Process Revelations

When I first began my art journey over 10 years ago, I had a very different view of what it meant to be an artist. When I thought about what it would be like to paint, I had this vision of a blank canvas in front of me. I thought about tossing paint on that canvas and watching the colors swirl into a magical scene. Probably the result of watching way too many painting shows with Bob Ross on PBS. My dad loved Bob Ross and we would often watch his magical painting sessions together.

I always imagined that art should be a fluid, intuitive process. That you weren’t doing it right if you couldn’t just go with the flow. Create something wonderful on the fly.

So far, I’ve worked around this by allowing myself to be very spontaneous in my illustration work. I create the animals that call to me in the moment. I doodle and play with florals, leaves and vines. I can be spontaneous because I don’t need to know how a pattern collection will look while I’m creating the elements for it. I’ll have time to put everything together later, in Adobe Illustrator.

But, when it comes to watercolor painting, that fluid, in the moment process doesn’t work. At least for me. I would delight in splashing paint on the paper, creating a really nice first layer. After that, I would struggle. What did this painting want to be?

Other times, I would plan out a painting and draw the sketch. Then I’d start painting, never realizing that I hadn’t mixed enough paint for a nice wash. Not knowing what colors I planned to use for the trees or the ground. I thought I should just be able to make these decisions in the moment. Soon I was overwhelmed by all the elements of the painting. I’d become impatient, not letting things dry before moving on. In many cases what I ended up with was a muddy mess.

Continuing the Magical Watercolor World class this past week gave me a glimpse into what it really takes to create a finished painting from start to finish. I’m blown away by how much of the process I was leaving out and how much easier things can be when I take time for the parts of the process I used to gloss over in haste.

I learned about generating tiny thumbnail sketches of a scene before committing to the final composition. I had seen thumbnail sketches before, but I never saw the value in doing one, or 7, or even 15 of them.

I spent a lot of time playing with my colors this week - mixing them in various combinations, diluting them with more or less water, just to see what would happen. I learned that choosing a limited palette of colors for my painting made the painting process easier and also made the final result more cohesive.

Finally, before I began painting a single brush stroke, I mixed all of my chosen colors ahead of time. It was fun and relaxing to mix the paints together and get the right amounts on the palette so I was ready to go. I did end up mixing more paint as I went along, but I didn't feel rushed.

I marveled at how much time all that preparation took and how much I actually enjoyed the process. All these steps that I took for granted are the key to creating results much closer to what I’ve always envisioned.

The best part was that when it was time to paint, I could simply paint. I didn’t have all of these competing thoughts in my head about color combinations or how much paint was on my palette. The decisions were made and it was time to do the work. And the work was much more fun than I imagined.

I shared the results of each stage of my painting above. The first picture is the initial watercolor wash. I worked on one area of the painting, then another as the first area was drying. I got into a nice, relaxing rhythm.

The second picture was the next layer, where I added details and another wash to the sky.

The last picture is the final result, where I realized I went a bit overboard with the white ink. I was so excited about creating those puffy clouds that I actually “erased” the beautiful light that was present in the second layer. But in the end, I learned a lot from going through this process. It doesn’t matter that the final result is a bit overworked. Now I know what not to do next time. And armed with a new appreciation for preparation and planning, I’m sure the next one will be much better.

When I think about all of this, I really have to chuckle to myself. I’ve spent my life being organized. I’ve always been a planner. What made me think that creating art would be any different?

What I realized is that the planning and preparation actually made the process more fun, not less. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t experienced it for myself. Just one more reminder that it is okay to be exactly who I am, especially when creating the art I really want to make.

I hope you found this glimpse into my process useful and that it gets you thinking about ways you can bring more of yourself and what you love into your own work and life.