Waiting For The Paint To Dry

Back in the day when I was doing craft shows I was painting regularly If I was at home and my work was done I had a brush in my hand and would work until bedtime on whatever piece I was creating. When my Mom got sick, I stopped doing craft shows or selling my pieces anywhere because the dreaded call could happen anytime. There wasn't any way she could reach me if I was in the middle of a show and she was so sick, recovery wasn't guaranteed. I wanted to be reachable, in case.

After she died, I lost interest in painting and selling for a good number of years. I painted a few pieces every year, usually for gifts. Last year I lucked into an opportunity to sell from a store and the owner isn't demanding that I keep much of an inventory there which works fine for the enjoyment and stress reduction factor. However, not doing paintings all the time for 12 years and being older, I'm finding that I need some practice with techniques that used to come easily.  Like brush lettering.

I know it doesn't look that bad but the tail on the word Live makes the word look like Liver. On all the words the letter L is supposed to be larger allowing the second letters to be placed closer and above the bottom tail. During the lettering process I also managed to set a portion of my arm down onto the piece and the bottom daisy wasn't dry. 

The absolute best thing about paint is it's very forgiving. When you screw up, you just clean it off and start again. The need to do that used to annoy me but I finally figured out that it was because of the pressure to have enough for the next craft show. Something that I loved doing became a job. It might have been a job I enjoyed, but jobs have deadlines and deadlines can be stressful. So can the shoppers at a show.

Now that it's not a job and I don't have a deadline, I can relax and enjoy the process without stressing myself out, even with mistakes, it's fun again.