How to Stop Hoarding Your Watercolor Paper and Make Great Art
What does an artist need? MORE PAPER! That's just a given! And yet, somehow, when we have a wealth of paper at our disposal, we hesitate to use it.
But did you know that watercolor paper is time-sensitive? Over time, the sizing in 100% cotton paper does break down and your paint will flow and absorb unevenly.
If that isn't reason enough to use your paper, for an artist looking to grow skill in technique there is only one way to do that and it can be measured in miles. You've heard me talk about brush miles, but what about miles of paper? If you believe in your ability to master this medium, trust in the mountains of paper it will take to acquire your most accomplished techniques.
And measure your growth! Not in the paintings you have framed and show proudly, but the development pieces that you aren't so proud to show or identify as your work. Growth begins in the paintings with the less-than-perfect outcomes, where we've made the mistakes that push us further, where we have struggled to understand and implement something new, where we take risks and work with the consequences.
The blank page has intimidated artists for centuries. I love this letter describing the problem (and the solution) from Vincent Van Gogh to his brother, Theo:
You don’t know how paralyzing it is, that stare from a blank canvas that says to the painter you can’t do anything. The canvas has an idiotic stare, and mesmerizes some painters so that they turn into idiots themselves.
Many painters are afraid of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas IS AFRAID of the truly passionate painter who dares — and who has once broken the spell of “you can’t.”
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As proud as I am of the paintings that represent my heart & vision, I commit to believing that the value of my art is not the quality of the work I am creating but in the investment I am placing in my creative growth, regardless of whether or I have a finished painting to show for my effort. The investment of myself as a passionate painter who is willing to dare to go back and try again, to push further, to do more.
Having a personal artistic practice has filled my studio with a wealth of paper that has fulfilled its purpose; to be filled. A blank piece of paper has not lived its potential and I want my paper to live a full, happy life! But my personal artistic practice has done more for me than create a body of work; like that blank piece of paper, my purpose as a person is to be filled as well, to live a life of experiences.
Art has invested my inner life with meaning; teaching me to look more closely, to notice without judgment, to feel my feelings without allowing them to define me. It's taught me how to care for my heart, how to hear it and when it's safe to let it loose. Art has given me words to define what love looks like.
If that takes an investment in a few sheets of paper, I think it's been money well spent.
This video will give you some insight into the argument for using 100% cotton paper for ALL your paintings.
This article digs a little more into procrastination and the mindset shift involved in becoming a process-oriented artist.
This article shares even more about why YOU deserve good paper, and how to get the best value for your money.
Leave a comment and let me know what gifts making art has surprised you with!