Learning to Paint

My friend invited me to go paint a winter scene with her at a local business in her neighborhood back in December.  It basically is a painting class where the teacher instructs you how to paint what she is painting.  I had never painted before, but like doing artsy stuff, so I went.  It was really fun.

Here is the result of that first painting class:

painting #1 "silent night" 12/7/12  

*click on the link below to see the pictures from the class itself*

Arts-n-carafes 12/7/12 painting class

So much fun, so I went to another class in January with the same friend.  This was was a little more difficult and there are parts of it that bug me, like the umbrella and the guys funky leg, but overall pretty happy with it.



Here I am with my finished painting.

painting #2 "together" 1/6/13
Here is a closer looksy.

  *you can take a look at the class photos here*

arts-n-carafes 1/6/13 class

My friend's birthday was this last Sunday, the 17th.  She wanted to do another painting class.  The painting wasn't really my style, but the teacher has an open paint option where you can use her paints and supplies and make your own painting.  So that is what I chose to do instead.  I had a few google images that I had saved to my computer to someday use for something.  I printed out what I thought I might do on our basic little printer.  The image quality was blurry and not very good, but it gave me the general idea of what I was looking for.  Once I got there I decided that I wanted to paint this picture:

But really wanted to use this dandelion for the foreground. 

But I realized I hadn't printed out that dandelion, so I just sort of did my own thing.  It turned out..... okay.  I still haven't decided if I like it or not.  It does't match the image in my mind that I wanted.  The black center looks odd and I used too much yellow at the top, or maybe too much blue.  I am not sure which.  I like the oranges, reds, and purples though.  The thing with painting is that once you paint those bold strokes of the foreground, it is hard to go back and undo it.  (Especially when you have limited time).  So here it is, the finished product.  Not sure what I think of it yet, but it is hanging on my wall until I can figure it out.

painting #3 "dandelion" 3/17/13

Here is a picture of the birthday girl's group and our paintings

*I found the dandelion pics using a google image search for dandelions.  I don't have their original links.


Somewhere in here is a great analogy about how learning to paint is like learning to live.  Accepting the flaws, finding the beauty, creating something lovely out of ordinary. 

I wonder if you all like it or not and if that would skew my perspective of it.  

Why should what you see change the way that I see?  But it does, doesn't it?  The way others see us, things, beauty, their perspective has an affect on us and the way we see things.  I want to say that it shouldn't be that way, but then I wonder why shouldn't it be.  Sometimes others perspectives open our eyes in a new way that allows glory in, in a way that we would never have seen it before or it can bring in new critiques that we didn't see, flaws that went un-noticed that we can learn from.  Both are helpful for growth.

Then there is the other side of the coin.  The side where others affirmations or condemnations only prove to stroke the ego or tear it down.   

That side of the coin is where things get tricky.  That is the side where I tend to lose my own perspective and allow the thoughts of others to control my view, write my story, paint my beauty (or lack thereof).  That is the side of the coin that tends to consume me and I am trying to learn to flip it over.

Linking with Emily and her imperfect prose community today.