The most important thing you bring to your art is YOU. If your heart for painting has gotten squashed by perfectionism, criticism or fear of failure, let me help you to find freedom to make art you truly love that reflects the beauty you long to share.
I just want to know for sure that my painting is good!
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Dear Reader, There was a time when it felt like everything hung on getting a favourable critique of my art. Imagine knowing for sure that my painting was good! Imagine, too, the secret fear that the painting I was most proud of was at risk of being judged and deemed a failure. I don't really think about getting that kind of approval or valuation of my art anymore. I still experience feelings of being judged; just last month I received an email rejecting a painting I'd submitted to an art exhibition, and since I only enter 2-3 of these per year, that rejection could easily feel like a heavy weight of judgment. An Audience of One But I've invested so much more time in learning how to paint art that is intended to satisfy one critic: ME. And because I'm learning to paint as an artist who wants to look back at my art at the end of my life and say, "I made art exactly the way I wanted," I have chosen to approach critiquing my art with a mindset of curiosity, gratitude and acceptance. And that has freed me. I've shared a short series of videos featuring a critique session in my studio on social media this week. If you don't follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you can watch the series on YouTube here, it's less than ten minutes long: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBEQWYv23a-M Do you struggle to evaluate your art? Evaluating your work is one of the topics I'll be covering in Watercolour Mastery: Dynamic Values, because I believe it is such a valuable tool to be able to evaluate your own work and learn from it. Your paintings become more confident, your growth more consistent, and your direction more focused and applicable to the direction you want to take. Live Session Friday: I want to follow up this little critique video series by taking that 20 year old painting and seeing if I can't solve some of the struggles I see on the page. Join me live on Friday, August 21, at 1pm Pacific to be a part of this live lesson: LINK (tap the link and click the "Notify Me" bell to get a notification from YouTube when I go live on Friday) Watercolour Mastery: Dynamic Values opens for enrollment August 27th. I'll be sharing more about the course over the next couple of weeks. If you're actively painting and yearning to create paintings with more confidence, strength or impact, Watercolour Mastery: Dynamic Values was designed for you. in curiosity and trust, Angela |
Love your art journey!
The most important thing you bring to your art is YOU. If your heart for painting has gotten squashed by perfectionism, criticism or fear of failure, let me help you to find freedom to make art you truly love that reflects the beauty you long to share.
Hi Reader, I'm on a plein air painting getaway this weekend, and while I was packing my car with gear for painting on location, I thought I'd use my trip to share some resources to help you get out and enjoy painting on location as well...even if it's just your backyard! Plein air painting can feel intimidating, so the key is to make it as accessible as possible. My friend Steve Puttrich says, "Even if you're just looking out your window and painting what you see, you're plein air painting."...
Hi artist, Watercolour is the hardest medium. How many of us started painting with that warning ringing in our ears? Maybe it made you doubt whether you had what it takes to be able to paint competently. Maybe it made you tighten your grip on the brush, working warily and ready to switch to damage control as soon as the painting took an unforeseen turn. How I wish we'd been told this instead: Watercolour thrives on the unexpected. I didn't realize until years into my watercolour journey that...
Hello Reader, I took my first watercolour class when I was 18 years old, over 30 years ago, and yet I spend a lot of time thinking about where I've come from. My art today looks nothing like what I thought my art would become, and I'm so glad! My original style was very controlled! As part of the introduction to Watercolour Mastery: Dynamic Value, I spent some time telling my story of how I got into watercolour, and then how I discovered that I had freedom to paint in the loose and fluid...