Reminiscin Highschool: Learning to Paint Again

Two Sundays ago, during the meeting of the Awesome Kids Ministry, it was discussed that we will be launching an exhibit of the kids’ artwork. I was so excited because I volunteered to teach watercolor painting to the kids. Right after the meeting I went to National Bookstore to buy the supplies that I need. After more than 3 years, I will be painting again! Okay, I only painted 2 very small paintings 3 years ago. So the last time that I was really into painting was during college, when I gave little handpainted cards to my friends as a souvenir/gift.

I first learned painting during high school at Pisay, from Tiobope – from Tiode Boyle Perez (I’m not sure if I got that right), as we fondly call our violet teacher (he likes violet A LOT – his car was even violet). He was a real artist and he was really good! I fell in love with Art during that time. From our charcoal paintings to water color and then pastel. But my most favorite medium of them all was watercolor. I would stay at the school (which was just beside our dormitory) during weekends, painting some landscapes.

My favorite subject is the sunset. I was always amazed of its colors – the beautiful mix of yellows and reds always make a lovely scene, which is also very romantic.

Anyway, I wanted to prepare and learn a lot for my Sunday session with the Feast kids so I prepared by doing some research. It was the first time I tried to search the Web for techniques and tips of watercolor painting. And boy, was I not disappointed by the wealth of information I found! I particularly got glued on Bob’s site because he unselfishly shared the things he learned for years to wannabe painters like me – mostly for free! God bless this man.

For those who want to try watercolor painting, I strongly recommend the BEST BUY brushes. They have not failed me! And they really proved that they were the best buy – affordable and of good quality. The #12 flat brush is 49.50, #16 round brush is 31.75, and the #6 round brush is only 16.50. Meanwhile, I was really sooo disappointed with the Berkeley round brush #8 (my most expensive brush ever – bought at 127.50),  because when I first used it, the bristles kept on falling – there were a lot of falling hair! And they messed with the painting! It really stressed me out. But I do recommend the Berkeley sketch pad. The paper is great for watercolor painting.

I also really recommend downloading Bob’s free watercolor tips e-book. I really learned a lot from him. The tree below was created based on his Chapter 6 tutorial on how to make believable trees. I then added the girl and the dog because I got inspired by his Chapter 8 tutorial on how to enhance  landscapes with simple figures. I used the picture that I took last Saturday, when my housemates and I jogged at Ayala triangle.

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