So Paul and I got back from a short trip earlier this week, and my brain and heart are just absolutely struggling to return to going about life as per usual. I can't help but close my eyes and feel like I'm still sitting on the beach, with the breeze blowing across the waves and keeping me cool despite being baked by the sun (it doesn't help that we washed our clothes with our beach towels so now everything else smells like the ocean).
I desperately need to work on convincing Paul to move much farther south...
What struck me particularly was that I had entirely forgotten how much of an impact a place like that can have on a person. I have grown up being absolutely spoiled - my family used to go on at least one trip to Florida almost every year. As I got older, that tapered off, and the last time I was on a legitimate vacation to the Sunshine State was four years ago. I was anticipating this trip to be a nice couple of days to get some sun, but I forgot just how much the beach is just an area where it is entirely impossible to be stressed. And now I miss it.
The one disappointment on my trip was that I had hoped to pack in a ton of doodling. I was gonna doodle people on the beach, I was gonna doodle a palm tree or two, I was gonna doodle buildings along the beach, maybe a cloud or three... I doodled like zero and a half things. I tried a couple of watercolors, but always had to quit before I'd been at it very long for one reason or another (normally it was because I'd been laying on my stomach to paint for awhile and it was time to get some sun on my other side... let's be honest, I'm not really complaining here). As such, despite my earlier affirmation that I was going to return home from the beach with a plethora of drawings and paintings to share with you all, I have failed. All I have to show for it are two small, in-progress watercolors, which is something I still suck at anyway.
I desperately need to work on convincing Paul to move much farther south...
What struck me particularly was that I had entirely forgotten how much of an impact a place like that can have on a person. I have grown up being absolutely spoiled - my family used to go on at least one trip to Florida almost every year. As I got older, that tapered off, and the last time I was on a legitimate vacation to the Sunshine State was four years ago. I was anticipating this trip to be a nice couple of days to get some sun, but I forgot just how much the beach is just an area where it is entirely impossible to be stressed. And now I miss it.
The one disappointment on my trip was that I had hoped to pack in a ton of doodling. I was gonna doodle people on the beach, I was gonna doodle a palm tree or two, I was gonna doodle buildings along the beach, maybe a cloud or three... I doodled like zero and a half things. I tried a couple of watercolors, but always had to quit before I'd been at it very long for one reason or another (normally it was because I'd been laying on my stomach to paint for awhile and it was time to get some sun on my other side... let's be honest, I'm not really complaining here). As such, despite my earlier affirmation that I was going to return home from the beach with a plethora of drawings and paintings to share with you all, I have failed. All I have to show for it are two small, in-progress watercolors, which is something I still suck at anyway.
I'm gettin' there.
One thing I DID manage to do, though, was take pictures. And because of this, I feel a little less like I wasted my chances to make some good progress toward being artsy-er. I've already started on one small painting based on these photos, and I plan to just go nuts with the rest of them. Palm trees and waves for MONTHS. However meh-ish those turn out, though, I at least got some gorgeous photos.
One thing I DID manage to do, though, was take pictures. And because of this, I feel a little less like I wasted my chances to make some good progress toward being artsy-er. I've already started on one small painting based on these photos, and I plan to just go nuts with the rest of them. Palm trees and waves for MONTHS. However meh-ish those turn out, though, I at least got some gorgeous photos.
It just blows my mind to look at these pictures. They're crappy cell phone pictures. #nofilter in it's truest form. Just pointing and shooting upon occasion because it's pretty and I want to paint it, but it's also too sunny to see anything on my screen. But they're still just unbelievably gorgeous to me.
In the grand scheme of things, I really didn't take that many pictures. I try really hard to not be the person taking pictures of everything and actually enjoy where I am.
But from time to time I had to at least try to preserve the moment to paint it later.
I mean, how can one place have so many different colors?
So I hear you. "Sarah," you're saying, "why should I care? I don't want to hear about your dumb vacation." And I can't blame you. This is a blog, after all, not a diary.
So why should you care? I think you should because of what I learned, and what I hope that you can learn as well:
Life is full of expectations. Expectations from others, expectations for yourself, expectations for others, even. But when it comes down to it, life will happen, and you just have to make the best of it. I was SO pumped to fill up a sketchbook while we were on this trip. When we got there, though, we were so busy walking and driving and truck-watching (it was "Truck Week" down there, apparently, so the beach was FULL of ginormous pickups from every make possible with just about every ridiculous modification and add-on you could imagine - it sounds annoying, but it was just fascinating to watch them tool by) and just generally taking in the massive presence that is a beach and an ocean, that I chose to forego what I expected of myself in trying to become an artistic machine in just two days. Instead, I chose to just do my best to take it all in. And I think that's okay. I think we should expect a lot of ourselves, but also keep ourselves mindful of what we actually need in the moment.
Art is important, if it is to no one else, it is to me. However, it has to be based on experiences. If you don't experience two days at the beach during a gorgeous weekend, and soak in every possible opportunity to inhale the breeze, feel the sun, splash in the waves, smell the salt in the air, gaze the passers-by, chow down on some seafood, and watch every second of a sunset, how can you possibly expect to convey what it's like in a painting?
Someday when I'm there for a longer period of time (maybe more than 2 days, at least), I'll be able to devote more time to painting and drawing.
But for now, I'm going to paint from a few pictures and be more than content with that.
Thanks again for stopping by.
Sarah
So why should you care? I think you should because of what I learned, and what I hope that you can learn as well:
Life is full of expectations. Expectations from others, expectations for yourself, expectations for others, even. But when it comes down to it, life will happen, and you just have to make the best of it. I was SO pumped to fill up a sketchbook while we were on this trip. When we got there, though, we were so busy walking and driving and truck-watching (it was "Truck Week" down there, apparently, so the beach was FULL of ginormous pickups from every make possible with just about every ridiculous modification and add-on you could imagine - it sounds annoying, but it was just fascinating to watch them tool by) and just generally taking in the massive presence that is a beach and an ocean, that I chose to forego what I expected of myself in trying to become an artistic machine in just two days. Instead, I chose to just do my best to take it all in. And I think that's okay. I think we should expect a lot of ourselves, but also keep ourselves mindful of what we actually need in the moment.
Art is important, if it is to no one else, it is to me. However, it has to be based on experiences. If you don't experience two days at the beach during a gorgeous weekend, and soak in every possible opportunity to inhale the breeze, feel the sun, splash in the waves, smell the salt in the air, gaze the passers-by, chow down on some seafood, and watch every second of a sunset, how can you possibly expect to convey what it's like in a painting?
Someday when I'm there for a longer period of time (maybe more than 2 days, at least), I'll be able to devote more time to painting and drawing.
But for now, I'm going to paint from a few pictures and be more than content with that.
Thanks again for stopping by.
Sarah