I had a lot of fun painting in my earlier days.  I didn’t know what I was doing, but it was fun.  I had only one rule.  No Corners.  I’d use whatever was free to make my art.  I revert every now and then, but now I use quality materials that cost money.  As time passed and I learned a whole lot more, I developed a lot of respect and admiration for the artists that came before us.  It’s then that I became mostly a representative painter.  I think what Edgar Degas said pretty much sums up how I feel about art, “Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”  I went through a period where I tried painting in a variety of mediums, including oils.  I started using acrylics in the sixties and still use them today.  I took some watercolor classes in the early nineties and was taken by their independent characteristics.  If one knows how to deal with them everything will turn out fine.  If not, things are going to get messy really fast.  Now I paint in watercolors and acrylics in about equal proportions.  Most of my time, recently, has been spent doing commissioned watercolor pet portraits.  When I paint for myself I pick from a long mental list of things that I should have done, or want to do, and use whatever medium I think is suitable for the subject.