I'm Learning To Be An Artist

Have you ever thought it would be cool to be an artist? I have. Only recently I felt like I would love to be able to draw or paint. The problem was that ever since I was a little kid I've always sucked at art. I took art class in high school but was never very good. I was the one who could never color inside the lines. I'm hopeless.

Then I started talking with skilled artists. I was surprised when they told me I should give it a try. All the artists I spoke with said the same thing. They were not born with art skills, they learned through trial and error, repetition, and lots of practice. I'm not hopeless.

Last week I bought a sketch diary from Target. As soon as I got it home I went into my daughter's room and found a picture book of farm animals with basic drawings. I sat down and started to draw them. I used a regular #2 pencil and my daughter's crayons. I burned through lots of erasers. After a while I got the lines to look somewhat like the pictures in the book. I kept going. I was learning to be an artist.

Here are the drawings I did last week:

The cow is my first. I only used a pencil for shading.

The horse was the hardest one to draw.

The pigs are kinda cute.

This one just came out of my head. Seems sorta menacing.

So by the end of last week I felt like I was getting much better at creating the lines and making things look the way I wanted. What about paint? I have this entire week off of work so last weekend I decided to buy some materials and try my hand.

I went to Michaels for all my supplies. I bought 5 colors of acrylic paint, a color wheel, a pad of 12x12 inch canvas paper, the cheapest pack of brushes I could find, a small plastic paint pallet, and a cheap desktop easle.

I also bought a book showing how to paint ocean landscapes because SheBoss liked it. She wants some kinda abstract painting to hang in the living room. She found one she likes but it's $200. I bet I can do that. First I need a little practice.

Here's what I've done so far:

This is supposed to be a wave. My first ever painting, what did you expect?

Don't ask. I'm not really sure. Hey, it's abstract.

This is very similar to the abstract SheBoss wants. My 3rd painting.

This boat landscape came from a picture I found in a book. I liked it so I used it as my 4th painting.

The Iris is from an art book I purchased later. I really like this one. Not bad for my 5th try.

I did the painting of Pepper yesterday for my 6th. It's my first truely original painting. I didn't copy someone elses work. The is a picture I took with my phone when she had her head on my stomach and was looking up at me.

I'll probably work on something for SheBoss tomorrow. I'm thinking about creating the painting over 4 of my 12x12 canvas sheets so they can be hung together an inch or so apart.

I'm taking today off of painting. I think I'll go down to Old Town Glendale and check out some of the art galleries. If nothing else, I look at other artist's work a lot differently now.