Most people begin to study watercolor painting and assume that improvement in watercolor painting is linear. You know, that if you put in the effort and time, that you will see consistent improvement in your watercolor paintings. I hate to tell you this, but that just isn’t true. Improvement in watercolor painting does not occur in a linear fashion. What happens is that you will make huge strides for a while, then things get a little messy, then you will make huge strides again, and then again, things will get a little messy. If you don’t understand this, you will get frustrated and quit. And that would be a shame.
When you first start out painting in watercolors, you will see rapid improvement in your watercolor paintings. This is because you are learning so much at this stage, that everything you do makes a huge difference. For example, you are learning the tools, you are learning techniques, you are learning about color theory and composition. Every time you paint, you learn something new. As you improve, the strides won’t be as giant. At least, it won’t feel like it. This is because your eye will improve faster than your brush. What this means is that you will start to see things in your watercolor paintings that you hadn’t noticed before. You will start to see things that you don’t like, or that don’t work. This will make your watercolor paintings look worse, even though your watercolor painting skills are improving. When this happens, you will need to be patient. What is happening is that you are getting better at watercolor painting, even though it doesn’t seem like it. This is the perfect time to step back, let things settle a bit, and let your brush catch up with your eye.
How do I know this? Because I have been there. And it happens to every watercolor painter that I know. You will also go through periods where it feels like your watercolor paintings are not improving at all. You feel like you have hit a wall and are not making any progress. The thing is, you are making progress, even if you don’t see it. This is the time when your brush is catching up with your eye. You are learning things unconsciously, and you are assimilating what you have learned in the past. It’s a great time to relax, and not try too hard. Because if you push it, you will end up forcing things, and your watercolor paintings will not look good. They will be stiff and overworked. I know this from experience as well.
Sometimes, in order to make progress, you need to go backwards. I know that sounds a little strange, but it is true. Sometimes, you need to have a few watercolor paintings that just don’t work. And they won’t. They will be failures. But it is in these failures that you will find success. Because these failures will tell you things that your successes won’t. For example, they may tell you that you are relying too heavily on a certain technique. They will tell you that you need to take some risks and try new things. They will tell you that you are playing it too safe, and that you need to challenge yourself. They will tell you that you need to work on a certain area of your watercolor painting. So even though your watercolor paintings aren’t improving at this point, you are learning something valuable that will help you in the long run.
And finally, I want to talk about the importance of persevering. Even when it feels like you aren’t making progress. Because this is where the real improvement happens. It’s easy to get discouraged when you feel like you are going backwards. But you aren’t going backwards. You are moving forward, just not in a straight line. And if you can persevere, and continue to paint on a regular basis, your improvement will be huge. It won’t always be consistent, but over time, you will see improvement. And that is what matters.