Well, I've been wanting to learn to paint for a long time but haven't had much luck until this week. A few years ago I met a local girl named Kristy Gordon who now lives in New York (her site is http://kristygordon.com/) and found out she is a painter who occasionally does workshops here in the Okanagan. The first couple I missed due to work and other engagements, and last spring I signed up for a community course in Kelowna which got cancelled. So I finally made it to this one, and am glad I did. It was a lot of fun and Kristy was great. We were doing portraits, and we had to find one that met certain specifications for what she wanted to teach in the class. Originally I wanted to do a painting of my grandpa but couldn't find a suitable picture of him, so I found a good one of Malala Yousafzai on the internet to use as a reference photo. Here is the final result:
It's an oil painting, so it seems to take a long time to dry (someone told me it can even take months to dry all the way through if the paint is really thick). Anyway for my first painting I'm pretty happy how it turned out. I can still see a lot of my mistakes in it (and I forgot to sign it, but it will be wet for ages so I have time) but really I think it turned out good enough to go on the wall. Have found another hobby!