher if we students could do an exposition. The last time we did one, I was just beginning to draw. Now I have a lot more stuff. When we go together and do this, then the framing comes out really cheap. So maybe we will do something later this year. That would be fun, eh?

That being sad, yesterday’s class was kind of a bust for me. I just couldn’t seem to concentrate. I started the graphite drawing for my next watercolor, but it just wasn’t coming together at all. I quit and starting mixing paints. That was more fun. I spent over 90 minutes just mixing and playing with combinations to find the right shades of pinks and greens. You’d think it would be easy. Pink is pink, right? Well, there is orangey pink, reddish pink and purpley pink and everything in between. Green is absolutely the worst. You can buy green paint, but it’s absolutely never the right shade. Mostly it’s best to mix your own shade. I am glad I studied color theory, but I still have a long, long way to go to master the concept.  I am going back and study one of my botanical illustration books where she explains more about green watercolor, because I never arrived at one of the shades of green I needed. 

I am finally getting out from under whatever virus I had for the last week. I suffered two days of silence with laryngitis. Then I suffered a complete malaise and constant irritating sore throat. I still am not full of pep, but I do have some energy to clean and cook and get out to grocery shop, which is a relief to my husband.

During the days I stayed in bed, I did work some on learning some stuff in Adobe Photoshop. I abandoned my plan of methodically following a book, as it seems my mind just doesn’t work in a step by step kind of way. I do leaps and bounds. Since I was scanning old photos for my husband, I also did a lot of mine and put them up on Facebook. As I looked at them, I decided I could work on them and make them better. So I did. See if you think I am learning anything from the befores and afters. I especially like the improvement on my bangs. Sorry, Mom, but those uneven bangs just had to go!!!!

So that’s me weighing in on the art side of my life. Now I’ll just keep dreaming about a really good camera for me. Always something more to “ want”  and to learn.