The Decorative Folk Artist Issue 124 | Page 6

Hobbilicious as seen on . . Hochanda TV! Sky: 673 Freesat: 817 Freeview: 85 hochanda.com Afterthought October already! Sorry for the delay. I have been waiting for our committee meeting so that I could include news of the convention classes. After my experiment with the name sign for our cottage, I realised that the only way to develop, both skills and self, is to try something new, step out of your comfort zone, embrace change. What is liberating is to try something new with no expectations - it doesn’t have to be perfect - it doesn’t even have to be good - in fact it can be complete rubbish - because only you are going to see it. My house name sign turned out OK, but I have been trying to work with watercolours for the past month or so, and to be perfectly honest my results have been horrible. Only after a month and trying techniques different to those demonstrated by my teacher, have I started to achieve something near what I envisaged, but still my attempts are headed to the recycling bin. Keep trying, keep experimenting. If something doesn’t work - do it differently next time. Do not be bound by the conventions of others. Try different colours, the ‘wrong’ colours! Use a brush that is too big, or too small, too wet or too dry. Make the paint thinner, or thicker. If you still don’t like the result, walk away, leave it for a few days, or weeks, then come back and re-visit with fresh eyes, and a clear mind. The art you create is for you, lose yourself in it - if others like it, that’s a bonus. Kim