In this rush-rush world we live in today, it sometimes nice to take a time-out. This past Sunday, I had a lovely time-out. It was a long-distance online painting afternoon with my youngest, who lives and works 680km away. She wants to explore watercolor painting this year, and I have sadly let my watercolor skills sit unused for quite some time.
We booked an online course through Christina Watts Art, had our supplies gathered and on our respective tables and hooked into Skype. We spent the afternoon chatting, drinking tea, painting, showing each other our progress and generally having a grand old time. At the end of the afternoon, we each had our pine cone. They were different from one another, but still unmistakably pine cones. These are our pinecones:
It always amazes me how, given the same instructions, people can produce distinctly unique artworks.
I may have people say "Yes, but you were following a step-by-step pattern! That's not original!" In my opinion, step-by-step instruction is great for learning new techniques, refreshing techniques that we may have forgotten, and providing new ideas and inspiration for future projects. The important thing is to take what you have learned from the step-by-step and make more paintings, with your own subjects.
For me, the purpose of the afternoon was to connect with my daughter, bring out the paints again and simply relax. Christina's tutorial allowed us to do all of those things, without the stress of deciding "what do we do now????" With the artistic techniques and tools she provided us, we'll both be working on more pine cone paintings in the upcoming weeks, experimenting with colors and differently shaped pine cones, and sharing our results with one another.
Toward the end of February, we'll reconvene for another painting session. Maybe we'll do another online tutorial; maybe we'll come up with our own idea for a painting. Who knows? What I'm most looking forward to is another afternoon of fun, chats, painting and tea. Time-outs — and art — are good for the soul.
We booked an online course through Christina Watts Art, had our supplies gathered and on our respective tables and hooked into Skype. We spent the afternoon chatting, drinking tea, painting, showing each other our progress and generally having a grand old time. At the end of the afternoon, we each had our pine cone. They were different from one another, but still unmistakably pine cones. These are our pinecones:
I may have people say "Yes, but you were following a step-by-step pattern! That's not original!" In my opinion, step-by-step instruction is great for learning new techniques, refreshing techniques that we may have forgotten, and providing new ideas and inspiration for future projects. The important thing is to take what you have learned from the step-by-step and make more paintings, with your own subjects.
For me, the purpose of the afternoon was to connect with my daughter, bring out the paints again and simply relax. Christina's tutorial allowed us to do all of those things, without the stress of deciding "what do we do now????" With the artistic techniques and tools she provided us, we'll both be working on more pine cone paintings in the upcoming weeks, experimenting with colors and differently shaped pine cones, and sharing our results with one another.
Toward the end of February, we'll reconvene for another painting session. Maybe we'll do another online tutorial; maybe we'll come up with our own idea for a painting. Who knows? What I'm most looking forward to is another afternoon of fun, chats, painting and tea. Time-outs — and art — are good for the soul.
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