Master Painting

Over the pandemic, some people started doing things like making sourdough, Tik-Tok challenges or learning to tie-dye. Other than playing with squirrels and reading, I can’t say I have any hobbies. I have heard Europeans don’t ask what you do for work, instead they ask what you do as a hobby.

And apparently, they would consider me pretty dull since I don’t have a hobby I am passionate about (spreadsheets are my hobby but also my work).

That being said, I might have found my new hobby.

Let me rewind.

A couple of months ago, my coworker told me about people (on Tik-Tok) making quick abstract art and selling it on eBay for thousands.

I am down for any get-rich-quick scheme, so I bought my wife and son a paint set and told them to get to work. They had previously tried following Bob Ross and went from feeling frustrated to coming to tears.

After a few weeks, we finally busted out the paint sets together as a family and made some abstract art in our backyard. With no expectations other than “put paint on canvas” we came up with some art that I found to be very cool.

We all caught the painting bug and did another round of painting. My sister-in-law and her kids came over and they really enjoyed the experience as well.

I drew a lot when I was younger and used pastels in art school but really never felt like I needed to revisit the mediums. Painting was something I never really got into, but I painted over the weekend and then all last night for the main image on this blog post. And I loved every minute of it.

I don’t think I will ever be a professional painter and really don’t think I would want to take any requests. But also I don’t think the yardstick to enjoying something is how much you could be paid from doing it.

If painting was a good enough hobby for Winston Churchill, I think I am in good company. 

Let me encourage you, if you haven’t already, to check out a few of the youtube videos out there on painting, get inspired, and give it a try. Canvas and a few bottles of paint are cheap. While you might make some garbage, it can be very fun and you might even impress yourself.

These paintings are all on eBay. Click here.

If you have a hobby you think I should try, I would love to try it! Let me know in the comments what hobby the Watson clan should take up next.