Doing art again after over a decade away...

kim2007

15 years ago

...from it. Well, I was doing scientific illustration rather than decorative artwork during the interim, but that's a different animal. This is a gouache & watercolor of some of the claret cup cacti from my husband's rock garden that are blooming like crazy this season. He's worked hard on these little rock gardens and they're maturing and looking very good now. I was afraid to start doing art again because as someone over 40 I now have bifocals that I hate, and also my hands are not quite as nimble as they were when I was a bit younger, but I'm trying as best I can. I have an old gilt frame that I'm cleaning up for this painting. It's a slender, rectangular frame that's understated, and I'm surprised that it actually works for this painting, but for some reason it does. I guess it brings out the gold-y colors in the cacti spines-? At any rate, the frame had some slight surface cracks and noticeable staining so I had to repaint the gold without obliterating the thin scroll of carving around the edge. Custom framing is so dang expensive, so I had a couple flea market/antique shop/yard sale frames on hand that needed work. The frame is drying so I can't show a picture of the painting in it, but I was happy with the way this turned out so I'm posting it unframed. The colors are just a touch more subtle or subdued IRL than they look in this picture. The things we take for granted when we're young, like good eyes and steady hands!

Comments (18)

leahcate
15 years ago
You ARE a talented gal! Show us more, and this one after it's framed! Keep up the excellent work. You ar a pro!
robynpa
15 years ago
I would love to have something like that in my home - it's beautiful! I LOVE birds and botanicals.
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organic_smallhome
15 years ago
Wow. That's beautiful.
nhb22
15 years ago
Very nice painting! Reminds me of some of my mother-in-laws work. We lost a good bit of her art work in a fire and it just kills me!

I'd like to know more about your scientific illustration work. Was the work for school books, medical books, etc.?
jakabedy
15 years ago
That's wonderful! I would love to have that type of talent. My youngest stepson is an artist and as gotten away from it -- I need to encourage him to keep it up.

You and my DH should be inspirations for anyone who says they can't get back into . . . whatever. He picked up his tenor sax after 30 years and is enjoying theheck out of it.
lynne_melb
15 years ago
Kim,
That's gorgeous. Echoing Jakabedy's comments, one can also start something new later in life. My neighbor was over 50 when she started piano lessons. She is doing great and loving it.

I also started watercolor painting when I was over 50. While I don't have your talent, some of my paintings turn out and I am enjoying it.
brutuses
15 years ago
Very pretty!!
bettycbowen
15 years ago
beautiful, I love the soft passages with the hard-edge passages, it really balances in a masterful way. Keep at it!
kim2007
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for all the kind and encouraging comments, I really appreciate it! When I do something more in the future that is 'presentable' I'll post again. Newhomebuilder, how awful for you to have lost your MIL's work in a fire! I sometimes wonder about that sort of scenario. The scientific illustrations were for things like technical papers in scholarly journals, a reference text, a couple magazines, and one in Encarta. It was all very exacting work, much different than the painting I posted above, for instance. For some projects I needed to use a dissecting scope just to see the subject. I worked with a scope over the span of about a year and my eyes seemed to be more susceptible to strain after all that. jakabedy, good for your husband! It takes a while for the ol' brain to locate those neurons again, but they're still there! They say that you have to keep challenging yourself as you age; use it or lose it, right! lynn melb, one of my first college art classes had a lot of women who had taken up art later in life and they were very motivated, worked very hard, and did some very nice work. Do post some of yours sometime.
justgotabme
15 years ago
Kim that is beautiful! Good for you in getting back to something you love. I too have been slowly getting back to my days of drawing and want to take up gouache/watercolor again too. Mine has been close to three decades now. Though I've drawn little things on a regular basis, sketches for my reading students or friends/family to show them what something was or what I was talking about, I don't really consider that "art".
susanlynn2012
15 years ago
Just beautiful. You have real talent. Thanks for sharing.
oceanna
15 years ago
Kim, that's absolutely lovely. Do you have a place in mind to hang it?

I had to double check -- I thought I was on the decorative painting board, not the decorating board.
kim2007
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks again! justgotabme, I do hope you dive right in again!
Thank you lynn2006! Oceanna, I don't have a spot right now, but that has more to do with the fact that I've been taking off wallpaper and repairing plaster in the front rooms, so just about all decorative things are in storage while that messy work goes on!
lynninnewmexico
15 years ago
Kim, you are a talented artist . . . what a gift! Like everyone else here, I encourage you to pursue it. I can definitely see you showing your pieces in a gallery someday soon. Thanks so much for sharing that piece with us; it's lovely!
Lynn
IdaClaire
15 years ago
It's absolutely lovely! Cacti are among my favorite painting subject matter, and you've done this beautifully! I look forward to seeing what you'll paint next - please do post pics!
kats
15 years ago
Very very pretty. The colors you used are quite soothing and enjoyable to look at.

Or, another way of putting it.....
Very substantial with a rich bouquet and a most pleasing finish! ;)
neesie
15 years ago
You can be very proud of yourself! You wouldn't know it unless I posted this, that what you did in part is inspiring me to pick up my pen & paper after "forgetting" it for so many years. I'm an almost empty nester and starting to get more time for myself and remembering the joy and creative satisfaction I could get from losing myself in drawing. There is something to be said about a hobby that you can lose yourself in for hours on end. Thanks for being part of my "spark" and nudge back into creativity. Your painting is an inspiration....lovely!
kim2007
Original Author
15 years ago
Aww, ya'll are such a lift! lynninnewmexico, thank you, and as a transplant from the Midwest, I see so many new and wonderful things around NM that I want to paint and draw! It's the greatest place to be for an artist.
auntjen, thank you, and I will post again in the future if I do more that is 'up to snuff!'

kats, you made me chuckle...and think of a good wine!

neesie, I'm very humbled that you are taking up art again because of this post! You are quite right that you can lose yourself in this, and that's a really great bonus to it. I hope you'll share what you do with us! And I didn't mention what was the main motivation for me to break my 10+ years away from it, but I will now: the 1st anniversary of my mom's passing was earlier this month, and a few months before she died--when the dementia hadn't yet affected her so severely--she made me promise her I'd start painting and drawing again. It helped bring me out of an extended period of what I can only describe as 'walking depression' that I've had over the past year following her death.

Doing art again after over a decade away...

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