Ta Da!!

I'm off and running with the idea of learning from all the "how to" books I have and what better way to start than with a painting of a winter scene during June. Of course last night I was wearing a fleece sweatshirt because it was so chilly! Albeit, I'm not overjoyed with this painting. It did come together fairly quick even though it defies everything within me to NOT paint exactly what I see. I discovered, or should say rediscovered, during 2 art classes last month that I am not someone that can or wants to paint exactly what I see. I want to have something in front of me that inspires me either a in plein air or a few photographs and then I tend to see how the paint and water are going to behave on the paper. At that point my imagination takes a little trip! As a person, I'm not someone that usually insists on my own way. So as a painter, I don't feel the need to MAKE the paint do just as I want. I would rather see what fate and the future have in store. So, I share this painting because I did what I said I would, I jumped into a "how to book" and followed a lesson but this isn't quite the type of painting I like to paint. It has parts that I like. And as a lesson, I'll take parts. I do like the effect of purple and orange together. What did I learn? I believe I learned more about me as a painter than how to paint. As time goes on I hope to learn more about painting. Either way, this will be an interesting project because the lessons may not be quite what I expected, but life is not always what we expect, but we learn either way.