April 15, 2008
Usually when I travel I try to take as many art supplies as I can with me. Normally I land up with markers, pencils, acrylics and a bunch of watercolors.
On a recent trip to South Africa I only took my little Windsor and Newton six-pan watercolor set because I didn’t think I’d paint much due to a hectic travel schedule.
I was wrong. The minute I got there and began to relax in my childhood bedroom I started feeling creative. All the dreams of being an artist when I was a kid came flooding back (as I lay on the same bed I slept on as a kid) and remembered staring up at the ceiling and dreaming about my future.
I remembered a little mouse I often wrote about as a kid and had the urge to paint the mouse.
I was a little upset with myself for not bringing more watercolors.
Regardless, I drew the mouse and painted it with the limited colors I had available. (See above.)
I left the picture to dry and went off to have a cup of tea with my mum. I was so excited when I came back and saw the picture. I can honestly say it is one of my favorite watercolor sketches ever. And I can’t believe all I used was a felt-tipped pen and a tiny little six-color paint set.
I now realize that I don’t need the huge, expensive, multicolored paint set I have been coveting for years. The set I have always promised myself I’d have when money was not a factor.
A glass of water, a brush and a few paints is all it really takes to make the colors I need.
It was worth sitting on a plane for nineteen hours and flying from South Africa via Ghana (West Africa) to the United States because, on the flight back, as I reflected on my painting, I realized that sometimes the simplest things can have the most powerful results.
Posted by trevor at April 15, 2008 11:16 AM