Different Hats

For the last year or so, I’ve been taken my painting very seriously. What began as a hobby to help with my postpartum depression battle has blossomed into a dedicated skill.

I’m what they call an amateur artist – just starting out on their journey and finding what works best for me. Maybe someday I can reach the point of professional level, but for now, I have lots to learn still.

This year I plan on entering multiple art competitions. Mostly just for fun with hopes of getting a little bit of attention.

I’ve completed a bunch of canvas paintings so far this year – approximately 4 and just about to finish up number 5. It’s not a lot, but hey, it’s something.

It’s not an easy task to sit down and paint a picture. Takes time to craft a decent project from scratch.

Sometimes it’s painful too. My hands cramp up and make crackly noises or they start to shake as I stroke the brush.

But, anyways.

The newest painting that I’ve finished this year is called ‘The Schoolmaster’ – inspiration by Pink Floyd’s album The Wall. The schoolmaster is a character from The Wall album who acts as the antagonist. He’s also pretty cool looking.

When I was trying to gather up ideas on how to create this painting, I didn’t have much to work with. There’s not much online to begin with of this dude except for the pictures of the ginormous stage puppet the band uses for concerts.

So I used one of those pictures to get started.

One of the first things that I disliked right from the beginning was his hands. This was the first time that I’ve tried painting them. They came out like doodoo.

Before I went on any further, I had to edit his hands and give them a redo.

They ended up looking much nicer than the mess I started with.

I had to cover his original hands with black paint and then start over again by outlining with white paint.

From that point on I just messed around and focused more on the details.

There were a few other times I had to make some changes throughout the process, minor things like his shirt and the background color. No biggie.

It took just about one month to complete the schoolmaster, usually spending 4-5 hours during each session time.

He came out okay I think. His hands are my favorite part of the picture now after all that time spent on editing them.

I don’t have plans for him either. He’s not really competition worthy so he can be just listed for sale.

This was just like a fun thing to do. When I was in high school, Pink Floyd was one of my favorite classic bands. It’s just one of the artists you listen to when you smoke a joint with friends.