Google+ House Revivals: How to Draw and Paint When You Don't Have Time

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

How to Draw and Paint When You Don't Have Time

I love drawing and painting, but sometimes my own perfectionism, tedious techniques, and a busy schedule, keep me from indulging more often.


This is why I was thrilled to discover Lindsay, The Frugal Crafter's video tutorials a few months ago.
Lindsay is not a perfectionist -- she is a busy mom with a craft business and a blog and she makes videos in her basement.


I'm not ashamed to admit I have a huge craft crush on Lindsay! She shares quick easy tutorials for just about every kind of art and craft. I love her drawing tutorials for watercolor, watercolor pencil, and Inktense Blocks. She is so knowledgeable about what she does, and makes everything so simple.


I studied a lot of art and design in college and have had a lifelong love affair with drawing, but I love learning new ways to do things, too. A few weeks ago, I began following along with many of The Frugal Crafter's tutorials.


Most of Lindsay's painting and drawing tutorials can be done in one sitting, and many are done in under twenty minutes! I love that.


I will admit to not using the papers she was using -- I had a stack of old Reader's Digest pages I wanted to use up. I also sometimes used watercolor when she used watercolor pencil or blocks, or vice versa  but Lindsay encourages that. Her mantra seems to be "use what you have".


Lindsay stresses to her audience that things don't have to be perfect, and materials don't have to be expensive. She encourages people to start out with less expensive supplies, and replace them over time with higher quality supplies if they want to. She also points out that sometimes student grade supplies are a safer choice if you have pets and children running around. And did I mention she believes that things don't have to be perfect?

{It is liberating to be given permission to be imperfect -- to embrace imperfection.}

I also love that most of her painting tutorials are relatively fast. While I love beautiful works of art that take many hours, or even days or weeks to complete, I'm not at a place in my life to do those kinds of projects. I need quick, easy projects.

I attached several of my drawings to a piece of household string, using clothes pins, to create a spring banner for the mantel. I change it out every few days with different drawings.

Ultimately, most of these drawings will find their way into greeting cards or an art journal. To see my tutorial for creating an altered book art journal, the lazy girl's way, click here.

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