03/16/2025
Art Blog: The New Painter Blues & Why You Can Be Proud of Ugly Art
A lot of people in the beginning to intermediate stages of watercolor painting get incredibly frustrated.
Usually this has a lot to do with their level of skill and ability not matching their beautiful visions in their head.
Sometimes this can even cause artists to become blocked, or worse, stop painting for good. What they don't realize is several things:
1) The immense pressure and unrealistic expectations they're putting on themself.
-->If the exact same painting had been done by their best friend, they would probably find it delightful or at least enjoy looking at it. They would be enthusiastically encouraging of their friend to continue her efforts and would remind her that growth is often subtle, slow, and something that simply takes time and practice.
2) Artists often become blocked right before a huge artistic breakthrough. Things feel like they're seizing up, and much like a werewolf transitioning, things are happening internally that are very bewildering and uncomfortable, because they are synthesizing so much. There is often a eureka moment or painting that is a gateway into a higher level of ability.
3) They are focusing perhaps too much on the product rather than the process.
Let me explain. (A lot of this is informed by my background in art therapy, being a psychotherapist who has used therapeutic artmaking for over a decade.)
Any painting you make is never a waste. There are lots of reasons why you can enjoy painting no matter how the finished piece looks.
-You can simply enjoy the process of painting: how it feels, playing with color, and watching unexpected surprises and transformations unfold.
-You can enjoy being the boss of this moment and this piece.
-You can be proud that you showed up for yourself and painted.
Every single artist has created a TON of pieces they didn’t care for, or even wanted to or did RIP UP to get to the level of skill where they significantly enjoy and feel fulfillment from their work.
---->I make it a daily goal for myself to put paint on paper every single day. No matter what. This helps me keep artmaking in mind and get over the power of inertia and the terror of the blank page. I HIGHLY recommend this practice! Even if it's just for 5 minutes. I went from a stuck artist who wouldn't paint for months and even years to a productive artist whose artist friends compliment her on her level of productivity! Never in a million years did I think that would happen!
-You can remind yourself that if you keep doing a painting a week, in ten years of keeping this up, you’ll be really darn good. Probably even sooner if you apply yourself.
-You can revel in your own little world created by you and only you. A lot of famous painters lament that they can’t go back to how they painted as a kid/when they were untrained. There’s a raw honesty and joy of experiencing there that training tends to suppress, or at least curb. You can be proud of leaning into your very own visual voice in this way.
I could go on and on, but there is a ton to be proud of here! I encourage you, whatever stage of artist you are (and yes, the contemplation "I've never painted" stage counts!), to be gentle with yourself and take a more playful, fun approach to painting rather than being deadly serious about it. It is joy that shines through the best paintings and is something that can't be fabricated.
So by doing this you will ultimately produce the very best work possible. 💜
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