Painting for Fun

Do you remember as a child, when you just did painting for fun?!

Somewhere along the way, most of us lost that joy of creating – whether it was painting, drawing, pottery, or whatever.

For me, it was in my high school art classes. Rather than nurturing my inner artist, they pretty much destroyed it for decades to come.

Our art teachers used to choose the best of any (2D) artwork submitted, and would place it on a larger piece of black paper to create a frame, before hanging it up for others to admire.

I longed to see my work given the royal treatment.

I think it only happened once in the three years I took art as a subject. Our teacher struck a pose, resting his hands on top of a broom and we were given only a couple of minutes to sketch him in pencil – and I surprised myself with the amazing likeness I captured!

I can’t help wondering if that was because the pressure was off. It didn’t have to be perfect – in fact, how could it be with only a couple of minutes of work?!

My experiences at high school left me convinced that I was NOT an artist … I didn’t pick up a paint brush again for many years.

When my own kids came along, they would beg me to draw pictures for them to colour in. Fairytale castles and pirates were about the extent of my abilities but they were thrilled to bits with them!

These days, both kidults have a strong creative side.

Miss 25 is a true “artiste” when it comes to doing makeup, and cooking as well.

And here are just some of Mr 27’s recent projects …

I’m so glad they weren’t put off painting and being creative for so many years like I was – in fact, they have encouraged us to re-discover the joy of making art!

Mr 27 chose a paint and sip session as his birthday celebration last year, fun for all the family. It was interesting to see how different our paintings were, even though they were of the same subject matter.

Just a couple of weeks’ ago, Miss 25 and I went to an acrylic painting workshop at Studio Yellow, and when we shared pics on social media we both had lots of comments from friends and family wishing they could have joined us in painting for fun! (Sorry guys, this was a Mother/Daughter activity – maybe next time?!)

We learned about blending, using a palette knife, and how to use sponges and other implements to create interesting effects – before being unleashed on a canvas of our very own to create an abstract artwork.

Turns out, facing a blank canvas is just as scary as facing a blank page, or empty blog post! What to paint?!

Miss 25 was inspired to copy a picture of  a starry sky she’d found online … I just love her finished painting!

I on the other hand decided to “yolo” it.

With about four complementary paint colours on my palette, I ran an old credit card over them and scraped it over my canvas.

Just looking at the results, I began to “see” a picture in it … a lake or pond, with land in the distance. It just begged for a couple of trees, so I sponged in the foliage. I accidentally picked up a bit of teal pain on my sponge and wasn’t unhappy with the result – it added a bit of contrast, and one spot even looked like a bird! It was purely by chance but it worked!

I then used a skewer to add in some delicate branches in the tree canopies, and some flowering reeds in the foreground. Then I added in the tree trunks.

I knocked it out surprisingly quickly and enjoyed every second of it 🙂 . It certainly isn’t perfect but I’m quite proud of my efforts – and I’ll let you in on a little secret – I don’t think I used a paint brush once!

Since then I’ve been itching to do some more painting. I had a quick go on the weekend …

And I’ve decided it’s a bit like my jigsaw puzzles.

There doesn’t have to be a point to it; I don’t have to create something that is worthy of framing. Instead, it’s more about relaxation and painting for fun!

When was the last time you made art, purely for the fun of it?!