For Malaysians, we are stuck living our day-to-day life without the balance of entertainment, freedom of going out and about, and traveling. The mental state of a human being can’t be measure easily. A friend of mine has just passed due to depression. She has a good life, a loving husband and family, and an exciting job. She had everything that I dream of having. But despite her smiles and joy showed on her social media, I never expected that she had gone through depression that leads to death. My heart and condolences go to the family (may you rest in peace, my dear).
Skipping the heavy story, I would like to share how I divert myself from having anxiety attacks and possibly being stressed due to the same daily routine on repeat. Besides writing, I have been trying to find out things that I can do during this pandemic. Painting allows my mind to travel for a while, escaping from these hurdles. Its starts with looking at my friend’s story where she shared her freedom through painting. I get her guidance on the things I needed to purchase to start learning how to paint. So she lists out a few items I needed to buy ( I have included the link for ease of reference):
1) Himi Gouache Paint Set
2) Painting Brush Set
3) 300 gsm Painting Book/Paper
4) Laptop Mat Desk (as a painting mat)
As a beginner, these 4 items are enough to start your painting journey. You can search on youtube for a few channels to learn the basics of painting using Gouache listed below:
1)Myriam Tillson – Basic Gouache Tutorial
2) Jess Chung – Mostly on Scenery Painting (my personal favorite)
3) HamRib Art – Portrait Painting
4) Mary Sanche – General
As I am more towards sceneries because I am a nature freak, I like following tutorials from Jess Chung, and most of the paintings started with her. She has clear instructions and excellent tips on how to paint using Gouache. I have yet to understand how to paint water realistically. As a photo seen below, that is my first painting ever.
Moving on, I started to practice more on the water intake for each painting and how not to reactivate the previous color if I want to paint on top with other colors. Starting from a trip to the beach, I went from camping to waterfalls, imaginary Elysium, and mountains. The process sort of balances out between my left and right brain that distracts me in a good way. It becomes my new hobby over the weekends before my MBA class starts. I can even paint throughout the day till midnight as if I was taking a trip.
As shown above, I think this is my best painting over a month of learning. I was able to understand further the concept of blending and the details of making the painting realistic. Lastly, able to figure out which brush to use for different parts of the painting. A lot of things that I have yet to try. Like abstract and portrait paintings, they require more hours and technicalities. Although most people said abstract painting is something that you can just go with it, I still have difficulties on how I would like my brain to work towards it before I even begin. My personal view is that it requires creative thinking skills that I have to polish further.
Escaping anxiety is the best thing that ever happened when I started to paint my heart out. Sometimes I tend to feel my heart race for no reason plus, unnecessary stress due to absorbing the negativity on social media. If you are feeling down and depressed about what’s been happening with the world, please reach out to your friends, family, and neighbors. Talk to them, let them know your struggles. Try to read positivity and not negativity throughout this pandemic. I guess media plays the most vital role of all time too, don’t you think?
Let your mind be free with paintings. Pour your heart out to it and go with the flow. For those travel freaks like me, I hope this gives you an idea of how you can take yourself to travel through paintings. Nothing lasts forever remember? So as this pandemic. Let’s pray for all of this to go away and hope good things come real soon. Take care!
