Picking Up the Paintbrush

John Constable: Weymouth Bay

I spent yesterday familiarizing myself with the set of acrylic paints I bought a few years ago. When I painted before, I used water-based oils. But I had challenges with them, mostly because of the drying time and my need to transport my canvases to and from class. I decided to try acrylics this time, because I liked the idea of being able to load layer-upon-layer of color, but not have to wait forever. (Yes, I have issues with immediate gratification.)

My set has just a few colors, so I had to mix colors, and I love that part! I know I'll need to buy a few tubes, the ones that are so hard to get right (magenta and some of the purples). But I like the process of creating the colors.

But my ability to render anything half-way decent is completely gone. Well, that's not quite fair. It just takes a lot of time and I have to change my mindset. I have to relearn which brushes to use, as well. But, that's part of the process. And after thinking about picking up the brushes again for long time, I finally did it.