For the past several months I have been on a learning journey with watercolor and gouache. I never anticipated working with a paint brush in hand but here I am being thoroughly challenged by it and waking up each day wanting to do more of it. I have absolutely loved this period of learning to paint, of feeling new frustration and new challenges and of occasionally rising to meet them. Painting lets me create in a more fluid and flexible manner than needle felting. While rush and hurry are not my goals, seeing notable progress on a piece is certainly satisfying.
For the last couple years I have been wishing away the work load of looking after the real sheep and the real dogs in order to sit still and create artwork of them. Yet doing all the leg work a farm requires and being immersed in daily experiences with the animals fuels the desire to create as much artwork of these subjects as can be fit into the remainder of life. The worry of wasting time and not being able to create fast enough is real and distinct.