Fear of looking foolish

Hello again;

I’ve always had a difficult relationship with watercolours: I find them tricky. They require planning, lots of time waiting for paint to dry and technical knowledge about the way they’ll behave on different papers.

But I recently realised that I hadn’t given them a chance. Perhaps I could learn to like them?

I started experimenting. I borrowed some library books and learned a few techniques. I think I’m getting better, I’m learning to plan and I’m having fun with them.

I know it will take time to get to a good level. But in the meantime I can practise, keep learning, keep sharing.

I had a related conversation with some of my ex-classmates recently. This time the topic was about websites. They were concerned about publishing something that wouldn’t be to the standard they deemed appropriate. What if the work/website wasn’t good enough?

My response was that in future their goalposts would move, and their new work would still not be right for their improved standards.

It think that it’s better to share something imperfect, without judging it. It’s art, it’s a starting point, it will never be finished. Let it pave the path for future works.

Or else we risk waiting forever.

Never mind the fear of looking foolish.

This is a sample of my recent experiments with watercolours, in no particular order.