Watercolour Sketchbook Trials

 I love Pinterest because that is where I find inspiration from very talented people. It's a place where everyone shares their work. Since I am still learning how to create art I feel very humble being in the presence of others with amazing talent. I salute you all.

The topic of today's blog post is sketchbook art. Since this is my very first piece I am submitting it not as a work of art as such but an exercise that I performed to see if I could produce a double page spread item and paint it with watercolours. I primarily just wanted to see whether or not the paint would show on the other side of the paper.

One thing you have to understand is that we can look at what other people are doing but only through trial and error will we learn what works and how they created their work of art and what materials they used. That sounds simple but in reality it is not simple at all. I go through a whole learning process trying to emulate other artists. Sometimes I succeed when I make the right choices and sometimes I get totally frustrated because things don't work out at all.

Just to give you an example. I bought a certain paper in the form of a pad. Usually the owner of the shop covers it with plastic to preserve the item so that it doesn't get shop spoiled through handling. Then I read on the label that it is good for watercolour paint or markers or whatever. I pay for it and leave. Once I get home and start to create something on that page I find that it works pretty well. But when I turn over the page I find that the paint is showing through on the reverse side.

To my utter dismay I see that somehow I have been misled or cheated because I watched someone on YouTube sketch a beautiful picture on his sketchbook and he just turned over page after page after page and everything looked perfect. Nothing seeped through to the other side of the page like mine did!

What magic formula did they have and why did they withhold that information from me?  I have literally spent hundreds of Rands and almost every time I was disappointed with the same type of results. So, don't blame me for being cautious.

Another frustration and costly discovery happened when I fell into the "next best thing trap." I started by buying a beautiful set of watercolour paints. When I watched more videos on the subject of paints on YouTube different artists were talking about their favourite brands and how well they worked and the proof was in their awesome paintings.

So, what did I do? of course I went and looked for the next best thing, but couldn't find it at the PNA store. But they did have a certain brand and when I looked closer I saw that I had bought the "Signature" paints but the "Premium" set cost more than double than the "Signature" ones. But I wanted better and more vibrant colours so I went ahead and bought the more expensive ones.

It didn't end there! The same applied to paintbrushes and paper and the list goes on. Then, one day I discovered something to my horror. Paint doesn't last forever. What! Yes. I watched a video on YouTube and learned about that too. So, what have I decided to do about all my mistakes? I have decided to just continue learning and practising my art with what I have. I will do that until I have used up all my supplies. 

Even if my work of art doesn't last a century and just fades away because I didn't use the latest and greatest paints or brushes or paper, it doesn't matter because I will be in a better place anyway. What I do down here is just for my enjoyment. I am not trying to be the next Leonardo da Vinci. Drawing and painting takes my mind away from everyday frustrations. It is a distraction and helps me to become more creative and brings me great joy when I get things right.