HAPPY MONDAY, My Friends!
I hope the start of your new week is being gentle to you!
I wanted to pop in and leave you with a little something to ponder this week...
š©·šš§”
We do we make art? Even more, why do we love watercolor? I mean, if youāre reading this, it is highly likely that you like watercolor enough to seek out good paper, paints, and instruction. If youāre anything like me, you have experienced frustration, even felt defeated by watercolor.
So what is the draw? What keeps us coming back?
š©·šš§”
I canāt presume to know the answer for all of us, but I can speak to why watercolor has my heart, and I love it...as Mr. Darcy put it;
āMost Ardently.ā
For me, watercolor is a kind of magic. A wild and unpredictable substance which, when applied to paper with a brush, puts me into an almost meditative state. When Iām painting, the world around me disappears. Life challenges and difficult emotions fade into the background and I am, for once, utterly and entirely adrift (or should I say āanchoredā?) in the now.
š©·šš§”
All my life I have had a sort of penchant for watercolor as a medium, but it wasnāt until the start of 2019 that I fell head over heels and madly in love with this practice.
It was during a time when we had just endured the sudden loss of the family matriarch, (my husbandās beloved mother), we were preparing to move across several states to go back home, and my daughter, then only 7 years old, had a very difficult surgery on her legs and was in casts from her hips to the tips of her toes.
What we didnāt know at the time, was that she was allergic to the adhesive on the bandages covering the incisions under the casts, and she would scream for hours every evening, itching, burning and in excruciating pain. It was so intense, we had to send our 11 and 12 year old boys to a friends house for a week.
Watercolor became my only reprieve.
My husband and I would take turns caring for our girl and when it wasnāt my turn, I was painting. To this day I can look back and say without hesitation that watercolorĀ saved me.
And it still saves me today.Ā Taking the time to sit and paint, in any capacity, whether it be a full on painting, or simply swatching, fills my bucket and makes me a more centered and peaceful human. I have been banished to my studio more than once by my family on stressful occasions, because they know that a good painting session levels me out. It is the only prescription. It is, as Bob Wiley says,
āAĀ vacation from my problems.āĀ š¤£
Escapism? Perhaps...but it works. I take a painting session very seriously. Not theĀ outcome, mind you, but theĀ practiceĀ itself. Itās almost sacred to me. I will light a candle, turn on some gentleĀ Ophelia WildeĀ piano on YouTube (look it up, itās amazing!), set a timer on my phone, and float away on watercolor.
š©·šš§”
So then, the tricky part becomes not letting setbacks or challenges in your practice take away from theĀ magic! As I tell my students,
āRemember WHY you are here! Remember WHY you are doing this! It is supposed to be FUN. Nobody is grading you, your survival doesnāt depend on it, and your value as a person is not attached to it!ā
š©·šš§”
As I hop down off my soapbox, I hope that you make time to paint this week! Make it a little bit extra special, your soul NEEDS it! If you are needing inspiration, check out my recent YouTube video on the subject, link below.
Happy painting, my dears!
xo-Ashley