Walk Softly and Carry a Big Brush

A friend of mine has been working his way through the Bob Ross library of instructional show, "The Joy of Painting." In the summer of 2018, he held a Bob Ross painting party where we all made our own painting with the same idea of a scene. In other words, we all were to put a hill on the front left with one tree, a lake, a little island in the right-hand area of the lake, with mountains in the background, etc. If you squinted, everyone's would look basically the same.

I was in agony. I could not sit or stand without sweating and crying in pain. I had to keep walking away from the canvas, and had to take several breaks. I walked around and looked at everybody's paintings (I wish I had taken photos of them all, the differences were so cool). I clearly remember the searing pain, and how at a certain point I could do nothing to calm it. I couldn't sit at all anymore, and I was soaking wet from pain sweat. My friends kept telling me to just continue it on another day, but we all know that means it would never get finished. I am stubborn, and had been so excited for the painting party I didn't want to quit. I am so very tired of my injury keeping me from doing things. I finished with stabbing motions, vision blurred, and outright crying in pain and frustration. I was stuck in bed for almost a week after painting this.  The oil paint nearly had a chance to dry before I was useful again.

However I don't think I've ever painted scenery, and definitely never like this. What a great experience, despite the misery! If you have the time, you too can watch along with "The Joy of Painting" on YouTube. It is pretty great for relaxation, and you can learn technique in the process.

The best part about this experience was painting with GIANT BRUSHES and not caring too much about the details- because you don't have a choice when your brush is as big as your hand. I'm trying to learn that lesson in life lately. This painting only took the short part of an afternoon, and if I had used little brushes by myself it would have been weeks. Not because of the real estate to cover, but because I would have gotten stuck in the details.

I'm going to need a bigger life brush.