My colorful babbling crick

I am a woman of habit. I use the same watercolor palette I got off Amazon for $15 5 years ago, even for my most special art pieces. Trust me, I’ve tried to paint with the fancy watercolors I’ve received as gifts. But using other palettes is foreign. I feel as though I am a baby taking my first steps. Is this the right brush I should be using? Wait, why are the colors mixing differently? I just want to go back to my OG palette. My cheap, trusty watercolor palette is always consistent in the colors, texture, and aesthetic. (Plus watercolor tip: it is alllllll about the paper you use for longevity, for layering, for that crisp look, idk something about a cold press paper just hits right). 

In school, my professors urged me to start learning skills with the right materials because it is hard to break a habit. This thought of - if you are to do something, you might as well do it right! How much pressure and anxiety this ingrained into me. Use the right tools and the right resources, do it the right way, etc., reiterated that there is a right and a wrong way to make art. Let’s debunk this idea.

If you put care into what you create, you make something beautiful. In art therapy, we often use the saying, “It’s about your process, not your product”. You know when you get to the spot in making art and you say “Damn I went too far, I should’ve stopped ten steps ago”? I want you to do me a favor and keep going. To use Dory’s saying, “Just keep swimming”. When you start back up again, I want you to change one thing: how you see your art. You might’ve started the project with a specific thought in mind about what it would look like at the end. To tell you a secret, I change this thought about 10 times before I am “done” with the painting. You are the creator - meaning your art is original, unique, and perfect - simply because of that! Put as much or as little time as you think is right. 

Through my work, I’ve learned that the only right decision is the one that you make. You must believe in it, and bonus points if it aligns with your values. What you value is the anchor and lighthouse of your life. I value humility, growth, and hope. I instill these values into every decision I make while painting. I was drawn to watercolor because of how it makes you feel when you look at a painting. You are in awe of how something so fluid can make something so accurate to what we experience. It feels as though it is nature itself. And like nature, it is forgiving.