Wrap up of 2020 and Painting Project for 2021

I debate New Year resolutions every year, to do or not to do. 

I used to do a focus word. 

Then I merged into an attitude for the year.

2016 was the year of being tired.

2017 went by in a blur for me.

2018 was the year that I owned it.

2019 was living my own truth, realize my own worth, and doing self-care survival.

2020 was supposed to be my Zen as Fuck year. I. AM. ENOUGH.  Bring it 2020…then poof, the pandemic…then Sir Willie Bitesalot died on March 29^th. Then the shutdown and the beach closing, there went us bike riding. Then it has been dealing with a sick older cat, Mouse, and her thyroid issues. Then our dog, Briggs, yesterday was diagnosed with renal failure. To make a long short short, we are taking him back in tomorrow at 10am to another Vet because of the holidays. My Vet made arrangements for Briggs to be seen and to be given IV fluids. I'll let it go there and see what happens.

Then add the hurricane season, which was more prep and put back together. I’m grateful but it still took a lot of time. Then here was all the trump chaos, working with getting out the vote, and reading the news to stay informed.

2020 was the year that I realized that we, as a society, are dependent on each other to do the right thing. Guess what, the asshats didn’t. It was the year of failures and not accepting responsibility. Am I placing blame, not really. I'm just done. 

What I learned from 2020:

What I’m glad I did pre-Covid: Got a library card. Kept my electronic devices up to date. Had hobbies. Enjoyed reading. Had a bike.

Silver Linings: I had time to unsubscribe from ‘junk’ emails. Cleaned a few closets and got rid of stuff. Walked on the beach at sunrise because nobody was around. Weeks without wearing makeup. So many books and had enough time to read a few.

I do this wrap up every year so I'm mostly talking to myself.  

The big change for 2021 is that I’m going to learn how to use gouache.   So a couple of days ago, I looked at my stash for some paint and I didn't find much in the way of gouache so it was an order to Blick. While I'm waiting I've been painting...cripes this is different from watercolor. 

Why am I doing this to myself. Well, gouache dries faster and is fab for landscapes. Since I figure Covid isn't going away anytime soon and it's going to be the same ol'mess for at lease a couple more months, it gives me a reason to plein air.  Watercolors just aren't working well outside here, it's the wind and my style of painting doesn't work well at the beach. 

Here's my beginnings...my goal is to do a landscape a day. Either out or like today, from a photo. Since it's cold currently and we get a lot of rain, it will be by photo for a while. 

Am I good at these? No. I will have to paint everyday for months but I have months and Skillshare. 

First...on grey tone paper. I like the paper, will work with that some more. 

Second, I learned a lot with seascapes.

Third, was a complete fail.

Fourth, I took the ‘Landscape Studies in Gouache with Clair Bremner’s Skillshare class. She works with a limited palette of Winsor & Newton’s Alizarin, crimson, yellow-blue, spectrum yellow, and burnt sienna with lots of white. Toss in a decent watercolor sketchbook and some basic brushes, you are ready to go. 

She breaks down her type of method into what she calls the ‘Four C’s’ composition, colour, contrast, and character.  Thumbnail sketches seem to be one of the things I’ve been lazy about. I’ll give it a try. 

I learned that I need to take some classes and that gouache looks better in person than photographed. 

Laters...hope you had a great day.