-Let's grab a Coffee and talk about Watercolor!
This is where I share my stories, my technique, my thoughts on art, and announcements. I am in production of making a weekly video for this. But as for now, they will be in written form. I hope you enjoy them and find them informative and helpful. Feel free to comment and ask me anything. Ask me what's your biggest struggle when you paint watercolor.
A first clean wash is really important for a successful painting. If your first wash is dirty, it not only affects the look of the painting, it also affects your moral negatively! Imagine you set up your painting materials and did a good drawing. Then comes the first wash. All seems well and good until you did something irreversible and messed up the first wash. It will really kill your motivation to continue painting. The thing is, it’s not so much about what you should be doing to keep the wash clean, is more about what you should NOT do.
Lately, I've been getting emails from people telling me it is difficult for them to find time to paint. The older we grow, the less time we seem to have. With all the chores and errand we need to take care every day, this can certainly be a challenge to face. My wife is a full-time mom which I argue is one of the most difficult job in the world. To alleviate her stress, I help her to get my kids to bed during the evening. After that, I am facing dirty dishes in the sink while trash piling up waiting for me to take them out. All of these while that white piece paper on my easel is waiting for me to turn it into a painting.
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.
Everyone is looking for that magic bullet, or magic trick to make their work look better. Everyone wants shortcut or 5-steps to become a painting master. And if there is one, I While I am a firm believer of deliberate practice, it's important to know that you still need to invest your time into it. Painting, like many other skills, is obtained and mastered by doing. Sure, talented people might reach higher skill level faster, but I also know many talented people who never get as good as they can be because they don't put in the time for it.
Muddy color and dirty wash are the most common struggles I've heard from the students. While there can be many factors, I believe the biggest reason is we don't let watercolor flow. I often say let it flow. Watercolor is alive, it does what it wants and our job as a watercolor artist is to "work with it" not "control it".
I have been working on a commission piece for the past two weeks. It was a very fun, challenging but rewarding experience. I thought it would be fun to share my process here with you.
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.
Can you recognize a tree when you see one? I'm going to take a wild guess and say you can. In fact, you can probably recognize a familiar face among hundreds of people. The amount of visual information we see every day gave us the confidence that we know what things look like, and that can be dangerous for artists.
