December 4, 2024
Why am I stuck in watercolor: technique or mindset?
The number 1 reason you are stuck in watercolor has nothing to do with painting techniques. After about 4 and a half years of teaching watercolor, I've realized that 80 to 90% of the time, the real problem is your mindset: how you see yourself, the shame you feel, and the attention or validation you expect from outside. Painting techniques are maybe 10 to 20% of the issue.
Why do we think technique is the problem?
We tell ourselves: the day I can paint perspective perfectly, the day I can make pigments fuse perfectly, I will be proud of my paintings. That's not the case. Having the skill doesn't make the shame go away.
I saw this clearly in a one-on-one coaching session with one of my students. She was going to travel abroad in 1 month and wanted to create a sketchbook. Her dream was to sit down outside and paint in a loose way, fluently and freely, feeling free to paint whatever she wanted.
She had tried many times. She had traveled a lot over the past few years, and each and every time she had this project in mind of creating a sketchbook based on her travels. She had never done it. Never.
What was really blocking her?
When I asked her what she thought prevented her from creating those sketchbooks, she expected us to work on technique. She told me about a watercolor workshop in Venice with an artist. She was above the piazza, where you have the big building with a dome, and she tried to paint the beautiful view in front of her.
When she was finished, what was on the paper wasn't what she had in mind. She felt some kind of shame. She was ashamed of the work she produced, and ashamed of showing it to the other members of the workshop. She thought her issue was simplifying the view, because she got bogged down in the details: the people, the boats, the sea.
So she thought we would work on how to craft a nice perspective, how to simplify a big city into something beautiful that conveys emotion. We didn't go this way at all.
What we ended up talking about was the shame she felt. When I asked her what she was getting from feeling ashamed, she told me that it brought her attention. One of the women in the workshop started showing her what to see and visit in Venice, and they made a connection. Had she not shown that she was not at ease with what she painted, people wouldn't have connected with her to the point of making new friendships.
From there, I asked her when she had felt that she lacked attention from people, and we ended up talking about her family history.
Can you feel stuck even when you paint well?
Yes. This student has been working with me for 1 and a half years, and she is painting really well. She has painted mountain landscapes that look like a photo. They are so beautiful. And still, she cannot help feeling like an impostor, or feeling ashamed of what she paints.
She had put some people on a pedestal, because she thought they were able to put on paper what they had in mind and she wasn't, because she didn't have the skill. She thought it was a skill issue. It was a mindset issue.
What I told her is this: whatever your technical skill level, you will never feel proud unless you address this shame, and the story behind it, and reconcile everything within you.
What are the 3 pillars of your art?
It all comes down to 3 pillars:
- Painting techniques. This is how you do things. It's not the biggest issue, and it's probably the easiest thing you can learn.
- Creativity. This is not about how you do things, but what you decide to do: what you decide to remove and what you decide to keep from a reference model.
- Mindset. This is the biggest one, and it is the number 1 reason you are stuck in watercolor.
Why do you feel ill at ease painting outside?
If you feel ill at ease when you want to paint outside, it's because you are expecting something from outside. The real issue is that you cannot produce attention or validation on demand. It has to be internal. Otherwise, you will always depend on some external factor that needs to happen for you to feel all right.
The reality is that you don't control anything happening outside. But you have the power within you.
That's exactly what we worked on with this student for an hour and a half. At the end of the session, she told me she had expected that we would practice techniques, perspective and so on, because she thought that was the real deal. The real deal is everything stuck in our own mind and in our own heart. What we feel is much more important than what we think the issue is.
How can you find the real reason you're stuck?
Look at the root cause. Ask yourself deeply: if it weren't about painting techniques, what would be the number 1 reason you think you're stuck in watercolor?
FAQ
How much of being stuck in watercolor comes from technique?
Very little. In my experience, technique accounts for maybe 10 to 20% of the problem. The rest comes from mindset.
Why do skilled watercolor painters still feel like impostors?
Because the feeling doesn't come from their level. As long as they look for attention or validation from others, no amount of skill will make them proud of their work.
What is the difference between technique and creativity in watercolor?
Technique is how you paint. Creativity is the choices you make: what you keep and what you leave out of your reference model.
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