Not unlike many people in 2020 I too picked up some new hobbies while quarantining in my one bedroom apartment in Denver, Colorado. Up until the forced shut down I had spent all of my free time outside rock climbing, backpacking, and skiing. I was so excited for my first true spring ski season. I imagined days of skiing in a t-shirt and basking in the sun between ski runs. The year prior was my first winter in Colorado and being a new skier amongst experts I decided that skiing was not really for me and instead turned in my rentals early to focus on rock climbing. Flash forward another season and my perspective on skiing shifted entirely. No longer afraid of going downhill and finally exploring moguls and a black run here or there, I was hooked and couldn’t wait for the warmer ski days to come. Which brings me back to the world shutting down, and I then alone in my apartment contemplating my life as so many of us did. The outdoors was what filled my soul since completing the Pacific Crest Trail in 2018. How would I entertain myself?
Happy days on the PCT
My sister at the time had started watercolor painting. She was enjoying making commissioned dog portraits in her free time. Not formally trained, she was a natural. It was amazing to see. I had dabbled myself with a cheap watercolor set in the summer of 2019. I created a few pieces while working at Outward Bound in Washington. Drawing had always come naturally to me, and I thought how cool would it be if one day I could take my most scenic pictures from the PCT and turn them into painted art. The problem being I barely knew how to paint.
During that summer I made an extensive sketch of my PCT trail family then attempted to add some watercolor to the sketch. I found a local print shop and made prints for everyone in the photo to receive a copy. It was so fun and rewarding. I then created a similar style drawing/watercolor of a group of coworkers at Outward Bound to gift as part of a staff auction. I was using mixed media paper at the time and had no idea watercolor would look best with specific watercolor paper. I was proud of my paintings but knew I was stalled at the place where I was doing anything more than light washes of color on paper. I then over the following year painted a portrait here or there to gift to friends getting engaged, married or having a baby. It was fun but I was an amateur and could barely call it a hobby given how little time I committed to it.
Lightly painted drawings on mixed media papers
It was a few weeks into the pandemic that I received a package in the mail with a Cottman Watercolor set. Then in three separate packages I received three Cottman Watercolor brushes. If I’m remembering correctly my mom sent me these by the request of my sister who was finding a lot of joy in her new found medium. A sort of gift to help me mentally. I had been working in the Intensive Care Unit as a Physician Assistant and as a result had to quarantine alone between my seven day stretches of shifts given all my exposure to COVID. Thank goodness for human interaction at work because I had zero at home on my days off. Lots of tears and anxiety instilled around not knowing when I would get to be around friends or family again. I started to play with the Cottman watercolor set here and there as something to do.
Fortunately for me my sister had also told me about Skillshare. It was a game changer. I had fancier watercolors but no idea how to use them beyond how I had used my dollar store set the summer before. I began taking some classes online here or there. It was fun to tune out and have something to do for one, sometimes two hours. I was shocked at the things I could create following a step by step tutorial. I then started to think more seriously about my previous goal to paint the scenes I had photographed during the PCT. But here is where patience and time come into play. I tried to use my new found techniques to paint mountain scenes and they were terrible! It was defeating, but still needing a distraction as the pandemic raged I continued to paint.
Paintings from tutorials some good some not so good
My friend Claire then approached me about wanting a watercolor wedding invitation if by chance the pandemic ended and she could ever have a wedding. I wasn’t sure if I was capable. But I managed to find a photo that felt simple enough to copy and paint. It turned out better than I expected. I was excited I finally have had made something without a tutorial telling me how. It was turning this simple painting into a wedding invitation that would introduce me to a whole new world of art. I thought learning to watercolor was an uphill battle but truly that was just the first step. To create a wedding invitation would involve so many more new skills that I would need to learn scanning, editing, digitizing, printing. It was only the beginning.
The Invitation
Completing the invitation above showed me not only how much I had to learn but that I'm capable of learning the skill. I'm looking forward to using this platform for sharing with you all my past and present experiences/learnings with creating art. I hope by doing so that I can make the journey that much easier for those who follow along so that they can have more time to focus on their own creativity and enjoyment making art brings.
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