A Journey of a Frustrated Artiste: From Sketching to Watercolor

I discovered I knew how to sketch when I was 15.  I remembered it was one hot boring day, when everyone was having their own afternoon siesta.  I, on the other hand, didn't feel sleepy enough to do so, found myself walking around the house having no clue what to do.  Then as I passed by my mom who was by now sleeping soundly on her bed.  I figured.  I should draw her.  And so I did.  Several minutes after, I was done.  Hmmm, not bad.  In fact, it was good.  The face that I sketched resembled my mom.  I thought: Hey! I think this is a talent.  And I think so too until now.  With no formal background, no know-how on basic techniques, no history of practice, I was still able to make a decent sketch.  I figured this is definitely a God-given talent and I'm determined to develop it and take it into another level and make it mine. 

After having drawn the Afghan girl, I figured I need to venture into another kind of art.  Something that has colors.  So I chose, watercolor. Why?  Because I happened to have 2 sets of water colors.  One palette, I used to use when I was a kid and another one, in tubes, which is something for adults (I think).  I bought these separately.  But I never really got to use them.  Whenever I'm in the mall, I sometimes pass by the school supplies section and look around.  Every time I figured I might paint during my free times, I choose watercolors.  I figured because it's easier to use.  And now that I'm trying to know how to use this, I was astounded as to how fragile this medium is.  You can't really overlap mistakes once you've already blotted it down on your paper.  You have to have a sense of how much color or water to put and where to put it.  If not, then do think twice until you're doubly sure.  My sister who is an artist was into oil painting when she was still a kid.  She had my pop buy her loads of art materials and books.  One of these is a book on Basic Watercolor Painting.  As I skimmed through the book a couple of days ago, I was surprised and a bit disappointed that that useless book doesn't really teach me how to paint but just gives me a background on the history, the basic materials, and the kinds of strokes.  So much for beginner books.  I figured there's really no rule when it comes to art.  Rules here are broken, especially when you're in the midst of a creative cyclone.  So I figured one thing: I should let go and let it happen. 

I have been keeping this picture since January.  The moment I saw it, I thought, I should learn how to make that.  So it has been locked up in my computer for months now, until yesterday when I finally decided to do it.  And so I did.  Just a tad uglier mine is. Ok, so mine is uglier. Waaayyy uglier even. AHAHA. Oh what the heck.  Well I say, it's not really that bad for a first try.

My version of her: This is her  after numerous face surgeries.

But hey, I didn't use pencil beforehand.  Just watercolor so no erasures on this one.  I think I have a loooonnng way to go.  I still couldn't make something original.  A couple of days ago, when I thought that I have the right stimulus to come up with a unique art piece.  I thought: Let go, and let it happen.

So this is what happened.

I told you about no erasures yeah? Evidence #1: the nose. Evidence #2: the eye.  This medium is pretty tough on me.

I know. Tacky.

I was thinking of a mysterious beautiful woman in a colorful shawl and she's in some kind of a field of flowers. I was listening to Mariah Carey's playlist while working on this.  And found myself replaying "Vision of Love".  HAHAHA.  I wonder.  If I'll listen to Mozart or Beethoven, will I end up with some sort of a Monalisa kinda piece?  Naaahhh, tough luck!

Anyways, like I said I have a long way to go from being a dreamer artist that I am now, to a professionale one seen in action below.

I just saw this video whilst looking for a tutorial online.  Needless to say.  I was blown away.  Blown far far away to Never-in-your-wildest-dreams-will-you-be-as-good-as-me land.  

But you see, I'm determined.