Painting Landscapes My parents were big fans of American landscape paintings, and I used to adore going to the museum to look at them as a kid. I dreamed about painting landscapes when I grew up. I had many skills as a child. I was a good writer, a talented musician, and even decent in mathematics and my other subjects at school. I was well liked and fairly good at sports. One thing I was never particularly good at, however, was art. I just didn't have the knack for it. I had poor small motor skills, and they got in the way of me drawing out what I saw. Nevertheless, I used to dream about painting landscapes. Painting a landscaper, you see, seemed like the ultimate tribute to the beauty of nature. When I was a kid, I liked nothing so much as being outdoors alone. It made my parents pretty nervous, but nevertheless, whenever I had a moment I would sneak away. I got pretty good at it. They could always find me, of course. I wouldn't go far. I would just walk down to the creek, look out at the water, or stare up at the clouds. I started painting watercolor landscapes. That did the trick for a while. You see, people have pretty low standards for kids art and anyway, I had a good sense of color. Once I got a little bit more serious, however, my own inherent limitations became more obvious to me. Painting landscapes was always tough for me because I didn't understand perspective. I took some art classes, and they helped me, but I still couldn't quite get things to look the way I wanted them to. Finally, I got a program designed for painting fine art. My cousin was a landscaper, and he used it for some of his design work. It would help him to create and to examine a particular layout from a particular perspective. Rather than just imagining where everything was, he could actually see it on the screen. I got a touch sensitive pen, took an online tutorial, and was soon painting landscapes. I felt like I was cheating a little bit, but nevertheless, I couldn't deny that they looked pretty good. I'm still not what you might call a great artist, but I do enjoy my hobby. It really keeps me busy, and it feels good to be able to make art that looks pretty good. Summary Related Articles Sadako Paper Cranes Black Lights In Paintings Related Sites