A friend introduced me to air-dry clay a few months ago. Since then, I’ve been hooked. It’s so much fun to work with, and my items are coming out not too shabby, eh Nige!

I am not an artist of any sort by any means, however, I have come to the conclusion that I might have some talent in small, detailed and intricate things. Who knew?

I have learnt so very much about various art forms within the last few months, and of all the things I have learnt thus far, learning about colour has been the most essential part of it.

As an exercise from my friend, who actually is an artist, I had to paint a colour wheel according to the structure that was set. I used acrylic paints and some scrap cardboard-like paper that she gave previously. I don’t know yet what the different papers are called, but it was a nice arty one? I dunno.

It was really interesting to see how different tints, tones and shades are from one another. I didn’t expect that. They can create such beautiful depths together! Especially the greens and blues.

Another recurring topic that I have learnt about is the use of a colour palette. Now, with me, what I would usually do is use whatever colour as the mood hits. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, but you cannot necessarily expect good results from doing that. Unless you are an experienced artist, or have a wonderful natural gift in creating art, then it will only help you to stick with the set structures.  Something I learnt from a children’s book course was that structure can be a good thing. You can still go crazy and whimsical or free-spirited within the ‘confines‘ of a structure. In fact, having that structure makes it so much easier to generate fresh creativity, because you have to find different ways to show what your imagination is doing. Why follow a structure at all? It teaches you how to make others see what you see, how to make your work sensible. Even craziness makes sense if it is explained properly to the average Joe. Makes sense?

Throughout this blog, you’ll come across many photos of the stuff I have made. Most of the small clay pieces are green. Haha, I just couldn’t help it! That particular green paint is sooo gorgeous, I want to drink it! I’m using the Reeves acrylic paints and watercolours. The greens from the acrylic set is just outstanding! Stunning, I tell you! Anyway, so before I knew what was what, I realised that I had a collection of green things.  But I think I’m over the green-fever now. I think. I am trying very hard to restrain myself from painting the next thing green, though I have noticed that I seem to start with red and end up with green in my hand. [Shoulder shrug]