Learning As An Artist

Ten stupid things that beginner artist do:

1. Spend way too much time thinking about what to draw.
2. Spend way too much energy wanting to draw something perfect.
3. Spend way too much research on supplies you 'might' need.
4. Spend way too much money on those supplies you don't need. (But they are SOOOO cool!)
5. Not going dumpster diving before buying expensive media.
6. Trying to figure out what your medium will look like.
7. Trying to remember what 'media' and 'medium' mean and feeling like a poser because you keep getting those words mixed up.
8. Not realizing that you can use anything as a media for your art.
9. Forgetting to look around your house for things you already bought before going to buy more.
10. Not putting yourself out there.

So, yeah. I have done, or not done, all of these things. I have been addicted to gel pens, Mod Podge, went and bought more supplies before finding a treasure trove of stuff in a box, in a drawer, under some clothes, on top of my assortment of pliers.

I have drooled over rolls of duck canvas at MisterArts and fantasized about painting on old artifacts I find on eBay, when I could just use the plywood in my garage. (Right now, I'm obsessing about finding double hung, single pane, distressed wood frame windows to paint on. If you know of anyone or a place that has them-preferably, for free-then please let me know.)

Trodding on to other things I've become obsessed enamored with, let us add Vitamin Water. I love, love this stuff. I just found it...and yes, I know (now) that Jennifer Aniston and Kelly Clarkson have been advertising this stuff for years.

Way back when this deliciously low-sugar vitamin drink began popping up in celebrity hands, I thought it was just hype. I thought that it was just another way for actors to push the "Green Scream" and be cool. Yet, last week, I was fatigued and sore from working out, so I grabbed the Revive Vitamin Water and thought, "Oh, dang. This stuff is good." I don't know if it was the placebo phenom or if there are actually enough B vitamins in that product to give a person a boost, but I felt better after drinking it.

However, after almost two weeks of spending $1.50 on these things, I realized that they really aren't anything more than glorified soft drinks.

They still have 13 grams of sugar in them (except they call it crystalline fructose) and all these vitamins are something we get if we are eating every day anyway...which, most of us are.

It tastes good, but I think that I got punk'd.