Returning to painting (after 30 years)

I don’t quite understand the reason but I’ve been painting again for the first time since art college back in the 1980s. Back then I always had a little thing for watercolour, so it kind of makes sense that I go back to that medium.

I drew and painted so much when I was a kid that I actually grew to hate it by the time I’d reached my early 20s. For the moment I’m really enjoying the physical process of building up layers of glazes to try and make something that resembles an object without ever trying to hide the fact that I’m using paint, coloured pigment suspended in a water-soluble solution. 

Watercolour appeals to my anorak nature: it’s slow and methodical, requiring thought and some understanding of technique. There’s a lot of time for comtemptation between glazes, although ironically I’ve just purchased a hair dryer in order to speed things up.
Below is a self-portrait, in various states of completion and a pineapple (no idea why I’d paint a pineapple).