Principles and Value

Don't be afraid to take the risk in watercolor

 
Amsterdam, see the full length live demo HERE

Amsterdam, see the full length live demo HERE

My new car has a parking sensor. Whenever I am too close to a car during parking, it will start beeping to alert me. This warns me that I am about to bump into another car. It is a neat feature. It can help me avoid a parking lot accident. However, since I am an experienced driver who knows the size of my car. I am well aware of how close I can get to another car without bump into them. Whenever I heard the beep from my car while I turn into the parking spot in between two cars, I did start slowing down and be more cautious. However, I know I am usually still quite safe to complete my parking without backing up.

This week as I hear the beep from my car again, I realized that this is just like painting watercolor. When I just started to paint watercolor, I was afraid of making mistakes. That was because I am not familiar with how the watercolor works. I hesitate and did not know what to do. And that ruins a lot of paintings back then. Sometimes I'm afraid of using too much water, and sometimes I'm afraid of going too dark. Now that I am a lot more experience with watercolor, I know how to push its limit and be a little bit more risky with my approach. Sometimes, I might still ruin a painting. But the reward is often worth the risk. I wasn't able to gain this confidence without a lot of practice. Just like driving my car. I know its size, speed, and how to operate it. So much so it becomes a nature to me. I am sure you have a similar experience.

Good news, if you take the risk in watercolor and failed, you don't have to pay for any damage, your insurance rate won't raise, and you don't have to drive a damaged car around the town. All you lose is a ruined painting. So with that in mind, relax, and go for it. Take some risk and accept the outcome. You might fail, but you learn way more than if you are afraid all the time.

Confidence boost along the journey

 There are so many things we can compare with other people. As an artist, I often compare myself to many other artists. As a YouTuber, I also compare my content and channel with other YouTubers. However, I know this is a mental trap I need to avoid. The art world is not a zero-sum game. Just because someone's work got praised or sold doesn't mean I become less of an artist. And just because someone's YouTube channel is getting more subscribers doesn't mean my channel is losing followers.

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Beginner's mind

 One of the things I really come to appreciate in America is education. I feel that as long as you are willing and ready to learn, there are always resources available for you. When I was in college, I have classmates who are 10 or even 20 years older than me and the instructors. They were excited to learn new things. They weren't working toward a degree like I was, but almost all of them are more engaged in the class than I did. This culture of always learning really effects me. After I graduated from college and received my degree, I continue to learn anything that will push me to become a better artist. Recently I am learning about business as an artist. The instructor reminds me throughout the lessons to have a beginner's mind. I might've heard the information elsewhere, but I should listen again anyways. I can still discover something new. 

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Don't loose sight of your priority.

 I am constantly living in between prolific artists and people who are busy with their lives in general. As an artist, I follow other artists on social media (Facebook, Instagram). And it is not unusual that I see some artists sharing new beautiful works every day. While I am happy to see new artwork from them every day, the little voice inside of me almost always ask me "look at them, they paint way more than you do, what are you doing?" However, I know for a fact that some of them are able to do so because they have more time then I do. Many of them are single, they don't have 3 kids, and they don't have other works. I on the other hand do. 

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