Paint And Puffs

Good morning, people who live in my internet. I hope you’re all doing well. I’m up earlier than I’d like, as usual. SOMEONE was sick.

Yesterday was probably the last of the long stretch of gorgeous weather we were having. The humidity was higher, but the air temp wasn’t high enough to make it oppressive for most of the day. By the time Brian came home, things were definitely muggy. By the time dinner was finished, he turned the AC back on.

Mom‘s appointment was early in the afternoon, and we were back at the house by 2 pm. I was in a chair on the patio by 2:30, paints and puffs at the ready.

I usually set up two boards. I’ll bounce between them, letting layers dry on one while laying down color on the other. Almost always, I end up with one painting that turns out way better than the other.

Surprisingly, I really like the way one of the house paintings I did turned out. Maybe it’s the nonstop HGTV that Mom and Brian ingest, but I like the little watercolor “house portraits” they give owners. I’d love to do more of them.

My biggest problem with painting is not so much the painting but the rough sketching. It’s difficult for me to sketch something confidently enough and light enough, AND not need to erase half of it because I’ve fucked it up. It wouldn’t be bad, if using erasers didn’t generally fuck up watercolor paper. If I still had one of our shitty little tablets, I could use it as a lightbox and could trace stuff. If I had a printer, I could print photos and trace on the window. I could get REAL FUCKING FANCY and ditch my 10 year old laptop in favor of something with a touchscreen.

If I didn’t suck at social media and marketing myself, I’d consider setting up a Patreon account.

On the other hand, I could spend $4 on some cheap plastic drafting triangles and freehand that shit.