It is never too late to learn watercolor

Story and artworks from Mišo Serajnik, 82 years old Watercolor Academy student

I carried the desire to paint all my life, but it did not come true. Schooling, jobs, creating a home, workloads – it all distracted me from pencil, brush and paint. When I retired, things turned around. We had a Greek Catholic Mass in our church within ecumenism in 2010. In this context, there was also a course of icon painting. I was so excited about the icons that I took four or five courses of icon painting. I painted a lot of icons since then; I was quite happy with my skills. Egg tempera, mixing natural pigments, gilding and other skills are mainly used here. The whole story stopped when I was trying to paint nature and especially some person.

Then I found a new course, Watercolor Academy. I was faced with a big dilemma whether to enroll in the course as I am 82 years old and my life is slowly running out. I finally decided to apply and probably become the oldest student of the academy. I said to myself, even if God only gives me three more months to live, I can also give something to myself, as I have worked all my life for others. I do not regret this decision for even a second. As a retired pedagogue, I know the skills of didactics, methodology, psychology and I meet all of them all the time in this course. From easy to difficult, from known to unknown, etc., all of this is taken into account by our mentors and they gradually lead you to a higher level of painting. In my youth I had never heard of a color wheel, let alone complementary ones about colors, about interaction, maneuvering, about the golden ratio, composition and similar knowledge. These are for a whole mansion of painterly secrets and knowledge. I am particularly enthusiastic about the theoretical part of this course. Now I really enjoy watercolor and I'm looking forward for my progress. The better the teacher, the better the student.

I really enjoy every time I pick up a brush and crayons. I don't paint for people, I paint for my soul. I have found that a good picture requires good drawing skills, so taking the Drawing Academy course really helps.

A lot of joy to everyone in the fine arts, especially in painting.

Best wishes to all
Mišo Serajnik - Slovenia

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