Painting with kids is fun. One needs lots of patience and should be ready to work hard with them as they extremely inquisitive and very eager to jump ahead to the next lesson always. At the end of the day it is a very rewarding experience to be able to share what I love with someone who is just as eager to learn. Funny thing is, I didn't know how to teach until I met Alyce. While teaching her I realized it unlocked a new dimension in me. It took almost an year for me to get my head around watercolor paintings. Before every class I would pour in hours of effort to tell kids what mistakes they can potentially do when they are painting. Watercolors are so fluid and one has to have dexterity to work not at fast pace and neither at slow place.
I was always interested in painting and art. I tried to paint when growing up as a kid but it never went beyond a coconut tree,a house and a stream. Everyone in the household and extended family had a copy of the same coconut tree and house. I didn't have an opportunity for formal training in painting. So as I looked to pick up water colors, at first all I did was try to mimic any painting I saw. I failed so many times and grew frustrated about my lack of good painting skills. I was not getting same effect as the painting I was seeing. I soon realized that I have no other way forward than to read books. Given a choice, I prefer to hear and see than read. But my passion for water color painting finally got me to pick up a habit of reading . Initially it was slow, but slowly I started picking up pace and put lots of hours into reading. I was so amazed that the more I learnt about water color painting I realized it was actually a science in itself.
And so after some initial reading, I started experimenting with colors. Just like my students I was so eager to do paintings, that I jumped ahead of the basics and expected to paint something well in first go. As a result, at one point I wanted to give up painting as I thought it is not my piece of cake. Coincidentally at around this time I found pamphlet of watercolor demo at Daniel Smith in Redmond. I attended that demo and that gave me the push to redo everything but to expect very less. As they say persistence pays and my hard work paid off slowly and very gradually I was able to paint better than I ever was before. I could see the progress in my work and that pushed me on to paint more.
I was always interested in painting and art. I tried to paint when growing up as a kid but it never went beyond a coconut tree,a house and a stream. Everyone in the household and extended family had a copy of the same coconut tree and house. I didn't have an opportunity for formal training in painting. So as I looked to pick up water colors, at first all I did was try to mimic any painting I saw. I failed so many times and grew frustrated about my lack of good painting skills. I was not getting same effect as the painting I was seeing. I soon realized that I have no other way forward than to read books. Given a choice, I prefer to hear and see than read. But my passion for water color painting finally got me to pick up a habit of reading . Initially it was slow, but slowly I started picking up pace and put lots of hours into reading. I was so amazed that the more I learnt about water color painting I realized it was actually a science in itself.
And so after some initial reading, I started experimenting with colors. Just like my students I was so eager to do paintings, that I jumped ahead of the basics and expected to paint something well in first go. As a result, at one point I wanted to give up painting as I thought it is not my piece of cake. Coincidentally at around this time I found pamphlet of watercolor demo at Daniel Smith in Redmond. I attended that demo and that gave me the push to redo everything but to expect very less. As they say persistence pays and my hard work paid off slowly and very gradually I was able to paint better than I ever was before. I could see the progress in my work and that pushed me on to paint more.
The more one tries to get involved in their passion, they begin to see everything around them differently. As I got more involved in learning water colors and painting, I started observing nature more and that opened my eyes to a way for me appreciate nature and objects in a new light. I could now connect to something that moved me deeply and which bought so much joy to me. The interplay of different types of paper, colors and they are mixed and applied plays a vital role in any painting. Being able to master this interplay needs lots of skill, patience and perseverance.
Slowly as I got more confident, I started to analyze paintings and pictures and realized that I need to get values and shades correct even before I perfect getting the right color. I painted in grayscale or gradients to master shadows, edges and the play of light on objects and textures.
This was also a point at which I wanted to share what I learned so far. What better way to do that than teach and so began my next adventure of being a better teacher.
There is so much I've learned both regarding my passion and about myself in all this journey. As I now look to teach more kids and introduce them to this wonderful world of colors, if I can get at least one student to share this passion with me I would have done a good job I feel.
