The New Hobby

I had the honor of having many very special grandmothers and great grandmothers. One of them, Mama Robbie, learned Spanish, took trips to exotic places, went back to college for a philosophy degree and learned to paint all after she retired.

I always knew I wanted to be like Mama Robbie when I was older, but it recently occurred to me that being like Robbie could be really hard work and I should start now.

So I took up painting.

My first painting was an acrylic because twenty minutes of looking at painting books taught me that you need special stuff to clean up oil paint and I still have a toddler.

I bought myself a "how to" kit that walked me through paint mixing and techniques like gridding to copy a design. I picked this one of an old mill because it was for my sister and her married name is Miller, so you know, it's funny.

The Millers by RC

Overall, I was really pleased for a first attempt at a landscape and my first painting done in a medium other than poster paint. I mean, you can totally tell it's a mill and the water actually sort of looks like it's cascading down the rocks. The leaves lack detail, but I think that's a style some people do on purpose, so I'm happy with it.