Waiting for the Paint to dry

    My time in my peaceful country studio revolves around waiting for the paint to dry. 

       This expression implies mind-numbing boredom. After all, what could be more dumbing down than watching paint dry? I recently saw an experiment where a group of adults were tasked with watching paint dry, just to document how it affected them mentally. It’s pretty easy to guess what happened. Mind. Numbing. Boredom.

    Because it actually does take time for paint to dry, it’s a good idea  to have other tasks and projects going on in the studio. My day starts here, at the watercolor easel, with my current illustrated journal. It’s a new day, which translates into a new white, blank page.

 The first thing I do is fill a brush with water, wet the paper, and add color. 

        One beautiful feature of watercolor paint is that it’s simply colored water. Its very nature is to bleed into the wet area of the paper.  The goal of the artist is to let the paint do what the paint does, instead of trying to force it. Because of that, I have to wait till the paint dries. 

So what to do while waiting? Start another painting? Check my emails? Stoke the wood stove? Go to the jewelry work table and start on new pieces?  Go out to the garden and plant asparagus? 

      There are necessary gaps of time involved in the painting process. This is one reason a watercolorist may have several paintings going on simultaneously. 

      This whole sheltering at home chapter of life has, for me, been like waiting for the paint to dry. So much of normal life has been on hold. Shows have been cancelled or delayed, stores closed, travel restricted. It’s an unexpected, unplanned span of time where we must of necessity wait for the paint to dry. The challenge is to keep the mind-numbing boredom away. Far, far away.

      Thankfully, the restrictions are being lifted and life gradually has the promise of getting back to normal. Part of me is already thinking that wasn’t so bad. I actually don’t mind sheltering at home. Maybe I’ll just continue watching. Paint. Dry. 

      Eventually the paint does dry! At that point, the subject can be pencilled in. More layers of juicy, transparent paint can be added. The page can become an actual painting, or at least a study that can later be made into a large finished piece. 

     Or it could become a fabric design. Stationery. Your Etsy store banner. A wall mural. A series of note cards.  A Mother’s Day gift. And on and on and on. 


But only if you first wait for the paint to dry!