New Paints, New Brushes

I’ve been putting off painting for a long, long time, as you know. Of course, I’ve had some legitimate reasons, but lately those reasons have become more like excuses. Gradually my desire to get back to landscape painting overcame the doubts. I set the excuses aside and started a painting.

I quickly realized, though, that I wasn’t truly ready to begin. My brushes were in deplorable condition — the ones I could actually find! My paints were in sorry shape, too. I managed to find a little cobalt blue that was still usable, along with titanium white, and I added a bit of Naples yellow to come up with a bit of green.

Working with what I had — including limited vision — I managed to block out a very basic scene.

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That was enough for my first day back as a landscape artist! I will admit that I was pleased with the initial result. It turned out better than I’d expected, especially in view of the supplies I had at hand.

I quickly got online and ordered an awesome set of brushes! Over the years I’ve tried a lot of different brushes from a lot of different manufacturers, and it seems, for my purposes, that “basic is best”. The set I purchased has everything I could possibly want — well, almost — and definitely everything I need. I did manage to salvage a favorite “mop brush” and a large bristle brush from my previous supplies, and now with this collection of brushes I’m good to go! The set has 24 brushes — all types, all sizes — and the cost was a mere $9.99. I’ve paid a lot more than that for a single brush!

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Getting the brushes was a start, but what about paint? I hesitated here. Several months ago I did purchase a few paints for a class I was taking, but then I set them aside and gave up the class due to all the frustration with vision problems. Where did I put those new paints? No idea.

Rather than spend more time looking for lost paints, I figured it would be easier to just buy a few new ones and get going! That’s the thing. It’s easy to put off projects when we’re feeling unsure. I’d made a reasonably good start on a painting, but could I actually complete it?

Well, stop hem-hawing around about it, I told myself. Just buy some paints and see what you can do!

Back to Amazon I went. I like Winsor & Newton “Artisan” water mixable oils, so I purchased a small little set. The “Artisan” paints come individually, of course, but they are also avaiable in sets of various sizes — 6 tubes, 10 tubes, 20 tubes — take your pick. I selected a 10-tube set for $17.80. These are small tubes — 0.4 ounces each — and that’s fine.

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As I use them up, I’ll replace them one by one with the same pigment or another similar one. For now, I’ve got a nice “starter set” to work with, and that means “No More Excuses!”

The paints were scheduled to arrive on Thursday, so I planned a “painting day” for Saturday. But the paints didn’t get here. I received an update that delivery would be on Sunday — today. I mentally changed course and planned to do my painting today. And then, guess what! The paints arrived a day early.

Could I switch my mindset? Even though I hadn’t planned to do any painting, could I “shift gears” and give it a go? It took a bit of pushing, but shortly after lunch I slipped into old painting clothes, took a look at the painting I’d started, grabbed those new brushes, opened the new paints, and I got to work.

Mostly I wanted to re-do the sky a bit, and I wanted to work on colors. I wanted to make them a bit more vibrant. I still haven’t had courage enough to start the large, leafy tree I envision as part of this scene, and all in all my feelings are a bit of a “mixed bag”. Sometimes I feel like “Hey, it’s old hat. I know how to do this.” At other times I look at the canvas and think “I haven’t got a clue what to do!”

But here’s what I’ve done so far.

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Am I happy with it? Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t know.

Yes, I’m happy that I’ve made a good start here. I think it’s a decent “summer scene” — and considering this is my first real attempt at landscape painting in several years, it shows some promise.

No, I’m not happy with it mostly because it’s “just another tiresome landscape”, but on the other hand, that’s exactly what I set out to paint. Something simple. Something basic. Something that wouldn’t require a lot of technical artistic skill.

Maybe I’ll like it better when it’s completed, if and when I do add that large, leafy tree. Or maybe my attempt at adding the tree will ruin it completely!

So, all in all, I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. I am hopeful, though. And I have to say that “re-learning” how to paint is a lot easier than “learning” was when I first started. I’ll say, too, that I am enjoying the process. I just need to shake off a few apprehensions and keep going!