I’m so grateful to those who have encouraged me to take up watercolour painting. Never having done anything like it before – I quickly found myself totally taken with it – wanting to practice what I was being shown – and to try to put my own stamp on things. I spend lots of time watching online tutorials – and seeking to learn from them.

Through this new ‘hobby’ that I am developing – I have begun to be far more observant – noticing the varied shapes of trees – the number of petals on a flower – the magnificent markings and colours of tree trunks – light and shade –  my eyes have been opened to see so much more.

However – one thing I have come to realise  – is that in my painting – I don’t have  try to depict – the ‘perfect picture’. The scene that I paint includes those things that draw the eye – that work well together – and also those things that are ‘less than perfect’ they don’t ‘mar’ or ‘spoil’ my painting for me – but rather I enjoy the more ‘loose paintings’ where the detail – the perfection’ is not so important – but simply trying to create the beauty that I see.

I love taking photos too – and while often they may have more ‘less perfect’ content in them – and it’s easy to ‘correct ‘ that – edit out those things that I don’t want in my picture – change the colour to make it look more vibrant – I still prefer to leave it as it is – showing what I saw – rather than always trying to create that ‘perfect picture’.

I like trying  my hand at capturing that ‘less than perfect’ picture – to deliberately seek to show that true beauty doesn’t have to be ‘perfect’ – photograph or paint just what I see – regardless of how much I might impress people!

As I mused on these things during my walk – my thoughts turned to how similarly we can seek to create that ‘picture perfect’ image of ourselves.

Social media is full of examples – of images – of pictures – that make us seem ‘perfect’ – showing only the ‘best bits’ – not wanting anyone to see our ‘flaws’ – but all this does is create an impression – one that we think everyone wants to see – one that will make us popular – always wanting to impress.

What a strain we sometimes put on ourselves – instead of daring to let others see us – just as we are – to see a ‘real picture’ – instead of  a ‘perfect’ one.

I’d rather be ‘real’ than try to make everyone think I’m perfect – God loves me and accepts me – as I am – and so I stand confident in that – and allow others to see the ‘real picture’