I can’t draw, but I love making paintings for myself

When I was still in kindergarten, I always loved to colour, and I remember one time I entered a competition, where I won 4th place! A core memory, they said. I competed with my mom (who also loves to colour), and it turns out my love for colouring and stationery continues into adulthood. I was never the art person throughout my whole life, but I do always appreciate a good drawing and crafting. At the end of this blog, I share my all-time favourite painting, which was inspired by images taken by NASA and the bonus reason why I enjoy my artime.

Spending Adult Money on Art Supply

I would never have thought that I would actually spend money to buy art supplies hahaha. But I think roughly since uni time, and I had part-time jobs, working as a lecturer assistant and earning a little bit of money of my own, other than books, I couldn’t help but get a paint brush and water colour paper.

Mind you, I am not an art major or the type of person who can draw or anything. I remember exactly that one time, I visited a bookstore and bought a Maries watercolour set in 12 colours. Then, over time, I would buy a paintbrush, one at a time, while other girls my age would buy a makeup brush.

I don’t buy the fancy stuff, just the normal regular stuff – but that brings me such joy! One of my favourite things to do is to mix the colour with a metallic one – either gold or silver! I have this 2 gold and silver sakura poster paintings for maybe 8 years (also spotted in the photo above). One important thing is the cutting mat! At that time, I’ve been wanting to have a cutting mat since forever, but I never really thought I would need one. But this actually come in handy for when I paint or just doing crafting stuff.

Artime session (art + time)

And then just naturally, I think it started when I was still in uni, I would open Pinterest and look for something easy to do with watercolour. I would just enjoy my free time doing art for nothing basically. Although it’s not like a very regular thing, I always love to make time and just create something.

At one point, I also got into calligraphy. I came across this content creator (@happyevercrafter) who is really good. She basically shares all the basics for free on her content. I really recommend checking her content if you want to learn calligraphy.

Other than watercolour, I also try using gouache, which I got as a birthday present from my friend. These are some of the results!

My All-Time Favourite: NASA-Inspired Art

I make these gouache/watercolour paintings inspired by NASA photos.

While making all this stuff for nothing but just my personal satisfaction, I realise that through practice like this, I can practice mindfulness too. This is a bonus point for me, and it’s a great way to slow down and reflect on life when it gets too overwhelming sometimes. It’s different with reading, since I use my hands, so with reading, my brain is actually active, processing the stories and information, but with doing things with my hands, I get to clear and shut my mind up. Plus, I get to admire my artwork (and put it up in my room), whatever the result is, I will always feel proud of it!

I also wrote a post about my experience making clay with my friends here. And I actually did try to make it at home, which I will show you in another post! See ya! Thank you for reading.