I have been on quite the hiatus and neglecting my Bob Ross lessons. “Funemployment” was much shorter than expected. In fact, I never actually qualified for payments. I left for Anchorage on August 16th and on September 16th I started as an associate at one of the oldest and more prestigious law firms in town (hereinafter “The Firm”). One face to face interview and I was hired. I never knew I was so employable. Also, quite honestly, I never saw “law firm” in my future. As the liberal, artsy, crunchy hippie, the corporate world did not appeal to me. I figured I should try it before I knock it, so here I am. For the past month I have been sitting in my penthouse office that stares out at the Chugiak Range, working my butt off defending insurance companies and wrongfully discharged employees.
Most surprisingly, I love it. Absolutely love it. I have responsibility. I work with great, experienced professionals and deal with really interesting topics and cases. Possibly the best part is that I am not working 80 hour weeks. The Firm really respects personal time and as one of the partners said during my interview “you can only look at those mountains for 9 hours before you have to get out in them.” They meant it.
That is the other reason for the hiatus. This is my first fall in Anchorage and it is amazing. It has been dry and beautiful, as opposed to summer which I heard was wet and more wet. The mountains right now are an amazing mix of yellow and crimson with white termination dust topped peaks. I have been out ptarmigan hunting, hiking, jogging and enjoying the sights. I think it will be good inspiration for painting during the cold winter months.
However, after six weeks of exercise and lawyering my right brain was screaming for attention and I made it a goal to paint this weekend. I resisted the urge to hit up the bars so I would be energetic and clear headed for the latest lesson. I of course broke that promise because my buddies and I went on an epic ptarmigan hunt up Turnagain Pass which involved me taking a 40 foot slide down a steep mossy bank and having to grab a bush to keep from going 100 more feet. That deserved a couple beers once I got home.
I did take it semi easy and woke up early Sunday morning to head to Michaels for more titanium white and some extra brushes. Bob recommends having multiple 1 and 2 inch and fan brushes so I followed his advice. Big mistake going to Michaels though.. Michaels overcharges like crazy. If you want to do the Bob Ross method, mail-order supplies from Dick Blick. They are the best art supply store hands down with super fast shipping and you spend half the money.
I got home, broke out the supplies, turned on the DVD and was ready to paint “Winter Glory.” It was a very white snow scene and it stunk. Seriously, on ice. I totally hate it.
It was my junior curse. Third tries are usually bad. How many great bands put out a great debut album, a stellar second album and a throwaway third album? You get too experimental trying to find your voice and just blow it. Well “Winter Glory” is my throwaway. As much as I was dissatisfied with the first two, they were on the whole good. Not so much here.
Everything that could go wrong did. My background colors and sun didn’t come out right. My mountains look like lumps of dirt. The pink and blue tinted snow colors were too dark and didn’t stick and break correctly on them. I was left with patriotic looking humps. My background banks were too steep and did not have good form. My evergreens were blobs and I, for some unknown reason, stuck the shading on the wrong side of the tree. My reflections barely reflect. You get the point.
The big problem again is that I am still learning the paints, e.g. how to mix them, how to load the brush and how thick to put them on. Bob does it with such ease. He mixes the paint in a perfect brush-width size area and taps the paint into the bristles ever so perfectly. I, on the other hand, end up with a sloppy pallet full of wasted paint mashed into indiscernible colors and slathered three inches up the stem of the brush.
But, as Bob said this lesson, “You can’t have light without dark. You have to have bad days so you know when you have good days.”** Bob, of course, is right. I need to have a bad painting so when the next one comes out good, I will know it. Thus, I’m not deterred. In fact, I am now more determined than ever to master wet on wet oil painting. I had a set back and am ready to move on to bigger and happier clouds. I think this weekend I am going to try to knock out another lesson – if I have spare time while working on my cardboard robot Halloween costume. Until next time, happy painting and God bless.
**Bob also said “only do one bush at a time” which I thought was equally prophetic and applicable to life.
