My Cherry Blossom Tree

Today was actually a surprisingly pleasant day.  Although it's after midnight now, so I guess "yesterday" was actually pleasant.  The verdict is still out for today.

Clint, the kids, and I went to the dollar theater and saw the movie "Unstoppable", which was suspenseful and entertaining.  After the movie, we swung by Michael's and purchased some painting supplies, because I got a random whim in my head a few days ago that I want to paint.  The only kind of painting I have tried in the past (that I can remember) was with water colors in an art class I took at Cal-State.  It was really difficult, but I remember the whole process of painting made me feel peaceful and relaxed.  I decided on oil paints today, figuring that they would be easier to work with than water colors.  Wow are oil paints expensive!  I had no idea!  I also started to buy some canvases (also expensive!), but decided I am not willing to waste them when I have no skill.  So I settled for a less-expensive pad of cold-press paper to practice on before graduating to actual canvases. 

Above is the picture of my first practice painting, which looks okay from a distance, but rough and blobby close-up.  I found the cherry blossom tree from google images, and it seemed simple enough to paint.  HA.  I think I took it for granted that I would have to mix the colors myself, and I also didn't realize how much of a pain it can be switching colors.  I used one brush for everything, which I'm pretty sure is a big mistake.  I bought a bunch of different brushes today, but I was being lazy and didn't want to clean them all, so I wound up using the same one.  Plus I accidentally painted the tree first, and then tried to add in the background afterwards.  What a mess!  I had (and still have) no idea what I'm doing.  But what fun it was!  I'm excited to attempt another one soon.  Maybe I should try to research techniques first before just going for it.  But researching sounds soooo tedious.  Think I'll just go for it.

I also took a short nap today, worked out, visited with Teri for a little while, and finished my book.  Today seemed to stretch out for a long time, but in a good, productive way.

Even though I've been posting pretty regularly lately, somehow I feel so behind on this blog.  I still haven't talked about our San Diego trip, or even the Rose Parade fieldtrip for that matter.  I'll try to touch on those soon.  Maybe.  I don't know.  I'm sort of losing steam on those subjects already.