Life Lessons As Taught By Watercolor

•watercolor in progress•
It's no secret that watercolor has become my medium of choice. Sure, I use a bit of gouache (which is really just opaque watercolor if we're being honest) and a spit of acrylic ink but I'm always drawn back the spontaneity of watercolors.
Ironically it's this spontaneous and free quality of the paint that also teaches the benefits of patience. Push too hard and the paint will scold by creating a dull puddle of mud. Allow each wash to dry before adding another and the paint rewards with luminous translucency and texture. 
It's as though each painting is a practice in meditation that is being led by the paint and learned by the painter. For me it is this part of the process that makes art so necessary and central to my sanity, teaching me to slow down and allow the magic to happen. There are times during the making of a painting that I will get focused on "fixing" a portion of the image, thinking that just a little bit more will make it "perfect". There is an anxiety in letting the "mistake" remain, as though it speaks to my competency as an artist. Amazingly though, if I just walk away for a second, it's that imperfection that often makes the final painting beautiful.

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