Although Zentangle has proven to be an easy and relaxing art form, I recently decided I'd been way too dormant with my watercolor painting.   I certainly didn't want to be in an "if you don't use it you'll lose it" situation with painting.  But unlike Zentangle, whenever I approach painting there's always a hesitance or even a fear that I will mess up and the painting won't turn out.  There are so many elements to consider... getting the right ratio of water to pigment to get the tones and vibrance right, the amount of water to put on the paper and how long to let it soak in before applying paint, working fast enough so areas of the painting don't dry, etc.  

What's helped with that in the past was checking in with the Watercolor Workshop group.   I first found this group about 12 years ago on Yahoo.  Today they exist on MeWe.   What I love about this group is that they exist to paint given projects each month which the artists share by posting.   I've received inspiration and encouragement from this group.   And if you seek tips or feedback on techniques the artists are kind and provide that too upon request. 

As I approached getting started with a painting in August of this year, the Watercolor Workshop group provided yet another helpful suggestion.   Lynn Bauer of Dragonfly Spirit on YouTube has several videos on painting on postcard-sized watercolor paper.   What a great idea!   After all, if I mess up the painting it's just a postcard!   I can easily start over with another little square of paper.   My brother was born in August of 1963 and he died in August of 2016.   So I wanted to try a little watercolor featuring him. There's a photograph that was taken when he was working as a caregiver for a client who had Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS).   The client wanted to go on a cruise.   He snapped a photo of my brother standing on the deck of the ship.   I thought it just might work out as a silhouette painting.   With Lynn's techniques it worked out great.

Brother Bill

As September rolled around the monthly project for the Watercolor Workshop group was to paint snow. We only have white snow when we preserve and don't paint over the white watercolor paper so it's a challenge similar to negative painting.   Everything else but the snow gets paint.   I went back to YouTube and found a snowy mountain painting session I could follow.

Snowy Peak

In art it's wonderful to have support systems, sources of information and inspiration.  And it's not only a joyful thing when paintings work out but when others enjoy looking at it.  Keep on painting!  Keeping on drawing!