Painting Paradise I've taken up painting. Y'know, artistic painting. Yeah, like Rembrandt. Sort of. Well, ok, I don't really think of it as art. More craft or hobby. After work, I go home, play with my son till he falls asleep, and then I get ou my easel and canvas and acrylic paints and start painting - very therapeutic and fun. And, I happen to be liking the results, which is very surprising for me - I'm usually my worst critic. But, it seems with painting, my attitude is "I can't draw, I can't paint, I have a terrible sense of color and aesthetics and visual design, so therefore anything I paint is going to suck in most people's opinion, right?" Right, so I don't care that it's terrible - I like it the same way a tone deaf person likes his own singing and to hell with the rest of you.I get to turn my inner critic off because he's no more qualified to judge than my inner artist.The paints are great fun to play with, though I wish I could use oil because I've noticed my oil pen just covers completely whatever I draw over with it, whereas the acrylics let some of whatever's underneath show through - sometimes requiring 3-4 coats to be completely opaque. But, oil would interfere with the nice easy relaxing nature of the activity - what with the turpentine and smell and all. Fortunately, I've found not all acrylics are equal - some are thicker and more opaque (and more expensive) than others. I'm hopeful that just buying better quality paints will improve the experience.I made a couple of quick "paintings" for Jaime when he was born. Actually, they are just made with sketch paper and permanent marker, but it gives an idea of my "art" :-)

I've taken up painting. Y'know, artistic painting. Yeah, like Rembrandt. Sort of. Well, ok, I don't really think of it as art. More craft or hobby. After work, I go home, play with my son till he falls asleep, and then I get ou my easel and canvas and acrylic paints and start painting - very therapeutic and fun. And, I happen to be liking the results, which is very surprising for me - I'm usually my worst critic. But, it seems with painting, my attitude is "I can't draw, I can't paint, I have a terrible sense of color and aesthetics and visual design, so therefore anything I paint is going to suck in most people's opinion, right?" Right, so I don't care that it's terrible - I like it the same way a tone deaf person likes his own singing and to hell with the rest of you.

I get to turn my inner critic off because he's no more qualified to judge than my inner artist.

The paints are great fun to play with, though I wish I could use oil because I've noticed my oil pen just covers completely whatever I draw over with it, whereas the acrylics let some of whatever's underneath show through - sometimes requiring 3-4 coats to be completely opaque. But, oil would interfere with the nice easy relaxing nature of the activity - what with the turpentine and smell and all. Fortunately, I've found not all acrylics are equal - some are thicker and more opaque (and more expensive) than others. I'm hopeful that just buying better quality paints will improve the experience.

I made a couple of quick "paintings" for Jaime when he was born. Actually, they are just made with sketch paper and permanent marker, but it gives an idea of my "art" :-)