Creating Artwork

One of my favorite activities to do is paint. I use watercolor and special paper to create all sorts of images and sceneries. In order to do so, someone puts the end of a paintbrush in my mouth with the other end full of the color I want; then they hold the paper for me. I've been using this technique since my accident and it's proved to be the best method.

It's the most fun and relaxing thing I do. It gives me great pleasure to create paintings that others can enjoy. I get asked all the time if I sell my paintings by people interested in buying them. The reason I haven't decided to yet is because I tend to get attached so it's hard to let go of the originals, especially if they're really good. I thought about making prints and then selling them, but haven't gotten around to it. Someday I'll get up the courage to sell some, just not yet.

I had four watercolor classes over the past five weeks that I took at the Edina Art Center. I took the same class there with the same teacher a couple of years ago and loved it! The best part was learning new techniques for my paintings. The class this year was 2 1/2 hours long. It's hard on my neck to paint for a long period of time so I have to take frequent breaks. There's another one just like it possibly starting this Wednesday with six classes. I won't be able to make it the first class because of appointments but hopefully I can sign up for it and attend the remaining five.

In the first watercolor class, she showed us how to paint a fish. Although I tried, it was difficult for me to do because of all of the details. Throughout the second class I worked on a painting of some flowers in a vase. I didn't know how to go about starting something like this since I hadn't done it before. The art teacher showed me a picture to go off of and then taught me how to create a vase. I wet the whole paper first and then created the background with yellow and a tiny bit of pink and blue. When the paper dried some, I put in some darker green to show the leaves. Next, I painted the vase with a purple and made the right side of it a little bit darker to show some shadow. That's all I completed that day.

In the third class, the teacher showed us how to paint a flower and then put a background in. Whenever I paint scenery I always start with the background first so this technique was very helpful to me. I practiced painting a flower; when it was dry I wet the white of the paper and touched in some color creating a background. Although it was just on a scratch piece of watercolor paper, sometimes even when I'm just practicing the paintings turn out really well and end up becoming

finished pieces.

During the fourth class I finished my flower painting. The teacher told me that it looked really good the way it was but I could add a little more color. So I added some brighter yellow, pink, and a tiny bit of blue. I think it turned out really nice and is one of my better paintings. I'm definitely going to try this technique again with flowers and a vase. I could possibly turn this painting into greeting cards or just make prints of it but I haven't decided yet.

Let me know what you think!

Jenni