In the next month, I’ll be retiring from my regular hours at the Library (although I will continue to work as a substitute from time to time). I’m looking forward to additional free time which I plan to spend with a paint brush in hand.

I am learning how to paint with acrylics. A few years ago, I took a class at ACAD to get started; however, I didn’t practice enough to retain the lessons taught.

About six months ago, I began again, this time using a book from our collection: Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner. I worked through every exercise in the book. That was a very rewarding experience because they improved my work almost immediately.

Two new books on acrylic painting are coming home with me now to spend some quality time. I like that they bring completely different approaches to the topic.

500 Acrylic Mixes: Paint Color Recipes for the Artist applies a very systematic method to learning how to mix colours and create charts for future reference. Nevertheless, examples of work in the book are loose and expressive.

Brave Intuitive Painting emphasizes the forgiving nature of acrylics to encourage a more experimental approach to painting and developing a method that suits the individual artist. When you don’t get the colour right, just glaze over it.

Happiness is a hobby that is so engrossing that you lose yourself and many hours to the process. I have found mine.

- Jane