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Arcadia Round Barn - Oklahoma
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In January, as part of my
Pride & Prejudice themed activities, I immersed myself into watercolor painting. Like many women during the Regency era, the book character Georgiana Darcy would have likely taken up painting as a graceful hobby, and I wanted to explore this.
To get started, I picked up some hand-held watercolor paints and a sketchbook. The paint set came with a brush that holds water inside so I don't need to carry a cup of water to clean the brush and I learned the tip of wearing a workout sweatband on my wrist so I can clean the brush on it instead of trying to keep up with a rag or paper towel to wipe the brush with between colors.
So far I've painted 17 little scenes using different techniques while following artists online. And of course, what thorn in my side keeps coming up? My perfectionism. You see, I planned to keep all my paintings in a book to see how my art develops. I guess somewhere I developed the expectation that each piece would, of course, get better, right? The other day though, I worked on a fairly advanced painting technique. It was of a window with raindrops where someone had drawn a heart in the condensation. At one point near the end of all my work on it, I smudged it. "Ruined!" I thought, "All that work for nothing." I was ready to tear the page completely out. But, when I had such a strong reaction, I started to ask myself why I was so frustrated or felt the need to hide my mistakes. So what if it didn't turn out? It's my art book...I could just start another one on the next page and try again. After all, I had just watched a video of an artist that painted the same scene four different times to develop it how she wanted it. And, isn't that what many of the great artists do? Did I really think that the best works of a master artist was from their first attempt? That's silly! There's nothing wrong with practice. Why was my expectation so high? Well, because I'm always fighting my own perfectionism and being results oriented. What a great lesson watercolor painting is for me!
But not just in art—I'm trying to change my approach in life too. I want to ease up and not view my life as something I must “get right,” but more gently, like an experiment. Creator Malama Life on YouTube shared this idea of looking at your year's activities as an experiment and it's been giving me a fresh perspective. Instead of viewing my goals, art, or daily tasks as successes or failures, I'm focusing on learning what works and what doesn’t—almost like gathering data for future growth. Researchers don’t get upset if an experiment doesn’t work. They take note and try again, maybe in a different way. When I view outcomes in this gentler way, I can use that insight to focus more on the process instead of the result. If you're a perfectionist too, this approach can help take some pressure off, allowing curiosity and growth to be the paint on your brush instead of a perfect outcome.
Lately, I’m learning to embrace imperfections as part of the process—because it’s often in the 'mistakes' that the magic happens. My raindrop painting ended up better than I thought it would because the mistake caused me to try a new technique to salvage it. An experimental artist finds freedom in the process, and I long for that same freedom. What if, instead of striving for perfection, we embraced our lives in watercolor—exploring each brushstroke and enjoying the process instead of focusing on the result? Perhaps it’s time to be gentle on ourselves and find more joy in the journey itself.
Below are a few of my recent art pieces. Enjoy!
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Dandelions - salt technique; didn't work but still cute!
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Snowy Day
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Chocolate Mug Goodness
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Love this mountain scene
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Hazy Dayz
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Negative Space leaves
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Just Flowers
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Free Style
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Little Chirper
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Forest - the artist painted this one 4 different times.
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2nd salt technique attempted, didn't work. Ha, but it's pattern inspired me to turn it into this little turtle!
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| Obscure |
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A Perfectionist's Lesson
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Mountain technique
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