Painting

As a very young girl, maybe around five years old, I used to wake up early to watch reruns of Bob Ross. I don't know what it was about him, but I was mesmerized. His voice was so calming, he painted a beautiful scene in under twenty minutes effortlessly. Years later, did I actually pick up a paintbrush, watch a Bob Ross video, and try to paint something on my own. At the time, my parents and I thought what I made was a masterpiece. Now, three years after I began my painting journey and about twelve paintings later, I realize that my first few pieces were pretty bad, but I still love them.

I'm not going to lie, I mess up a lot when I'm painting. I often mess up, paint over it with white, impatiently wait for it to dry, then try again, mess up, paint over with white, dry, try again, and repeat this process for hours. As my icon and inspiration. Bob Ross says, "there are no mistakes, only happy accidents". So, when I finally get that detail just right, I am beaming with pride.

I am primarily self taught. I had a few art lessons from a nice old lady when I was younger, but my acrylic painting journey began with me and Bob Ross (though I now realize he mainly did oil painting).

Last year, I discovered this youtube channel with this super positive, cheerful art lady who basically gives a therapy session and painting tutorial all in one video. Her channel's name is "theartsherpa". Please, please, please check it out. She is amazing. Anyways, I tried to follow this rainbow tree tutorial, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I did it. I kept coming back to her tutorials and at this point, I have probably followed around ten of her tutorials. She teaches so well, her ideas are so unique, and most importantly, she sends uplifting messages your way because let's be honest, painting can be hard.

After I gained some confidence, I ventured into my own territory and tried to paint on different materials with original ideas. I painted my two calculators with a penguin on one and Simba from The Lion King on the other. About a month ago, I painted my jeans. I ruined one pair, but the one you see on the left with the sunflowers turned out amazing (be sure to use fabric medium if you paint with acrylic paint, I learned that too late). I just finished a painting for my best friend, and I am in the midst of a scenery painting for my mom.

Painting has taught me perseverance. There have been many times when I just want to quit because my painting isn't turning out the way I planned. My parents are so sweet, they encourage me to keep going. Ultimately, seeing the finished product is ALWAYS worth it. Yeah, I'll make mistakes, but I fix them or incorporate them into the painting. I am elated with how far I have come in a few years, and I can't wait to see my painting skills a decade from now.

​

For most of the paintings, you can click on the image and it will take you to the tutorial I used to create the piece. The Winnie the Pooh painting was my own brain child combined with a tutorial from "theartsherpa" to create the background. I have linked the tutorial to the background for that specific picture.