Yesterday, Sunday, I had a rare block of time all to myself. Anna and Ronia were off on a mission near DC and the three older girls were at a tea party. So I did something I hadn’t done in a long time: I threw my paints into my old leather bag, grabbed my pallet and my easel and headed outside.
Every time I paint, and it’s not nearly as often as it should be, I find myself with two competing thoughts- “I love this” and “I wish I were better at this.”
I am still very much a beginner in painting and it can be very frustrating. There’s a quote attributed to Degas that has always stuck with me: “Painting is not very difficult when you don’t know how- but when you know, ah! then, it is a different matter.” Big D knows the score I think.
Sometimes things go well. Yesterday, after finding a suitably humble location (standing nearly on top of my neighbor’s septic tank), getting everything set up and the easel level I had a little over an hour for painting. It was just enough time to make a small sketch of the neighboring field on a little wood panel I’d been saving. I had fun! And I was not unhappy with the result. It was a good Sunday Afternoon.
