Rainy Day in Idaho

Have you missed me?   Last week I was busy painting and working then I took off Sunday early for Idaho to join my husband for the week. 

The drive was uneventful and lovely.  Going over I-80 was a breeze, very little traffic and only a bit of snow coming over the crest. 

Nevada had amazing views.  The tops of the mountains looked as if they had been turn upside down and dipped in sparkling sugar, the clouds hovered just around the tops but was translucent enough you could still see the  snow. 

The rainbows were huge and so bright in areas were the sun was breaking thru.  Hundreds of deer were grazing in freshly mown hayfields, not the least bit of concern for the cars speeding past.  I know, you wish I had taken the time to photograph some of these scenes but I was in too much of a hurry to get to my destination.

This is the view from our front windows this morning.  A misty morning nearly obscuring the hills in the distance.

One of the nice things about this house is even on dark dreary, rainy days it is light inside. 

With a blazing fire in the woodstove it is also cozy.

I mentioned that last week I had been painting.  I have been practicing this new (to me) style and I can tell you it has been so frustrating at times.  It is hard to press on when you can’t seem to get the results you want even though you know it will take painting hundreds of flowers to get there.

Here is my first attempt at the simple flowers (not so simple in truth) and even these did not come out yet. They are a far cry from what they should be.

The roses are even worse. They are the sorriest little blobs.  But as I watched the videos and tried,and tried again I started to do a little better, figuring out little things that I was doing wrong.

One is I was using too much pressure, a light, light touch is all that is needed sometimes so that the paint does not blend too much and become muddy. 

Another is consistency of paint.  That is a tough one as no one can really explain it, you just have to learn it by trial and error and by painting flowers over and over and over.

This is going to be a long process. I don’t have a lot of extra time to just sit and paint without it paying so I will give myself some latitude and try to just enjoy learning something new without caving in to frustration and giving up.

So now that you see it is hard for me to get good results when first learning to paint, it should encourage you to continue to practice too, even if at first you think you will never get there.

I have tried to make my Learn to Paint series as easy as possible for you and I will continue with more lessons as soon as life is a bit calmer.  

 

Today I think I shall work on my website, it has been woefully in need of updating and cleaning up for a long time. A pleasant chore on a rainy wet day.

Until next time…