Remy Lach · Loose Watercolor Course

December 10, 2024

Why do I feel miserable painting watercolor?

The main reason you feel miserable in watercolor is that you focus your attention on what you are lacking: a technique, a course, a workshop, a brush, the level of another artist. When you focus on what you don't know, you feel powerless, and when you're powerless, you feel miserable. Focus instead on what you already know and what you are 100% sure of, and reuse those skills on subjects you don't know yet.

Where does this feeling come from?

I realized this during a session with my coach. I was telling her that I didn't have any vision for my business. I didn't have any mission, any vision, any dream outcome I could picture in my mind. In the entrepreneurship journey, everyone in the industry tells you that you need a vision to work towards in order to take action.

Lacking that vision made me feel miserable. I could see so many other people walking and struggling toward their dreams, doing so many things, and I thought: "I don't have that power, I don't have that strength." I was comparing myself to other people.

Maybe you are doing the same with other artists. They could be amateurs or professionals. They make exhibitions, they travel around the world, they sell their paintings, and you don't have any of that.

Why does focusing on what you lack take your power away?

My coach told me something that struck me so hard. She told me I was working on my fear of lacking something. It could be lacking money in the bank account, lacking confidence, lacking painting skills, or lacking teaching skills because I didn't know how to help a particular student.

When you do that, you give your power to something else, something that doesn't depend on you and that you cannot be 100% responsible for. If you give your power to the vision, the vision controls you, and you won't find any solution until you have it.

It works exactly the same way in watercolor. Maybe you think you cannot paint wonderful watercolor paintings unless:

These things end up controlling you.

Why are you never satisfied with your watercolor progress?

Until you reach that point, you will never be satisfied. And the day you reach it, the day you realize "now I know how to do this painting technique", there will be another thing you have to give your power to: another technique, another material, another brush, another artist. Only then, you think, will you feel satisfied.

It becomes an endless pursuit to feel happy artistically.

My coach told me that the energy I dedicate to working around my fear can be dedicated to working on the fear itself: the fear of lacking a vision, the fear of lacking techniques, of lacking creativity, of lacking anything.

What should you focus on instead?

The other thing she told me is this: if you focus your attention on things you are lacking, you will feel powerless. So focus instead on the things you know, the things you are confident doing, the things you are pretty sure of.

For example:

I don't know how to paint a car, but I know how to paint a tree.

Even uncertainty can be something you are sure of: "I'm 100% sure that I don't know how to do that." Just saying it gives you the power to tell yourself: "I'm going to give myself whatever it takes to feel more certain about this topic."

How I painted a wooden bridge I didn't know how to paint

The same thing happened during a live session with my students. One of them had a picture of a wooden bridge and asked me: "How do you paint that? How do you texturize wood in watercolor?"

At that time, I didn't know at all. I'm used to painting watercolor landscapes, not textures or very zoomed-in things like wood. So I told her: "You know what, I don't know."

That was something I was sure of: I was sure I didn't know. Being honest about yourself and feeling confident saying it to your student gives you power.

Then I told her: "I'm sure of one thing. I want to explore that. If you agree, we can explore it together." So we jumped right in and tried to paint it. At the end, the students told me: "Wow, it's beautiful."

What I was sure of at that moment was that I wanted to experience the pigment fusion of watercolor on the paper. I didn't know how to paint wood, but I wanted to feel the pigments fuse on the paper. I was 100% sure of that.

How do you reuse what you know on a new subject?

Realize that you have as many things you know how to do as things you don't. I didn't know how to paint the wooden bridge, but I knew how to make pigments fuse. So I took that skill and recycled it, I reused it on a subject I didn't know. And I was 100% sure I wanted to explore that path.

What makes you feel miserable is something that seems out of reach: "I don't know how to do that. This artist is so great, I would like to be like him, but I don't know how." Start focusing on who you are and what you already know. If you work like that, you will never feel miserable again in watercolor. This has been a real breakthrough for me.

FAQ

Why does comparing myself to other watercolor artists make me miserable?

When you look at artists who exhibit, travel and sell their paintings, you only see what you don't have. Focusing on what you lack leaves you feeling powerless.

Do I need a new course or technique to paint better watercolors?

If you believe you can't paint well without a certain course, workshop, book or technique, that thing ends up controlling you. Once you get it, there will always be another one, so start from the skills you already have.

What do I do when I don't know how to paint a subject?

Say honestly "I don't know", then decide what you are sure you want to explore. Take a skill you already master, like making pigments fuse, and reuse it on the new subject.

If you want to finally create on your own, with a proven system instead of copying tutorials, this is exactly what you'll find here 👇

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