Everybody run for your life. I’m attempting watercolors.

Neophyte that I am, I don’t have a clue about what I’m doing. I received a set of watercolors for my birthday a couple of months ago, and I only just now bought paper on which I can actually paint. So just imagine all the surfaces I’ve been painting up until now.

It’s not pretty. Apparently, watercolors soak through plain paper rather easily.

Watercolor paper, on the other hand, is available in two main types: Hot Pressed and Cold Pressed, which is also called Not. So, essentially, I could paint on hot pressed paper… or not.

I also just got myself a huge double-clip board to put behind the paper. What to do with it, I’m not quite sure. There’s a big fat rubberband on one end of it, and I don’t know if it’s to hold the paper down or to keep the brushes from getting lost. There’s also a giant hole on one side of the board; I’m guessing it’s a handle. You know… so I can carry the damn thing. To be honest, I’d say it has great potential to be a weapon. Just grab that handle and swing, baby; you could cut a man in half if you wanted to.

As for the brushes, they shed worse than the cat. I must have cheap ones or something. I paint a swath of color or two, and right in the middle of the stroke, there’s an awful looking squiggly line of what looks like cat hair, stuck in the wet paint. I have to admit that it adds to the texture of any painting, but imagine the model’s outrage if I were to do nudes. I mean, who wants hair on their butt?

Worse yet, though, is the lack of my favorite artist technique — Undo. Also called Cntrl-Z or Command-Z, it’s turned out to be the one thing I miss — such a harmless little four-letter word, too… I end up saying other four-letter words when I miss it most.

Ah well… I’m not giving up digital art, so all isn’t lost. I just hope to remember which cups I’ve used for the watercolors, and which I’ve used for my beverages.

It’s amazing how close to a lemonade color you can get if you use a lot of yellow or pink… oh, and how far in taste. How very, very far in taste.

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