Do you avoid tedious art skills (and feel guilty about it)?

There was a time when you couldn't have paid me to do a preliminary sketch before starting a painting. Value studies, ditto. And no matter how many times I heard professional artists say that the more they prepared, the better their paintings turned out, I just couldn't muster any interest or focus to follow their lead and do preparatory work that felt tedious and disconnected from my painting practice.

And even though I made the choice not to eat my brussel sprouts, going straight to the fun of painting from a candy box of colours, I felt guilty about my lack of discipline. Maybe I would never live up to my artistic potential because I wouldn't do the work.

Have you ever felt this way? Is there a little guilt playlist playing in the back of your mind because of what you're not doing to grow your painting skills?

Last week I shared a painting demo and a talk on my watercolour process with an arts group on Zoom. During the demo, I heard myself saying, "I identify as a lazy, undisciplined artist, and that informs my process." And the funny thing is, I wasn't apologizing, nor was I embarrassed to describe myself that way.

You see, I have learned is that I get to be undisciplined. I am free to avoid the work that doesn't seem fun. I have permission to be easily distracted, spontaneous and messy, and rather than hurting my art, these qualities can dance with the skills I've learned, the elements of design and the immediacy of watercolour, and they tell the world who I am without apologizing.

It has been incredibly freeing to realize that I get to be more than a perfectly disciplined artistic practice. I also get to be more than sloppy and undisciplined. Watercolour lets me be me in all my layers of individuality.

There came I time when I realized that tedious prep work is only tedious when it is disconnected from the painting process. I learned how to plan a painting my way, with a playful, open-ended approach to sketching and value studies. I learned that there were preparatory exercises I was already doing...I had just thought I was messing around but it turned out I was developing my instincts and intuition so those aspects could be prioritized in my paintings. My "lazy, sloppy" methods were actually driving me toward my authentic, intuitive style.

This month I've been working on creating a brand new version of my popular Watercolour Mastery course. The first module in the course is all about working with value to create more impactful paintings, and the me who would have never taken the time (approx. 60 seconds) to create a value thumbnail would be amazed at how many ways there are to use value, to learn to see value patterns and build them into a painting. She would be thankful that she doesn't have to feel guilty anymore, because part of the artist's journey is finding your own way to create, making what you're learning relevant, and thus, no longer tedious or disconnected. And she would be thankful that after all these years, I am having more fun with watercolour than I ever thought I could, making even the tedious work into a game.

I'll be sharing more about the new Watercolour Mastery in the next few weeks and setting a course opening date for later in March. Watch for more information!