Trying my hand at acrylic painting.

Oh, art. It’s still a subject that my inner critic loves to talk to me about. And just like this critic made me hesitant to sketch something, I had been procrastinating to try painting. To be honest, I was tired of looking at the acrylic paint kit and the still-cellophane-wrapped canvas 10-pack, and hearing my critic chuckle that I wasn’t even creative enough to open up my art supplies.

Once again, I built up my courage and faced my inner critic head-on. It only took me 10 months to do it, but I’m happy to say, I can now cross this off this year’s Memory List.

I grew up watching a couple incredible artists on television: Bob Ross; and Mr. Dressup. I was always amazed at how they could turn a blank page into such a beautiful scene, right in front of my eyes! They made art look so easy. So easy, in fact, that I figured anyone could do it.

Anyone, of course, but me.

But, no! I’ve proven to myself that I have talent when it comes to creating art. My brother, who I’ve idolized for his artistic abilities, has confirmed this. So has my mom, and I have her artwork hanging on the walls all around my apartment. My friends have replied with mindblown and shocked emojiIs when I’ve showed them art attempts. This should be all the proof I need, but I don’t think my inner critic cares about proof. It must all be fake news.

Inner critic be damned. I was going to paint something today. I knew I wanted something with a lot of color. Heck! I wanted a rainbow. I watched a few YouTube tutorials of how to paint a gradient background. Then I took mental notes seeing a more established painter make silhouetted pine trees appear on her canvas. It seemed straight-forward enough.

Looking at the final product, I’m super impressed with myself. I absolutely love the rainbow I was able to create. And the trees! Oh my gosh, the trees! They actually look like silhouettes of tall pines.

Of course, my inner critic has stepped up to the microphone, and is focusing on my failed attempt to add a crescent moon. Maybe the brush was too wet, or the sky’s paint hadn’t dried enough yet. For whatever reason, I didn’t like the way it looked. So I tried painting over it, but the canvas seems to be of low quality (unsurprising, given it was a discount 10-pack), and the paint just stopped working in that place.

Well, the way I see it, I have 9 more canvasses to practice with. Nine more scenes to bring to life. Nine more times to tell my inner critic to take a seat and shut up. I think I’m going to enjoy this journey.

Memory accomplished.