Late one cold and rainy winters night with absolutely nothing to do around the house, I talked my husband into joining me on a trip to Wal-mart. While wandering around the store-inching ever closely to the Arts & Crafts section-I stumbled across a painting display called “One Stroke Painting by Donna Dewberry.” I’ve always frequented the Arts & Crafts center at Wal-mart looking for something new to try, as like all women, I like to create and make things. That night when I came across this new collection of painting supplies, books, videos, etc., I felt like I had finally found my niche in Arts & Crafts.
I’d tried crocheting and couldn’t quite master the concept, let alone how to hold the yarn. Knitting wasn’t going to work; if I couldn’t understand crocheting, I certainly couldn’t understand knitting. I’d tried sewing, but that was no good if you were sewing machine poor like I was at that time. I’d tried beading my own jewelry, but that didn’t go over too well, as I had 2 very young curious little boys. Painting by numbers was very elementary; candle-making was too messy; sand art was geared more toward the younger generation of crafters; and I was not about to attempt any quilting, as here again, I was sewing machine poor. As you can see, the painting option was about all I had the ability, the space, the freedom, and the know-how, to do.
Being that I love to paint, I found this One Stroke stuff fascinating because the books and materials described it as being so easy to learn and do. I bought a truckload of paints; several packs of brushes; glass and wood unfinished projects; and a few other associated materials that I would need to paint with. I bet I spent about $120 that night on painting supplies and projects, alone. I wanted to make sure that I could master this One Stroke stuff, and I bought unfinished projects, considering that I might do well with the painting technique, would be worthy of displaying around my house decoratively.
I came home that night and spread everything out on my kitchen table, and the place designated for eating meals was now the foundation of my very own painting studio. I could not believe how easy and goof-proof the whole One Stroke techinque was to learn. I had gone from painting stick figures to painting like a pro in like 5 minutes! It was awesome! And what really got me more interested in perfecting and learning more about the One Stroke technique was how my family and friends believed I had taken an art or painting class, or had been painting for years and never revealed my talents to them, and some of them even made comments about how they could never be as good as I was back then. I’ve gotten a lot better with my painting since 1999, and when I look at how I used to paint using One Stroke, to how I paint now that I’ve had a lot more practice, what I painted back then doesn’t even stand up in comparison to how much more profound and professional my painting looks today.
All writers need a day job… No one can live out their life after high school or college graduation sitting in front of their laptop or desktop computer-heaven forbid if any of you writers are still using typewriters these days-typing manuscript after manuscript, sending in submission after submission, getting rejection after rejection, waiting around for that moment when one of your 20 finished novels strikes the interest of an editor and you have a New York Bestseller! We must have a day job! We have to have something that pays the bills for now, working on our writing in our spare time or after work, until we sell 4 or 5 novels that enable us to quit our day job and spend our life solely on writing as a career. I would just like to be able to sell my painting projects as a day job while I work on my writing as my evening job. LOL!
