Watery colors

I decided my next attempt at trying this “me time,” thing was to get back into painting and drawing on a small scale. I just painted Delores’ room, I painted a mural in Lydia’s room and a plaque for my sister-in-law for Christmas but I haven’t done anything on canvas or paper in quiet some time. Since before Josh and I were married in fact.

The thought of dragging out my art case and all my bottles of paint and mixing all my colors before I made any real progress was a rather daunting thought. Enough to make me give up before I even get started.

Then I thought “Hey, self. Watercolors. Easy to set up. Mostly pre mixed. Easy to clean and put away.” It’s not my favorite medium but I figured this would be the quickest way to accomplish a painting and build my confidence so I don’t dread the thought of a more detailed work and give up before I even get started.

Cause sometimes you just have to play mind games with yourself.

I found a sketch of a feather I did in high school and I painted it and gave it a background. It took me about 3 days. Thirty minutes here. Ten minutes there. But I completed something and overall I am pleased with it.

But there was one thing I didn’t like about it. The picture had no real meaning to me. I am not goo goo over feathers or rainbows (which, by the way, I didn’t realize I had done until it was complete). I just did it because it looked simple.

The more I thought about it though and the more I looked at the finished product I realized it did have some meaning that applied to my life. It did kind of reflect how I’ve been feeling lately. Watery, fluid, floating, in a place that feels broken, deserted and isolated. The vibrate colors of the feather represents how I want to feel. Where as the placement of the feather and the aimless floating, but frozen in time, represents how I feel now.

Maybe it will show me even more as I continue to study it.

Isn’t it interesting how art comes through you to mean something significant and personal to your life and situation even when you are not attempting to?

That’s why I love art and love making art. It isn’t about how it looks or even if it turned out how you’d hoped it would. It is about expressing yourself and your feelings.

I’m so glad I forced myself to do it. Even if I did get extremely frustrated with my lack of free time and alone time to actually work on it.

Now to move on to my next project. A three-piece depiction of something very dear to me with mixed media.

Motivation.