Tivoli ~ Acrylic on Canvas #1: My first painting in probably 14 years!

In June of 2007 we took a vacation to Copenhagen. My husband had been in Sweden for several months for training for his new job and part of the agreement for him begin away for so long was that the company would bring his family over to visit him. After many weeks of discussion we decide upon meeting in a central location from where he was staying for his training, which ended up to be Copenhagen.

I took so many beautiful pictures from that trip and I wanted to pick something that would not be to difficult to paint. I did not want to start with something hard like buildings or faces, they are a bit on the high end of the difficulty factor for just starting back with something you have not done in a very long time, and it has been a really long time since I picked up a paint brush.

I remember having thoughts when my children were very little. All I wanted was a few moments to myself. When they are little they want to help mommy paint and then you end up supervising to make sure they are not giving you kitchen cabinets a fresh coat of finger paint. So it was as most mom’s know, what you want to do gets put on the back burner until such a time when they are no longer hanging from your ankles.

I will admit to a few moments of déjà vu as I was trying to deter muffinhead from exploring my small studio set up in the corner of the dining room. She would wander over there and I would here her rattling around and then there she would come skipping over to me with a handful of brushed and paint tubes, thankfully she has not figured how to get the screw tops off the paint tubes just yet, but I am sure that is coming. For now I just move all my brushes and paints to the top of the table when she comes for a visits. At this age it’s best to remove the temptation, plus I just got tired of having to take them away from her, she wears me out y’all! I am keeping my eyes peeled for one of those playskool artist easels' for little ones, but I digress!

Anyway, as I was flipping through my many pictures trying to decide on just the right choice for my beginning, this one seemed to be a good choice.

This is a picture of a series of fountains in an amusement park in the very center of Copenhagen called “Tivoli”, we had a wonderful time there. It was one of the most beautiful places we saw there. It was an amusement park/concert venue that was surrounded by a botanical garden.

It was awesome!

So here is the progression of the process from start to finish!

July 13

July 28

July 29

August 1

August 3

August 4

August 15

August 24

August 29

September 23

 

September 27

 

 

Well that’s painting number one down! I learned a lot from this first attempt:

1. to keep a roll of paper towels handy, you’d be surprised how many mistakes you can wipe off if you get to them before they dry completely.
2. mistakes are not tragedies, unlike life I can just cover over them with a fresh coat of paint.
3. painting water is way hard!
4. I learned what NOT to do next time!
5. I learned that it’s ok to take my time! Back in the day I wanted to see the end results FAST, which lead to a lot of sloppy and hasty decision, not to mention a HUGE waste of resources.
6. it was helpful to take a picture along the way, I found I was able to see the trouble areas better in a photograph than I was with the naked eye
7. I also learned that perfection is something that I will never achieve on this side of the heaven, the process is what counts.

 

The process and realizing that it’s ok to spend a few moments perusing something that fills you up just for fun! I highly recommend it!

I am pondering what to do next…hmmmmmm! Maybe something for our recent trip to Yellowstone…

 

Blessings

R