oil painting | Psychobabble

Today was a great day!

Today I got to cross an item off my bucket list!!!! Exclamation point!

Today, I took an oil painting class in the style of Bob Ross and I FREAKING ROCKED IT.

I’ve had training in the art of drawing, pen/ink, watercolors, and acrylics, and I’ve always wanted to try oils. I love the impressionist style of painting and I’ve admired how thick and gloopy and tactile oils are when layered and beautifully globbed onto the canvas. I’ve gawked at real Van Goghs and seen just how three dimensional his paintings are. They literally jump out from the canvas!

I wanted to do it, too.

I even bought my own set years ago, but never opened it because I wasn’t sure I’d know what to do with them. New things are hard to start.

So, this Fall I finally signed up for a one day class through Parks and Rec and it was SO. FUN!

I figured I’d be the youngest in this class by at least a decade, but I was pleasantly surprised. With six in the class, two were older, two were about my age, and one was a high school student. And one other student, like me, had never worked with oils.

The pre-chosen Bob Ross painting was this one:

We started with a black canvas (yes, BLACK, not just blank), which I thought was cool. I’d never done that before. Not having any idea how these paints behave was nerve-wracking!