Thread: When Cabin Fever Struck Again... Here's How I Kept my Sanity

Well, I don't know how things have been where you are, but here in Central North Carolina we've had the wettest and nastiest weather (tropical storms, hurricanes, monsoon rainfalls, and even snowfalls) that I can remember since the early seventies; which (those living in the Southeast) (know) have all caused many (repeated) three and four day stretches when a body (especially a retired body) finds themselves "landlocked" and "homebound" with nothing much productive to do.

This time when I saw that the weather naysayers were promising this last wet weather event over last week before Christmas... I decided to go to the local Hobby Lobby and pick up some watercolor and acrylic paints and try my hand at painting instead of drawing... which is something I have only rarely done in my lifetime and have somehow managed to successfully procrastinate even trying for near forty years.

This painting is something I have entitled "Carolina Riggin' for Crappies" and has a watercolor background, but I did the crappies in acrylic over the watercolor, which was my first experiment with such mixed media and was (as a matter of fact) only the second painting that I've done since 1979... but I must admit I really enjoyed doing it.

Well, the painting took only two days and it was still raining, as if it would never end; so I decided to photograph the painting and make color prints; next I went to my little wood workshop to attempt to build a suitable rustic looking wood frame for it--out of some scrap cedar wood fencing slats that I had laying around. But, when I was finished making the frame and mounting the print... some three or more hours later... it (of course) was still raining.



Next, I made another print and decided to mount it on a wooden plaque that I also made from some pine scrap wood that I had laying around the shop. This project, including cutting, routing, sanding, mounting the print and varnishing two coats over it... carried me through the rest of that evening and part of the next day when the rain finally stopped.

Guess what. It's supposed to rain again Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Please take a moment to let me know what you think of the painting.

God Bless You & Yours
Wayne aka Special K

I appreciate the comments and kind words from everyone who has responded thus far. I really enjoy doing the drawing and painting... but just as much, I enjoy sharing them with everyone on CDC and hearing the various feedback from the few (out of so many viewers) that seem to enjoy them enough to take a moment to share their comments or press a like button.