Bicycle in snowfall

Watercolor and story by Annika Smeds

I started painting about 5 years ago when I was 59 years old. I had not been drawing or painting since I went to college. I started on a mandala painting course, and it immediately woke my interest for art. After that, I continued with watercolor painting courses and found it fascinating but very challenging. I´ve almost given up several times and tried other mediums such as acrylics and soft pastels.

However, I was still drawn to watercolor like a magnet, and I realized that I have to have patience and it takes a long time to learn. My challenge is learning to master this difficult medium, to learn how to paint any subject confidently and skilfully.

I found the Watercolor Academy web pages totally accidentally. I saw that somebody in a watercolor Facebook group mentioned Elena Bazanova, I googled her, and found her web pages with absolutely beautiful still-life paintings. I immediately fell in love with them and found a link to Watercolor Academy. I was thrilled and thought that it would be a very interesting course, which would give me all the tools I need to improve as a watercolor painter. However, I found the price a little bit too high for me now when I´m retired. That's why I want to win the Watercolor Academy course.

The painting I present here I painted after following a short watercolor course. It was chosen as a year 2022 calendar page and I´m very proud about that. I would like to learn how to paint any subjects, also difficult ones like water and glass. I´m very motivated and dedicated to learning, and now when I recently retired, I have time to paint much more than before. I think that with good teachers I would improve quite quickly and learn how to express myself in art, which would be a dream come true.

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