First Frustrations

I was just wondering, why did I want to paint landscapes? And why didn't I do it for such a long time, when it was as possible as it is now? So why now?

It could be that if I do not do it now, I may not do it ever, feeling that the time is getting out fast. May be that I have that much more patience as needed to do a good landscapes.

What ever it may be; the thing is I have started it. Like my wife says it is no more a fad, looks like it has stuck.

Well after Dengle sir initiated me, I bought a lot of books rather I bought all the books that I came across (at least those I could afford). I read them in parts, as I found different authors dealing with different areas that I could understand. But with that I unwittingly started copying them. I still like copying good landscapes. Once you complete, it still is your landscape.

Well I then decided to attend live demonstrations of accomplished artists. That helped a lot. But all the demonstrations felt line a magic show! With quick and unrelated wrist actions, brushes flying across the paper and a landscape just emerged. First few demonstration just evoked a sense of awe. But it helped to make landscape paiting a bit real, compared to the ones in the book. But after witnessing these demonstrations, it was clear that most of the artists had their stock demos. The landscapes that they had done a dozen times at the same location or in their studios. It looked well rehearsed stuff. In case of some artists if the loation was new, they had few standard ways to draw trees, the clouds the huts etc. which they may have drawn a hundred times. To me it looked like a cleaver assembly of a landscape. That started making the whole thing a bit unromantic.