I’ve always been interested in the arts, and have a deep appreciation for both the form and function of things.  Whenever I see a work of art, I can’t help but be amazed at the talent involved.  And I know through playing music that the creation of art will always be a more intense experience than simply observing it. 

All that being said, I have decided to try my hand at painting (among various other things).  I enjoy drawing and sketching, but have never taken it very far.  Working with paints gives me an opportunity for something different, and more colorful. 

It also brings back some childhood memories of sitting at the table painting with watercolors, or drawing with crayons and markers.

One of my Christmas gifts was a watercoler-a-day calendar.  Unfortunately the calendar doesn’t offer much instruction, but it does drop some advice here and there.  Other than that it follows the "monkey see, monkey do" philosophy by showing a painting someone else did, then giving a plain line drawing for you to fill in.

So at this point, I’m still more or less painting by number, but through doing I’m learning a lot about how to mix the colors, how to use various amounts of water on the brush, and just how patient I really am.

So, without further ado, here are the three I’ve managed to finish so far.

Day 1: Reverting to childhood.  You can clearly see by the comparison: I didn’t have a clue what the hell I was doing.  After this, I was tempted to bust out the crayons again.

Day 2: Improvement!  I had a firmer grasp on the blending and how to better create different shades.  Also – this was more or less one color, so I couldn’t screw it up.  Score!

Day 3: Holy Cow this one was hard!  And it sure shows!  I’m struggling with the color blending, so I may concult my good friend, The Internet, for some advice.  Until then, though, I’ll just continue to stumble my way through this.

If you’d like to see any of these in a higher resolution (I would advise against it – these are best seen from afar) you can go to my photo gallery and check them out.

I’ve got some better brushes, and I picked up a stack of good paper.  So far, I’ve only been painting in the lines on the semi-thick calendar paper, so I’m going to shift some of the blame and say that has something to do with it.  Once I have a better grasp on some of the techniques involved, I’ll try something a little more freeform on the good papers. 

My next painting looks like it’s rated PG-13 for brief nudity, so it should be at least a little exciting.