One of my yearly bucket list items this year is to learn to watercolor. Outside of reading/listening to audiobooks & spending time with family, I’ve realized that I don’t really have a hobby. Photography is a passion, but it’s also a business for me, so while I absolutely LOVE it (and always will), I have been craving an activity that is just for me and strictly for fun. Last weekend I started my watercolor journey by watching a bunch of online tutorials, creating a Pinterest board of resources, finding Instagram accounts with watercolor inspiration & tips, and buying my beginner supplies. They aren’t exactly what I was wanting because life got in the way & I didn’t make it to Hobby Lobby on Saturday to see what supply options they had, so I ended up getting what I could from Walmart on Sunday. As I continue this journey, I may upgrade to better brushes, paper & paint, but for now I’m happy to simply be able to start.

Obviously I had a feeling I would enjoy watercolor, but it’s already surpassing my expectations & teaching me things I didn’t know I wanted to learn! Here are four reasons I already love starting to learn to watercolor (some of which caught me by surprise):

• It clears my head. There are always a million & one things on my mind (even when I sleep I end up dreaming about to-do list stuff!). I’ve noticed already that as I start to paint, everything else just seems to fall away. Hellooooo, stress relief!
• I can do it with the girls. While I don’t get as much of the benefit of the first thing I listed with the girls around, it’s worth it to have something we can all do together. We had a joint art time the other day and while I played around with watercolors, the girls painted, used stencils & colored. Getting them engaged in something stationary is definitely a challenge, but family art time worked well!
• It is good to be a beginner & see growth. I didn’t expect this one, but it’s been a really good reminder that as you do something more, your skills will grow. At the beginning, growth is more dramatic/obvious, but it’s pushing me to look at how I’m continuing to grow & recognize improvements in my work as I continue to hone my photography craft.
• I’m seeing everyday things in new ways. I can’t tell you how many things I see everyday that I’ve started to actually pay attention to now! I am slowing down & taking time to really look at God’s creation in vivid detail. Details of simple household items now have depth, shadow, texture that I simply didn’t see before. I am seeing things in light of how I’d try to paint them, and it’s making me appreciate the beauty around me. I think this will also translate into continuing to grow my photography eye too, bringing us back to reason #3!!

And a bonus reason: it’s just fun! I am going to work on using this desire to paint to push me to be more efficient in crossing things off my to-do list so I can paint knowing I’ve completed all my business/life tasks already! Benefit #6?? We’ll see!

I’d love to know what hobbies you have & if they’ve surprised you with lessons/perks you didn’t expect! Drop into the comments & let me know!