balinares | (no subject)

Okay, so today, I managed to get myself to pull out my equipment, sit down, and paint.

This is a first.

This is actually a big deal for me. Usually, a combination of inertia, procrastination, and a deep-rooted feeling of not able to make it work, utterly keeps me from actually sitting and making things.

And, holy poodle on a tricycle, that project is watercolors. Watercolors are my archnemesis. (It's a long story, one that involves a lot of blotches, stains, frustration and disgust.) Well, while I can't claim to have beaten them into submission just yet, today at least, I managed to fiddle-niggle them into, shall I say, a moderate level of grudging cooperation, which fills me with more glee than I can coherently express. Take that, watercolors.

Not sure how that came to be. Probably some combination of taking a day off with the explicit purpose of attempting to paint, and working myself up to it all weekend. That, and my teacher is real good, yeah.

This evening I also had a martial arts exam, which I went into somewhat glumly on account of really not having the energy for that kind of thing lately. (I get wheezy within two minutes of having started, and within five minutes, my limbs are shaking. Damn you, limbs.)

But hey, today I've tackled water-based painting, so what are a kata and a few complicatedly-named moves? Somehow, I passed not one grade, but two. (Lots of wheezing and limbs shaking ensued.) From within their box, the watercolors are staring in silent shock. Glee!

That has to be the most productive day off I've taken since my first blotch.

(Yes, complicatedly is a word, I checked.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I demand pictures! :D

Yah, I'll try to post a scan, when it's done. :)

I wanna see too :)

When it's done, sure!

Me too.

No prob'. Just come next Thursday. :)

Good job ^_^ Keep it on

or up. Or however that works in this crazy language.

Good for you.

I challenge you to...
SEMI-PERMANENT FRIENDLY EMULATING WATERCOLOR CONTEST !!11!one

if you wish.

Very much no. It's hard enough for me to get into it as it is without making it competitive on top of it. :/

I'll gladly share what I've been taught about watercolors (and acrylics and oils), though. Well, when you're back, anyway, I guess.

That's why I stressed the emulation thing. See it more as an art jam than a contest.

Eh well, why not? The general point still stands, though: each time I'm starting a new work, I spend a good hour flailing helplessly because I don't know how to get started (and I don't foresee that changing until I build up both my technique and my confidence), and that doesn't fit the process of art jamming terribly well. But then, who knows? Maybe it'd help. Besides, it's as good an excuse as any to hang out together. :)