When I started painting, I thought to myself that it’s a process. Some will be ok. Some will not. And to be fair to others starting out, I’m not going to just show the nice ones. Some of them suck and it’s important to share those as well. I’m just starting to play around a bit with watercolor painting, and it’s honestly not going great. I love the tiny tubes or the little cubes of paint. They are so cute! At some point I will need to address if I enjoy watercolor painting, or just the supplies.

The second one is done with fountain pen in, Troublemaker Ink in the color Milky Ocean. That’s all one color, it just breaks out into different spectrums of color when combined with water. I used some bleach for the waves and masking fluid for the sun and reflection. Next I’m going to try this same image in gouache and see if the type of paint makes a difference. This is a reference photo off instagram, and maybe that’s part of the problem? I don’t really know what kind of photo makes for a great reference but I often read when I ask for advice that some photos are just terrible references. Could that be the case with this one?

I’m tired today. Mentally, physically. Just plain exhausted. I can feel the seasons changing, the grind of the turning of the wheel of the year. Not surprisingly, it has me feeling a bit anxious. The Delta variant of COVID is increasing and Calhoun County has moved into the red zone. The US has pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban are again taking over. July was, not surprisingly, the hottest month on record.