Many of my clients do a great deal of travelling to all sorts of exotic places around the world. OK, much of it is work related, but all in all, it seems pretty exciting. I often ask if they do any painting.
They almost always say no. To me it seems such a pity that people who appreciate art enough to separate themselves from their hard earned cash, never seem to paint themselves. On pressing a little further, I get:
- I don’t have the time
- I’m not any good
- Too much to carry about with me
I am often out and about working on jobs, delivering paintings or meeting clients. During down-time I occupy myself by painting postcards. They are compact, quick to do, and you can always learn something along the way.
Last week whilst on a break in London I had just finished one such piece, and it occurred to me that painting postcards is the perfect pastime for the busy beginner. It has everything going for it:
- You can get rolling right away
- They are quick to do
- It’s not too serious so you don’t have to get stressed about it
- If you’re pleased with the result you can put a stamp on it and post it to a friend or loved one
- If you’re not pleased then who cares? You can just move onto the next one
- Its compact
In the photo you can see that everything will fold-up and fit into a modest bag without taking up too much room.
Items needed:
- A few brushes
- Pencil
- Sharpener and eraser
- Small painting kit
- Postcards to paint on. I make my own out of off cuts of watercolour paper although you can get books of them from any art shop or even Amazon
- A sheet of plastic cut from a binder on which to tape your postcard down
- Sellotape to tape your postcard down to the binder cover. This gives a nice boarder, and stops the postcard curling up as you work
- Tissues. I tend to just blag them from Starbucks or some other fast food joint.
- Water. Blagged again
- Cup for water. Yes, another blag
- Finally a small, folding pouch to wrap it all up
Get painting a postcard
If you travel a lot or just want to do something more interesting in your spare time other than Facebook then you can’t go far wrong than painting a few postcards. It may even lead onto bigger things.
Christmas is coming fast so it might be good to get someone to put a few things in your stocking! Alternatively, why not just treat yourself?
4 comments:
yes, but where do I blag your talent from?
🙂
To quote Dylan Thomas (out of context) “Oh, easy for Leonardo….”
Great idea, I must try it sometime.
I am going to Tenerife for 3 weeks in January and you might receive a post card from me !!!!! Please note this will be very amateurish.
When you are in London again a nice spot to paint (but you most probably already have) is near Bromley by Bow tube station. The Three Mills and Millers House on Three Mills Island. They are former working mills on the River Lea. Last January the house boats and the river were completely frozen in