Serendipity, Part 2

Several days ago, I wrote about Serendipity, and here it is again!

For the last several months, I've been considering learning to paint with watercolors. I've always been attracted to the subtleties and shadings in both watercolors and pastels, but recently the light and skies of New Mexico have drawn me more and more towards the idea of trying to put brush to paper.

Now keep in mind that I do not have an artistic bone in my body. I've never even taken an art class and the few attempts I've made at drawing convinced me that if I had a future in art, it was not down that road! Still, the idea of watercolors keeps nagging me like a squeaky wheel.

So while the spirit is willing, the flesh and brain is kind of weak.

Where do I start? Well, duh, the internet of course! And if you want to experience complete overwhelm, I suggest you google watercolor lessons. To save you the grief, I'll just let you know that you'll get one hundred and thirty two THOUSAND hits.

So what to do????

Well, I found a beginner watercolor set for $15.00 online and ordered it, only to find that most of these kits are total garbage. Something about how much pigment they put in the wells or something. A total disaster.

So I'm getting pretty frustrated and figuring maybe I should just learn how to take better pictures and forget watercolors. Depression begins to set in . . .

I take a few days off from the idea of becoming a person who can paint a passable watercolor.

Then a few days ago, a rig pulls into the park where we're staying. Because we're nosy (sad but true) we watch as they try to park and get set up. In a few minutes the park owner comes out with like a two hundred foot extension cord and plugs one end into the new rig and then starts plugging it in to all the different posts in the park. Well. this is more than I can stand, so I jump out of the rig and go over to the newbies.

Hi I ask, having problems? Well, they say, everything was working fine, then we went to make a up of coffee (electric coffee maker) and the power just went blooey!

So while Terry and the park owner were checking the power at the pole, I ask "Have you tried resetting the GFCI switch" (ground fault circuit interrupter switch? The gentleman in the rig states that he's tried all the fuses and breakers, and I say, no, go for the GFCI switch. he says OK, and in half a shake of a lambs tail, they're back in business! Now, I'm not an electrical genius by any means, but I do know that when that happens to us, nine times out of ten, it's the GFCI switch.

They say thanks and I go home, happy to have been of some assistance

An hour or so later, we get a knock on the door and it is the lady half of the couple we helped. She introduced herself and we started chatting. She asked how long we'd been here and I told her several months, and we got to discussing the bosque. I then asked how long they planned on staying, and she said that they had to leave on Sunday morning because she was the President of the Watercolor Club an Las Cruces and they had to be back for the monthly meeting!

Serendipity!

Of course, I pumped her for all the information I could think of (and probably scared her half to death!), but angel that she is, she agreed to help me get started. She made me a list of what I need to begin, told me what to avoid (like the cheesy set I already purchased) and was just a wonderful boon to my confidence and my budding watercolor career!

We spent the evening together, they're a great couple and new friends I'm sure. As I've said before, the people we meet and the new friends we make are the best part of life.

And boy howdy, is life ever good!