What's the Quality of Your Creative Process?

 I spent my first few years as a watercolor artist teaching myself to paint on my sofa at night. Paint water and palette perched on the coffee table, painting board and paper on my lap, I’d switch on an episode of Friends or ER and paint. 

This was a great way to develop a consistent creative practice; my painting supplies were stored beside the sofa, and as long as there was something good on TV (and I’m not too picky), I was equipped to paint. 

A less-than-ideal method

With binge-watching Netflix an option these days, maybe you’d be surprised to hear that I never paint and watch TV anymore! While this method was a great way to develop my technical painting skills, painting with the distraction of TV, cramped in my seat with a board on my lap wasn’t really the best way to create a quality painting process and be mindful of the creativity that would enrich my paintings. It’s little wonder that my paintings from that era were stiff and controlled. There was a lot of tension between the paint and the artist, and it shows in my work from those days.

Technique happens!

I believe that the most important thing you need to learn watercolor technique is time. Logging brush miles, even if you are not efficient with your learning process, will result in growth as you master the motor skills required to manipulate brush, water and paint, and understand the visual cues that will help you anticipate how the paint will move at the different stages of the painting process. Even if you have no idea what you’re doing, these things will happen if you just keep painting! 

I needed wins:

Early paintings for me were all about outcome. I really wanted to create a good painting, one that showed that I knew how to paint and could create art that was beautiful and looked like the reference photo! 

But when I started to want more for my art, it became time to start refining my process and creating a nurturing environment for my creativity. Only I didn’t know that was what it would take, not right away. 

Let’s move the goalposts.

What would it look like if you made the process of painting beautiful and meditative? If your painting sessions were spent loving and accepting the artist you are right now instead of working to be “good enough” for whatever the next milestone you’ve decided will mean you’ve arrived? (That goalpost keeps on moving, by the way, so it’s a terrible gauge of progress.)

When the quality of the process became more of a priority than my unattainable idea of the perfect outcome, it actually turned out that I found the secret to creating art that I could truly love. With the process my focus, I more frequently also fell in love with the outcome, even though a successful outcome was no longer my first goal. 

In allowing myself to create a painting environment that was joyful, playful and accepting of who I am, my art naturally evolved to reflect that same energy. 

Not only that, but by giving my heart priority over skillful perfectionism, other people began to connect to my art on a greater level than they ever had before. I loved my work, and it showed, and others felt that same heart connection. 

Falling in love with the process became a kind of magic that opened all the doors I’d been banging on for years, brought joy to my journey and freed me from the guilt and shame I’d often felt, believing that when a painting didn’t work out because I hadn’t tried hard enough or wasn’t a good enough artist.

This is a shift in mindset that doesn’t happen overnight. It involves letting go of a few things you might be holding to pretty tightly. The good news is, you can retrain your brain! I started by adopting some phrases to remind me of my new goals:

“This is just a sketch.” (don’t worry about the outcome)

“Paint for the love of the medium.” (reminder of why I started painting)

“I can do whatever I want.” (freedom to explore)

It continued when I gave myself assignments that encouraged fun in the studio. When I planned to spend some time “warming up” before diving into a more serious painting project, experimenting and being willing to paint without purpose, just to watch the paint move on the paper. 

It’s a long-term shift.

I still don’t get it right 100% of the time. I have learned that there is always another mindset issue to tackle. I’ve had to face my fear of overworking, confront mental blocks that told me that there were some subjects I wasn’t good enough to paint and overcome imposter syndrome that told me I had no qualifications to teach what I was learning. Each time I face down one of these condemning thoughts, I get a little better at putting them in their place. 

In learning to let go of these limiting beliefs that often feel safe because they are so constrictive, my creative world becomes a little bigger. That can feel scary, like stepping into mist. I don’t know how the path curves ahead, but I’m enjoying the journey and the view from where I’m at so much, I’m willing to keep blundering on, trusting that it will only get better. 

I’m not going to stop talking about mindset.

There is a lot of great instruction out there on watercolor technique, so why are there so many people who try painting and then quit? We often think that we stop painting because we “don’t have what it takes” to be the artist we want to be, when we’re actually quitting because we didn’t have the support we needed to get us through the learning process.

You can decide to make your creative environment conditional upon outcome (“I feel satisfied when my painting turns out like I want it to.”) or you can make it a place of unconditional acceptance of what you are capable of right now, (“I don’t have a finished painting I can frame, but I had fun and learned a few things”). One of these will make you love art for the rest of your life.

The impact of your creative environment cannot be overemphasized. You will grow best in an environment that allows your creativity to thrive, and this is why I talk so much about being your own biggest supporter and strongest advocate. Join me in the Fearless Artist Community and see how your art grows with lessons to build your watercolor skills and a community that supports and encourages you on every step of your creative journey.