Finding escape from my everyday life

Wait, that title sounds a little misleading.

This isn’t about my plan to book an air ticket, pack my luggage and take off to somewhere far away from my ordinary and somewhat mundane life. Though I’m sure I must have entertained those thoughts when the stress level runs into an overdrive mode on days when it gets crazy both at work and at home.

Instead my form of escape lies in the form of getting creative.

 

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~G.B. Shaw

 

From scrapbooking, Project Life, cardmaking, to craft work…oh the sense of escape I feel whenever I’m lost in my craft. But it’s been a while since I found the time to do all these as I made a new year resolution to not compromise on my sleep.

I must have been slowing wreaking my body staying up late at night to blog, complete my Project Life or simply doing mindless surfing…So I made a promise to myself this year to simplify by scaling back on areas that are causing me to lose sleep over, very literally. And after I started my engines to start working out, getting sufficient rest was even more essential.

Learning watercolouring

Last weekend, I got introduced to the world of water olouring by Dorothea, the creative brain behind dottieshop and oh, how good it feel to be able to create again. And surprisingly, it felt really therapeutic to just watch how colours and water can come together to create such beautiful pieces on an empty canvas.

Plus, it’s always exciting having a fresh avenue to get creative and pick up something new with friends as we painted and chatted away. Little Sophie came along for the session too and it was nice to have her painting quietly beside me.

The key takeaway I’ve learnt is that when in doubt, just add more water and blend, blend, blend.

I wasn’t very pleased with my initial painting as the blending looked awkward, lacking the soft gradient that the others managed to achieve. And I was clueless when it comes to imagining what a flower looks like to paint the petals and stigma and oh the variations of leaves there are was simply mind boggling.

So we went back and practiced our water coloring over the weekends and they looked more decent and quite pretty too.

I like how Sophie tried painting a variety of flowers and even tried her hand at brush calligraphy which she thought of on her own. These days, I’m encouraging her to direct her own learning and tell me what she wants to pick up instead of me instructing her what to do. When the ball is in her court, I do get surprised by what the idea she offers and they give me a different perspective of her interests.

I reckon I’m going to need more practicing this weekend.

If you’re keen to pick up watercolouring, here’s a list of websites to get you started

• The Wonder Forest
• Jay Art
• The Alison Show
• Adventures in Making

 

What about you? How do you escape from reality? I’ll like to hear from you.

 

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Tagged: crafting, hobbies, watercolouring