Throwback Thursday: Lighthouse

This week’s edition of TBT is….

Title: Lighthouse

Size: I think it’s 8″ x 10″

Medium: Watercolor, acrylic and ink on paper

When: Early 2009

Purpose: Birthday gift for my Mom; she loves lighthouses, and I wanted to do something special for that year as it was a big birthday (but I won’t tell you what milestone it was for!)

Time to complete: I worked on it off and on for about a week.

Thought process: I knew I wanted to do a lighthouse, so I just took some pictures I found online and put them together to make this piece. As blue is my mom’s favorite color, I made sure that there was a lot in the finished piece.

Problems I encountered: At this stage in my “career”, I had been out of school for a few years, and as I had two little kids (they were about four and two at that time), I was really out of practice with any form of art! Getting anything to work out was a challenge. I think the finished product was my third attempt at the piece.

Getting the waves to look nice was also difficult; I ended up getting frustrated and broke out the white acrylic paint. I felt like I was cheating as this was supposed to be all watercolor, but as one of my college professors used to say, “Using a ruler to draw a straight line isn’t cheating; it’s just using the tools around you!” So I used another tool I had, and I’m happy with the outcome.

Favorite part: Seeing it finished, watching my mom open it, and seeing it hang in her living room. I really am happy with the piece, considering how out of practice I was when I painted it!

Least favorite part: The lighthouse tower seems crooked to me still.

Fun tidbits: I didn’t have a high quality picture of this piece, and my mom didn’t feel comfortable trying to do it on her own. In order to photograph this piece, my mom and I met up halfway between our houses, and I spread a blanket out in the middle of a parking lot and took pictures of this piece and another piece! People must have thought I was crazy, but sometimes you have to do what works. We were really thankful that it wasn’t raining and the lighting was perfect.

Product availability: Products featuring this piece can be found in my Etsy store here.