Picking up the Brush Again
1/27/2019 7:49:26 AM
I was 15 the last time I painted in oils. I would spend hours at my easel lost in my creativity. An unfortunate incident with my two year old nephew and my linseed oil - he was fine - resulted in me locking away my art materials for good. Well for 43 years at least. I did get accepted to art college but never went because as a naive teenager all I could envisage as a career through art was teaching and I didn't want that. Careers advice was a tad rubbish in those days. My options via my grammar school careers officer were air hostessing or hairdressing. I did neither, but I did pursue a dream I had had since the age of 10 and that was to work on a cruise ship. So I qualified as a beauty therapist and hit the high seas. I still love travelling and my ultimate dream now I am in my 50's is to get paid to travel the world and paint. I ultimately ended up in the very uncreative world of corporate sales within the pharmaceutical industry. I made some life long friends and had some amazing experiences through a career which fitted well around raising two sons. My art disappeared! Only in the last year or so have I returned to it and even then I started with watercolour, coloured pencils and acrylic. Attending the odd workshop and online tutorials. I have only picked up the oil paints in the last couple of months and have fallen in love with it all over again. It is amazing what you can learn from you tube now. So many excellent artists share their knowledge and I have been soaking it all up. I hope you will join me on my creative journey as I learn and grow as an artist. My next endeavour is to pluck up the courage to paint out of doors. The scary thing is people will be able to see me. Firstly though I want to do a "plein air" course as it is called. This will at least allay my fear of carting all my gear somewhere, setting up in full view of everyone and realising I am missing something fundamental. So watch this space as I drum up the confidence and courage to give my painting a real shot.
