I started messing around with watercolor when covid began. I thought I’d use the time while we were confined in our home to teach myself something I’d always wanted to do. There are a LOT of free tutorials online.

I never stopped painting even when they let us out of the house. Now I paint cards to give to Bring Smiles to Seniors, a nonprofit that organizes homemade cards to be sent to nursing homes. I’m grateful to them for giving me a place to send my stuff. I mean, the people in my address book can only take so many hand painted cards….right?

Anyway, I saw this video in 2023 and became facinated with these crazy birds. They’re easy to do, and people love them. Sometimes I get in a crazy birdy mood and that’s what I paint all day and then I ship them away before I get too attached to any of them.

This weekend I had a friend over and she painted her own version of the crazy birds.

Today I attempted to use up Saturday’s leftover paint and did these guys to go the the nursing home.

And then I decided to paint a card especially for the woman that manages all these cards and gets them shipped out to the places they need to go. I figure hardly ever does anyone actually tell HER thanks. And I appreciate her and her organization so much.

I’m writing this post while I’m waiting for her card to dry so I can add some more dark places. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s done.

This morning I painted a lot of cards really quickly. The birds have lots of doodles on them. The flowers have lots of leaves and stems and colors.

The question is….when do you know to put the brush down. When do you know when to stop?!