Always wanted to paint 4

Sometimes the desire to draw or paint gets very complicated in a person’s head – it doesn’t have to be! The first thought can often be, “it’s finding the time, impossible….! ” but you don;t have to move up a mountain alone, somehow make your family /job/ house disappear and spend six months without anything else to do ! There ARE ways to make this easy and enjoyable, in the middle of your life, whatever your life contains. (let’s disregard coronavirus too, these points are valid with or without lockdown !) First , remember that drawing and painting are both part of the same thing – one does not have to preclude the other. And your choice of material does not matter, there is no hierarchy here, pencils are not superior to charcoal for instance. This may all seem obvious, but really does hold many people up! There is no need to buy expensive art materials – even if you want to. Think about this, if you buy a very expensive sketch pad for instance, it can make you incredibly PRECIOUS about making a mark on it ! So many people arrive in a class armed with beautiful paper, HB pencils (very sharp) and of course the obligatory rubber to correct mistakes…This approach can seriously hamper your enjoyment – already nervous about beginning! A good tip at this starting point, is to use cheap paper. Anything, doesn’t even have to be in the form of a sketchbook, but if it is, the cheaper the better because then you won’t be scared of spoiling it ! This is not about expense, but just to help you feel more relaxed and easy-going about it. The same with pencils, crayons , chalk or whatever you have. Seriously, using the back of wrapping paper or packaging is genuinely a good place to start – let go of the idea that everything you do is intended to be a finished masterpiece – think more along the lines of getting used to making marks (the old trick of furiously shaking your hands to loosen them up is still a good one! ) It’s useful to think of PRACTISING at this stage, it will make you less judgemental about what you do. in short, the whole idea here is to take away anything that causes a “yes but, no but” reaction. this is all about enjoyment! Next post , I will go onto the next objection many people bring up, “but what will I PAINT?”