I’ve been flirting with the idea of taking up painting for months, but kept finding excuses not to try. I don’t have space for it. Supplies are expensive. I already have too many hobbies and not enough time. Still, I kept thinking about it. I tried to scratch the itch to create with colour through embroidery and beading, but it didn’t quite work. One day, someone I follow posted a story on Instagram of a picture they spotted at HomeSense. Something about that image drew my eye; it stayed in my mind.
A few days later, I went to HomeSense to see if I could find it, or something similar. I didn’t. Instead, I found a set of acrylic paints, brushes, and some canvases. The universe seemed to be saying something to me.
So I listened.
My first attempt at painting was, ahem, a solid effort.
Ok, fine, it wasn’t much good but I found that I enjoyed the process anyway. For my next attempt, I tried something a little safer: a still life of flowers. I like big, bold swaths of colour so I decided to pursue a primitive style – which, not entirely coincidentally – suits my drawing and painting abilities just fine. I was (and still am) quite pleased with the result.
I decided to get a little more adventurous. This is where I started to learn a bit about layering and building colour. I like to learn by doing, rather than following how-tos, so my lessons are haphazard at best. On the plus side, I find it helps me to develop my own style at my own pace.
Next, I turned my attention to landscapes. Again, with the first try, I was inspired by a picture I saw on social media (and, sadly, didn’t save) but I tweaked it to work with birch trees rather than pines. This was a lesson in building texture, dry-brushing, and layering again. The result was still a bit “naif” but with some decent effects here and there.
Emboldened, I decided to level up again. Here in Alberta, we have beautiful prairie vistas. There is something both simple and incredibly majestic about a flat horizon and huge skies. I thought the latter, in particular, would give me scope to do big, bold things with colour and texture. What I didn’t know … was that clouds (like water) are among the hardest things to paint well. Oops.
Nevertheless, I think this was a solid effort. As a sidenote, this was the first piece I sold! After I posted it on IG, someone contacted me to ask if she could buy it, and since she lived locally, I thought “why not?” It’s wonderful and also kind of intimidating to think of my work hanging in someone’s house.
Anyway, I hadn’t learned my lesson about clouds yet, it seemed, so I leveled up again – to a sunset. Because what could be more fun than an extra dramatic sunset, right? Well, the bloody thing was nearly the undoing of my painting hobby. I lost track of how many layers of paint I went through before I was finally somewhat satisfied with it.
Ugh, no more skies for a while. I think it’s time to tackle some cacti 😛
Have you picked up a new hobby out of the blue? How did it go? Do you prefer to learn by watching/following directions, or by doing/hands on?
Wow! Impressive! I’m guessing you will inspire a lot of readers to try too.
How long do your paintings take to make? How large are the canvases on the black shelf?
It varies. Most of them take a few days, some longer. You have to wait a bit for acrylic to dry before adding the next layer. I also like to leave and come back to the painting with fresh eyes. I usually work on 2 paintings at the same time. On my vacation, I was able to knock out a painting in a day – but I didn’t do much else that day (it was heaven, sigh).
The paintings are different sizes. I think the flower ones are 12×16 inches or so. Same with the prairie sky one. The others are smaller.
Your paintings are gorgeous!
Thank you so much, Lee!
Your talent (and variety of talent) is amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading! I appreciate that you guys don’t mind when I share non-fashion content 🙂
I’ve always wanted to paint, but my current hobby is jewellery making… and upcycling without any sewing knowledge (hahahahah)
I considered watercolours actually. I like the dreamy nature, but this requires time and concentration .. and energy. None of which I have at the moment with a 5-year old.
My mom does watercolours and she’s great. They seem really finicky to me. At least with acrylics, you can just add more layers to cover mistakes, lol!
I like your jewelry making, it’s very inspiring.
I am super impressed! I especially love your second one with flowers, but I would hang any of these in my house!
Wow, thank you! I am very flattered 🙂
I would never have known you just started painting – you have a flair for it!
I worked with pastels a long time ago but painting was always intimidating. I’m glad I gave it a try though.
I’m so impressed with how quickly you can pick up a new creative hobby! This is amazing!
Thank you, Gina!
These are beautiful. I love them! Like one of the other commenters said…you inspired me to bust out my paints. My result was decidedly more rustic 😂 but it was still fun.
Oh that’s awesome! I’m sure your pictures are great. It’s all about having fun anyway.
These are gorgeous! They don’t look amateur at all.
Also, you’ve mentioned work so I know you work full time, and I know you have young kids…HOW do you find time to do this?! I ask seriously for your tips, because I would love to have hobbies, but after commuting/kid pickup/cooking/housework…I feel super proud of myself when I finish reading a book or two per month and go for a few runs.
It’s not easy, I hear you! I’m lucky because I have lots of family help with the kids. I also tend to go all in with my hobbies so I devote all my free time to whatever is the current obsession. For example, I haven’t read any books or watched any TV/movies in the last month. Like, at all. I haven’t done any embroidery or knitting. I don’t go to the gym. And I don’t go out a lot, period. I try to keep up with housework but it’s a constant struggle. So I don’t have any real tips for balancing all the balls, because I’m usually dropping quite a few. My hobbies are my “self-care”, so I try to make whatever time I can for them. It’s mostly evenings when the kids are in bed, and weekends when they visit their grandparents.
I don’t write about the rest of my life, so you’re getting a skewed picture. I think people tend to just assume that I do ALL the same things they do AND this other extra thing and then they wonder how. But that’s not the case. It’s like: one person could be going to the gym 3 times a week, and I could be spending the same amount of time painting. The person who goes to the gym might wonder how I find the time to paint … and I wonder how they find the time to go to the gym 😉