The Joy of Painting

My new hobby is painting. I’m not very good at it. That doesn’t matter, though. It’s calming. Relaxing. Therapeutic. And so talent be damned, I sit out back with brush in hand, some music on, a drink nearby, and I paint. Most of my August weekends were spent painting, and damn was it a great way to wind down and get my head cleared.

So I thought I’d share the few pieces I’ve done. After all, aren’t self-indulgent, “hey everybody, look at me!” posts exactly what a blog is for?

This is “Florida Sunset,” and you might recognize this photo as the inspiration. It’s a bit sloppy. Intentionally so; I wasn’t trying to capture detail, just impressions.

I thought I’d try to paint an object and decided on something “beachy.” Instead it looks like a sloppy beer ad. But whatever. Lesson learned.

And finally:

Film aficionados may recognize it as the most famous still from Akira Kurosawa’s epic masterpiece, Seven Samurai. But generally you may just notice the lack of detail. Yeah, that’s because I don’t feel that I have the skill to pull it off, so I opted to stick with a more impressionistic approach rather than botch the job completely. Maybe some day. But not yet. Still, I’m generally pleased with the effort.

I’m enjoying this. I think I may keep doing it.

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