3/26 Blog #1: The Start of a Journey

Hi, everyone! I'd like to welcome you to my blog. Now, before we get into the details of what this journey will look like, I'd like you to watch some of this video if you didn't understand the title of this blog. I recommend watching the whole video, but I understand if you don't have the time. Also, even if you get my title, I'm sure you'd enjoy watching Bob Ross beating the devil out of his paintbrush😁.

Isn't Bob Ross just so awesome? He makes painting a therapeutic and relaxing experience, and this is part of the reason why I chose painting as my genius project topic. Painting gives me an opportunity to spend hours taking my mind away from the stress of school, sports, and uhh my social life.

On top of being a stress reliever, being artistic is something I've always admired. My family consists of good artists, for the most part. My dad and grandfather are incredibly talented. I would be amazed whenever they would draw/paint something, so from an early age, I felt a certain connection to art and painting. Unfortunately, the good painting gene decided to skip over me. WTF right. It doesn't matter, though, because it's possible to learn this skill even if you haven't been born with it (which I definitely wasn't).

The fact that my dad is a great artist intimidated me almost. Like don't I have enough pressure on me from my parents to perform well in everything. Also, my brother did painting as his genius project! How dare he steal my idea, right! Anyways, I was very hesitant to pursue this idea, so I thought of another idea: Ukulele.

I love music and I already have a ukulele, so it made sense. I still felt compelled to pursue art, though. I was talking to my brother, and we decided that I should paint album covers. I was instantly hooked. It's a combination of both topics I wanted to pursue. Like this is going to be something I actually ENJOY doing, which excited me.

Alright, enough background, right? So, to start this journey, I went to Michael's and bought acrylic paint, canvases, paintbrushes, and a cute palette that makes me feel like a true artist. If you can't be a good artist, why not make yourself feel like one, right? With these supplies, I was ready to create a painting as a sort of baseline. I was expecting very low-quality results, but my end product pleasantly surprised me. Prepare to see the tutorial and my first painting:

Not too shabby, eh? Don't get me wrong, it's not the greatest painting, but it's much better than I expected. Before I paint any album covers, I have to learn the skills of art. This painting, for example, helped me get a feel for the brush and introduced me to blending colors.

Now that I have a baseline, I will be learning the different basic painting skills I will need from popular painting YouTube channels and websites. These skills include blending, brush strokes, people, 3-dimensional shapes/figures, writing, etc. I will also be watching "The Joy of Painting", Bob Ross' TV show, to learn new techniques.

After I get comfortable with these skills, (hopefully after spring break), I will begin painting some of my favorite albums. I'm hoping to paint 5-10 album covers, and the difficulty of the albums will increase as time goes on. I will most likely start with the album "H.E.R.", by H.E.R. and/or "Doowops and Hooligans", by Bruno Mars.

My plan is to complete about 1-2 albums per week, and my end goal is to be able to paint what I consider to be "expert" level album covers. Some of these include "Acid Rap", by Chance the Rapper, or "4eva Is a Mighty Long Time", by Big K.R.I.T.

Wouldn't these be pretty darn impressive? Yeah, well that's the goal for this project, isn't it? To become impressively good at painting. That's my goal, and I intend on achieving it.

Alright, now that you know my motivations and my goals, I hope that you will stay with me throughout this journey as I record my progress in this blog.

Oh, and also, (this is kinda important), all of the albums I paint are essentially recommendations. If you are looking for some new music, the albums I paint are all albums that I enjoy listening to. In my posts, I will be describing these albums and listing some of my favorite songs from the album.

Oh, and also, (sorry, but this is also pretty important), I'm open to any and all recommendations. If you have an album that you would like to see painted, comment below, and I will do my best to paint it.

Well, that's all I got for today. I really hope that you stick with me throughout this journey, and I'll see you all next blog post. I'll catch ya later!

(Commented on Anoosha, Clare, and Dan's blogs)