11 A new love.

I have a confession to make!  I've been cheating on sewing lately with another artistic endeavor.  Painting!  Mostly acrylics, and a little watercolor so far.  I'm pretty much in love.

My mom and I have been going to paint class on Wednesday nights for a few months now.  It was just the two of us for awhile, and recently another lady joined as well.  Our teacher is a family friend Barb, and she runs the class in her home.  I really look forward to Wednesdays now!

This is the first painting that I finished after we were done with the beginner exercises that Barb had put together for us.  I painted it based off of a botanical print by Pierre Redoute, which I found on Pinterest.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out, although I don't love the centers of my flowers.  The dots kind of look like measles to me close up, but whatever.  I keep trying to remind myself that I am just starting out!  "Never compare your beginning to someone else's middle."  That is a quote I come back to all the time when it comes to photography, painting, and everything else!  It is easy to forget sometimes though, isn't it?

I just finished my second project last night and I really love it.  It's a lace inspired design from a Linens & Lace pattern book.  I traced the outlines from the book, and then filled in the shapes with my own design (triangles, of course).  This was really fun, I think I'm going to try to design my own lace pattern to make another one.

It's really hard to photograph since the background has a slight sheen to it, but the lace really pops off the background and looks 3D.  

I have been experimenting a bit with watercolor pencils the last few days too, but I'm not ready to share the results just yet. Hopefully soon though!

Painting has become an amazing outlet for me, it's just so relaxing!  The most stressful part is figuring out what I should paint next.  I am hoping to try my hand at some more abstract paintings soon, as those always seem to be my favorites.  Who are your favorite painters?  I've been following a few artists on IG lately, but I'd love to hear who your favorites are!