March wrap-up.....

March has just flown by...the first quarter of 2012 has flown by! Every year we say the same thing.....that time seems to be going even faster.....how can that be?

I know that having things scheduled makes you more aware of time passing.....I've already completed two 10 week Watercolour Courses!  I missed two classes of the Fall session while in Norway, and one class this session when we went to Vermont.....not bad reasons for missing classes I suppose!

March is a celebratory month in our house - DH's birthday and our Anniversary.  They are relatively close so to celebrate one we went out for a lovely meal at a local restaurant, and for the other we had an at home event.....

Steak and mushroom pie, with Chateauneuf-du-pap, 2007 - it was a good year!

For all of my watercolour classes, I haven't got many paintings to show.......two sessions of classes, two instructors, two approaches to art, two totally different teaching styles.

The first session was supposed to be a beginner class....from day one we were producing 2, 3 or 4 paintings per class (small ones yes).  This session, billed as an intermediate class.....we have 5 projects in total - the last one being done completely in our last class.

Whew, it's been a whirlwind.....and while I have already registered for the Spring Watercolour 2 Session, honestly? I'm hoping it is cancelled - they don't have an instructor yet (the class starts next Tuesday) and only 3 of us intrepid students have signed up.  They've switched from afternoons to evenings (not a big deal but I really do prefer afternoons - I like to knit in the evening) and this seems to have put off many of the participants that were in our Winter class.

Recalling back to when I discovered that there were Knitting Guilds, Knitting Workshops, weekend knitting retreats, knitting related vacations!!!  Well, at first I was going to 3 different guild meetings monthly, I was taking every workshop I could, I went to weekend knitting events here in Ontario and eventually in the last few years I've been doing significant knit-related travel (remember the weekend I went to London???? ).

I recall that back in the beginning, I did so many classes and never really applied what I'd learn in classes to anything specific.  Obviously I picked up a lot.....I always say that if you learn ONE THING from a class/workshop, you've got your moneys worth.....but a lot of those experiences are just faint memories....but my knitting improved in quality and confidence.

A fellow knitter and I were contemplating a knit trip for next year - a big knit trip - big in time to get there, big in commitment book it now, travel in 2013, big in all ways.  I just sighed, I had to admit that although I'd never been to the country involved, the whole thing just wasn't inspiring me.

Must be this new hobby I've taken on right?

The difference between knitting and watercolour painting? Knitting is a mechanical thing - you have to learn to apply even tension, complete the motion of the stitch, maneuver stitches as required.

In Watercolour Painting - you have to plan ahead, practice the motions you need to make with the brush, figure out how much water you need in the brush (or don't need), do you wash the paper first or not?, blend your paint on the palette or on the paper? Whew....so many things to think of at the same time.

I LOVE WET ON WET SPLASHY STUFF!!!!  Yes, it's relatively easy, but it's also easy to get wrong.

Detailed stuff is not really my forte - I'm thinking I'm an impressionistic primitive painter LOL!!!

The Iris was great - wet on wet background around an iris that was a photograph enlarged, printed in black and white, and traced to give me the iris I needed for the painting.  Yes, TRACED, painters do it all the time!  Who knew?

The Autumn tree thing is still a bug a boo......I'm getting there.....but I'm still not happy with it.  This is my latest effort.....

14th Side Road, east of Appleby

Yup, that's the title, because that's the view over there.....definitely primitive impressionistic right?  Now looking at it here - I feel that the branches are colourful dust mops - I think I need to fill in a few areas so that they are not so mop looking.....but I think I might finally be getting somewhere with this painting.  This is the view from the road....the large trees are on this side of the fence....there is a field with a row of trees in the distance.  I like it....but I may have to paint it again!

Like in knitting, sometimes it's good, but you know you can do better.....so you have to frog right?  In painting you just get out another piece of paper and start again.

Live long and prosper! (I've been watching Star Trek again!)