A New Year

My grandmother painted.  She never made money from it or took the time to create many of her own works, but it was apparently something she longed to do and probably sacrificed the dream for family.  I have one of the three paintings that she did, that we know of - my sister and brother each have the others.  It is a quaint farmhouse scene - one where a little road meanders its way through a field to the farmhouse in the distance.  I am sure that she would have been happy if that could have been her real  life and not the one that she lived.  After the death of my grandfather in a vehicle accident in the late forties she did what she had to do and became a teacher to support herself and my mother, who was 16 at the time.  Then of course, she moved away from her beloved Texas when my parents divorced so that she could be closer to her grandchildren and protect us if needed from what my mother was capable of.  

My sister also took painting lessons and I believe she could have been very good if she had stayed with it.  Unfortunately, drugs became a priority at that time in her life and as far as I know she never painted again.

My mother sang.  That was her talent and her art, but I never heard her sing solo myself.  She won a lot of talent shows with her voice, but I suppose everyday life - school, a job, pursuit of marriage - marked the end of following it any further.  The only time I saw my mother put her name to a piece of art was when she forged her name onto a small painting that she was giving to someone as a birthday present.  I am still ashamed of seeing that to this day.

So this year I will start to paint.  I have wanted to paint in watercolors for many, many years and dabbled with it, but never taking the time to really learn techniques or the proper way to go about it.  I began a couple of days ago, picking out a book to get me started, getting the basic supplies I need and sketching out the first project.  Then, yesterday I did it!  I completed my first project - a monocolor (burnt umber) painting of a brick farmhouse with trees behind it.  While in my minds' eye I had hoped it would come out better than it did, I can't say that I am unhappy with my first attempt.  I see what I need to improve on and will practice on them before moving to the next project.  So we will see.  And maybe I will also try oils one day and use my grandmother's painting as my first project.