Just to let you know, I’m not progressing through my hobbies in any particular order. I’m just talking about the next one as it comes along, which is quite fitting, since I started many of these hobbies in the same way, as the opportunity came along.
Okay, so now I’d like to tell you a little about how I like to paint. I have, on occasion, wielded a brush or a roller on the walls or siding of my house. I much prefer, however, to paint on smaller things.
We have pictures of me painting with water (you remember the old “water colors” that you paint water and it brings out the color on the paper) when I was four or so. Besides looking cute back then, I was actually pretty good at staying in the lines, even with a paint brush. Crayons are often hard enough, but a paint brush is that much longer . . . . Anyhow, we had some of the water color books, and Grandma kept a supply at her house, so I got plenty of practice!
Later, I remember finger painting. Why is it that children like to get their hands messy? I think I just liked the squishy feeling of the thick paint between my fingers. I didn’t like just anything all over my hands, but I did like to get messy with paint. I wasn’t all that skilled with making pictures with that paint, but then, who expects a Van Gogh from a six year old?
I dabbled a little in real watercolors in middle school, though I never went very far with it. I liked acrylic paints better. We got a couple of books by Donna Dewberry, showing her One Stroke Painting technique (video of One Stroke rose). I liked that because it didn’t require me to think about which colors to do first, they were all on the brush at the same time. The best part was that I got impressive results very quickly. Once I figured out how much paint to load onto the brush (a lot), I could paint anything in the book. I’ve painted some boxes with this technique. My grandmother gave us a pair of stone jugs that were mustard yellow, but I painted them over with white and then put some pansies on them. Now they’re a nice decoration on our back porch.
In addition to One Stroke, I also do some acrylic paint-by-numbers. It seems odd that I like them because paint-by-numbers require so little artistic input from the “artist.” For some reason, though, the rigidity of the lines and numbers does not bother me in this case, and I enjoy looking at the one on my wall. I’m currently working on a lighthouse/seascape and a covered bridge/landscape. Those two are for Sister’s hope chest and mine.
I also paint rocks, as you may have seen in my voicethread. We got a book from the library that showed a variety of different things to paint on rocks, either as an accent to the rock or to make the rock look like something else. I’ve done several door stops, paperweights, and other things this way. Rocks are interesting because they come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes you have to look pretty hard before you see what critter is hidden inside. The rocks around my house are quite diverse, but they all have a lot of potential . . . if only I had the time I could paint almost all of them.
When I have a paintbrush in hand, world beware! I even take on rocks and boxes and jugs (oh, my)!
Reflections of a Homeschool Graduate 
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