Foto Friday – 15/01/16

On this week’s Foto Friday I’m turning the camera to my own little personal bubble to explore a hobby of mine: painting.

I’ve been artistic for as long as I can remember. I started out sketching crude stick figures, then dinosaurs, aliens, cartoons, landscapes, Dragonball Z characters, automobiles… you get the idea. I drew anything I could imagine while I was growing up. I was repeatedly scolded during middle and high school for drawing massive pencil murals on my desks. I was even enrolled in a learn-at-your-own-pace distance art program based out of the U.S. when I was 14… which I didn’t finish.

Those were the days.

After I graduated high school and started post-secondary, sketching, painting, and art in general took the back seat as I navigated the crazy ride that is university life. I would occasionally sketch and play around with artistic ideas, but I never had the inspiration – or especially the motivation – to apply myself and develop my understanding and skill. Nope, art is a hobby for me.

But, will it stay that way?

This is a painting I did for a friend’s birthday last month. It’s a pretty basic monochrome pair of zebras. I’m happy with how it turned out, as I was worried I’d lose track of the black and white zones (which I did on a couple of occasions). To my delight she was thrilled and, along with her boyfriend (my best buddy), they hung it up in their new house.

Painting is not something I was good at during my childhood; I didn’t work at it or bother to learn. Well, I’m learning now. I’ve made a personal commitment to making this a recurring hobby in my life, and I’ve done a few paintings in the last year (most of which are hung up in my girlfriend’s apartment). My goal is to learn the intricacies of painting, different styles, and how to mix and paint in colour (haha, that sounds pretty dumb). I intend to settle on a personal style, and if I can circumvent my procrastinatory tendencies, a small online store will offer prints of my various works not long after.

Here’s to putting some hard work out into the world for some criticizing and (hopefully) appreciation. I’ll be sure to have a few pints of Guinness for you all this evening!

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers.

Featured image: Reviving old hobbies from a new perspective. – St. John’s, Newfoundland