Watercolor struggles + thoughts on perfectionism & self-criticism as an artist (studio vlog)
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- Опубліковано 3 бер 2022
- Like many other artists, I struggle a lot with perfectionism and self-criticism. I have "bad art days", where nothing comes out the way I want it to. And lately, there has been a few more of those... In this studio vlog, I'm sharing some of my recent painting struggles. Mistakes I've made, what I've learned from them, thoughts on the magic and misery of watercolor painting, finding your ideal art medium and painting style, and dealing with perfectionism and self-criticism. 😅
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Hi, I’m Louise: an artist, writer & creative solopreneur from Sweden. As a multi-passionate creative, I have spent my entire adult life avoiding traditional employment and instead making a living off of my art.
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You said "time spent painting and failing is always better than not paint at all" and it really resonated with me... So often I prefer not to start so I won't have to fail...
Thank you for sharing your struggle 🙏I can definitely relate
this is such an important lesson!! and i keep falling back into the trap of fiddling with details and trying to get it perfect and spending so much time on stuff that i'm fed up with it and often don't even finish it -_- and then, like you said, there are those happy accidents, where stuff just works out and where less is more. and i really have to remember that ;D great vlog!! thank you for sharing
Haha, happy to hear I'm not alone in that. 😂 Thank you so much! 🖤🙏
I feel that about a painting sometime , that it has no soul .
But I work on those at another time ( I work with acrylics only ) I used to paint with oils but I don’t have the patience to wait for it to dry .
I LOVE to have happy accidents while painting and they happen more often when I am NOT controlling my every stroke of the brush , the more you paint the more happy accidents you will have !
Happy painting!
Time spent painting and failing is time well spent. Very well said. I enjoy these videos not only because they are calming and enjoyable but they are so full of good tidbits like that. I'm a lifelong musician, and I resonate with a lot of what you say and apply it straight to music. Thanks so much for your channel! :)
I totally know what you mean about craving perfection, and then being disappointed about things being so precise. I’ve been trying to loosen up, which feels so much better to do, but I haven’t quite got the hang of it. I totally also get what you’re saying about a painting having soul! They do, they do! Thank you for sharing! Love your work!
For us who live where, there is never Snow Falling, It feels like a painting in dreams. You are not only an artist but a friend as well. We feel like a soul into different colors and countries.
🖤
I am a Canadian living in SC for the last 20 years and sometimes I do miss shoveling snow for hours as a workout! Hahaha snow is a love/hate thing, but it sure beats hanging out in ANY kind of indoor gym 😅💪
What an absolutely wonderful video. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Louise, I've exactly experienced the same stuff those last weeks !!!! The magic will be back soon with springtime 😉
Hi there. I'm about a year and a half painting with watercolor and for a while I thought about giving it up because I was having such a hard time with control. Then, I started getting better and realizing watercolor just is a more difficult medium which made the difficulty easier to accept. I love it but, like every artist have "bad art days". For me, when I have a fail i stop painting for awhile then finally get back into it. Then, I think "wow, I just wasted time not painting". It's hard being perfect all the time!
This is so amazing!!!! OMG!!!!! Seriously, like my dad says, it always takes time to be a perfectionist. Keep trying and keep learning! You will be able to be a great artist! I so admire your work.
All of this resonates... there is work that disappoints (stuff I think is crap because I wanted something else at the time but which later (when I forget what that was supposed to be) I think is pretty good and comes as a kind of surprise) and then there is work I wanted to destroy so no-one would ever see it (being so humiliating) ... it all fluctuates, all of the variables all of the time. We are like seismographs, in part. And that is good actually because it allows for surprise and for "other things" to find expression in the work. What pleases us never arrives without what displeases us and that is something to live with or learn to love (or not love).
What we do need to avoid is the heavy judgement (or whatever it is?) that would keep us from engaging in the process wherein the unpredictable flowers await. My personal regret at times.
It seems I/it get better results overall if I continuously tell myself I am making crap and not going to end with anything I like and to have fun. Strangely then it seems the process avoids making the humiliatingly bad results that arrive when I/it begin with the rather bizarre notion that I am going to crank out the intended masterpieces like some sort perfectly calibrated robot. Or at least I end up with something! That ultimately is more pleasing. Far more practical (for myself) than for the insanely cruel/critical obsessive faculties to "take pride". Impossible.
When I stopped reminding myself it was going to be crappy so as to properly 'take pride' in my work and my self (the way I was 'supposed to' according to some other voice) so too did the process. So I say to each their own... Each has their voices/feelings to cope with. None of us is just so perfect as that perfectly satisfying thing we might make.
I also hear people say if it causes any suffering then one should do something else... This is more bullshit internalized advice too, I think. As it all about what form suffering brings the desired result. Not merely enjoying.
Regardless, I have enjoyed your recent videos especially and your practical approach and guidance, which is not full of magical prescriptions.
So true, and so well put. I don't think I even know what "perfect" looks like, or what my ultimate vision is. I just want the freedom to explore it. But then, the magic is gone, in a way. 😅
That's a really good point, and something I do sometimes also to avoid raising the stakes too much. "Eeeh, it'll probably suck anyway, no worries." Or "It's just a practice painting". That's usually very effective. Like you say: we have to take the bad with the beautiful. That's what makes it exciting.
Thank you for watching, and for leaving these wise words. 🖤🙏
You have been taking art seriously for one year?!? You're so good! I've trying for three years and I'm yet to be where you are! This is a complicated subject matter. It involves psychology of different people. But every artist struggles with self-critique. It's good that you are a watercolor artist since it will balance the control aspect. Thank you for being so candid. It was very motivating to see that even a good artist goes through the same things as I do.
Well, a little over a year. But to be fair, I didn't start out from scratch. I've dabbled with art since I was a kid. And I also hade the great fortune of being able to spend a huge proportion of my time improving, due to being on sick-leave. But yeah, a year goes by fast. 😂 Thank you for those kind words. 🖤
@@ArtByLouise thank you for your reply. It's still impressive. And thank you for what you do
Very nice. A good topic. Reminds me of a class I had years and year ago, when an older student (maybe in his early 70's) was startled by how a he could work so hard on some drawings and be so disappointed while showing us a wonderful line drawing of cat that took him 5 minutes and he loved so much. The teacher reminded him that the cat had taken him more like 30 years to produce (his history as an artist) and it came out of him in 5 minutes : ) Thank you!
Yeah, that's exactly it! So true, especially with watercolors where more time spent on a painting is often a recipe for disaster. (Overthinking, overworking, making mistakes.) The more training and experience, the quicker and more confident the painting process might be.
I enjoyed your watercolor of the bird in flight. Viewing the image made me feel positive and, well...uplifted! 🥰
Aww thank you! I've actually started painting more birds in flight since that one. Think I'll do a whole collection of them. 😌🖤
@@ArtByLouiseYes! 😍
I feel exactly the same! I love watercolor and go through the same feelings as you and after a couple of years of watercoloring sometimes I want to break up with it too haha , and go back to oils! I am used to rather being a messy painter and watercolor is so precious sometimes...The other day I did a "perfect" watercolor of a Dracula Parrot, then proceeded to spill tea on parts of it! ugh, so unforgiving, but so challenging!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this very personal subject. I think that many artists who want to see improvement in their work share that inner, critical voice that over-analyzes and fails to see the successful parts of one's endeavours. The trick I play on myself is to say, "It's just paper." That little phrase seems to give me the freedom to view any project as experimentation.
Thank you again for sharing!
Thank you. 🙏 That's a great mantra, "just paper". Much better than "Oooh careful now with that super-expensive paper..." 😂
@@ArtByLouise - Yes! Here in Canada a single sheet of 31 cm x 41cm Arches 300g paper is less expensive than a grande-sized drink from Starbucks.
Snow 🤩 We can't get rid of the urge to create a perfection every time, but we can change the attitude towards the upcoming result. No matter what the result is going to be, we took the time, will, skills to make something and even if it's not perfect, it can be a stepping stone to make better next time 🙆♀️
I don't like everything I create and I know I'll never will, although I'm still content that I created it and gained some experience 😊
That's exactly the right mindset. 😊
Yes, very relatable! Often times the pieces I spend the most time on end up overworked and feel stiff. One thing I learned helps is to use a bigger brush than I think I need. Having the mindset that I can always go smaller and add detail later makes it easier to get the big loose strokes in early. I'll inevitably ignore my own advice from time to time and get too detailed too fast and end up with something I don't like.
I would be thrilled to see you try a bigger watercolor painting!
Yes, that's a great trick, the bigger brush. Really works. Especially, like you say, to start with a big brush and then go gradually smaller. 😊
I will do it! Just gonna work up my courage... 😂
I need to put things away when I’ve finished them so I can look at them with fresh eyes a few days later. Otherwise I’d discard most of my work as terrible. The distance helps me with being a bit more objective.
Glad I discovered you, well done the YT algorithm
Haha, yup. That's definitely my knee-jerk reaction too. 😅
Thank you so much. 🙏🖤
Thank for knowledge ☺️
Oh my gosh, I 100% relate to what your talking about in regards to making something exactly how you wanted and then feeling nothing. Art totally has a soul and I really think it truly is lol those little imperfections that give it personality and not just look like a boring perfectly manufactured picture.
I knew I couldn't be totally alone in feeling that. 🙏🖤😊
@@ArtByLouise It's so funny and validating when you find out someone else has the same weird super niche struggle, haha!
I don’t use watercolors but I am very much a perfectionist and loved the talk! This year I’m setting a goal of one new art project a month and I feel that’s been helping me a bit with my perfectionism and procrastination.
Thank you. 🙏 That sounds like a great goal. Just keep creating no matter what. 🤗
How vulnerable. Thank you for this.
Well said. 😊🙏
Hi.
Your videos are nicely made. Your paintings are very nice. I find that for me, I have had moments of transcendent art making where my skills aligned with an adventurous creative insight based on a new exploration, such that, though I had a vision of what I was making, it was new territory. So in a sense I didn't know what I was doing. Later, I have sought to recreate those past type pieces, but my mind is not as present while doing it, because I have one eye on the past. To recreate moments of growth and discovery I have had to completely shift gears, mediums, technique, objective, and find something where I don't already know what I'm doing. I am also long torn between working for a living and not having time and energy to work on art.
I'm a perfectionist totally relate here Louise I think I procrastinate because of it too the best thing is to know it will pass and your artwork will feel good again eventually 💜
Haha! I felt everything in this video. Seems to be quite universal...
Louise we sound so similar in how we approach art! I definitely have that pull towards controlling my watercolor and getting it "perfect" and I really struggle with painting loosely. You're persistence and also gentleness with yourself through the process is an inspiration!
Thank you! 🙏 Glad to know I'm not the only one struggling with that. 😅
I figured out that to try to be a ‘perfectionist’ means I’m always going to be flawed…so I am enjoying myself by enjoying the medium(s) we work with or what activity we’re doing so we
can relax and not miss the joys of just life! Kinda like ‘Quality Time instead of Quantity’ if we have to pick one. It is good we have the desire to always do our best vs. not having any sense of doing our best. You do beautiful creations…the ones I do that are not up to my sense of criticism, I put away, a few years later or maybe a week later…I don’t know what was wrong other than I was harsh on myself. I delayed myself in having fun and going further by being too self critical. It’s silly especially when others get joy from seeing any of our creations/projects/activities. Just keep going, at least we need tenacity so we can
keep doing what we love. If we don’t love it, put it away, come back later, just don’t stop.
I have put away something I loved and was good at, I was sad, so many activities that gave
joy was hard to do. I’m back but it seems the long break made me on a level down from before. I should have kept going, so now, this too shall pass…I will keep enjoying the journey but also have the tenacity to keep going, get back to my former level and then some.
I will keep going…but with Joy no matter what! Thank You for your candidness on your experiences, keep going! You are amazing, love your art and creativity!
Very wise words. Thank you so much! 🙏😊
@@ArtByLouise Thank You Louise! Beautiful Creativity and art gifting you have…You have Passion which is why you strive for more! Enjoy at all times the Journey so we don’t miss the sweet little moments as well as the big ones. Sometimes we grow more in the tough times…😊 Thank You! 🙏 😊
I definitely struggle with this. I can absolutely hate my painting and everyone that sees it will tell if fantastic. And I just don't see it.
I know! And that seems to be the case with 99% of artists. No one seems to think they're any good. So we're in good company. 😊
Ohhhh - that good old creative struggle bus 🥴😅 Definitely driving that thing all the time 🤪 But it’s good to be mindful about it and not be too hard on yourself: in the end it’s only a waste of energy… 🤷🏻♀️
So true. 😂
@@ArtByLouise Easier said than done though 😅🤦🏻♀️
As someone who lives next to the beach in Spain i just cannot imagine such amount of snow
Haha, understandable! Even I couldn't imagine it. 😅
I really can’t handle my paintings not being perfect. That is why I’m trying to get into more abstract art because it’s forcing me to CHILL. It’s halfway working 😂
That's a great idea! It's what did when I just started out painting a few years ago, and it was so relaxing and nourishing. 😌
3:50 i think you can try to mixe your own black or red, or both, so it will look "less perfect". I often try to get a balance between already made colors and my own personal mixes, sometimes worth it. But that's just detail, the watercolors look so beautiful and professional.
Wow the acrylic painting looks so bright. My experiences with acrylics and gouche were horrible lol... so I still love being stressed with watercolor imprevisibility.
Also, to avoid this kinda of perfectionism (that I used to have a lot in other areas of my life) I started to change my mindset to think that I'm a just a student, I mean, I have to be perfect in some many areas in my life (and I'm still not being lol), my watercolor study time is for me, to paint and learn.
That's a great point! I've heard that advice from several artists, to never use black, because it's a very flat and "dead" color. Maybe I'm just a bit lazy. 😂 I did decide to use a very dark indigo for the great tit later on, but then the black was already there so it didn't make much of a difference. Oh well. Next time!
Also great advice! Anything that lowers the expectations on oneself I think is beneficial. That goes for all art. It's rarely to one's benefit to go into a project thinking it's going to be the best thing you've ever made. 😂
Omg, yes! This is a constant battle for me as well. I’m such a control freak and perfectionist. In some areas it serves me well, for instance I do a lot of sewing and for that it is actually quite helpful. But when it comes to drawing and painting it’s a pain in the butt. I absolutely love shading, rendering and detailing, but I always end up hating the result because it looks stiff, overworked and lifeless. The pieces I love the most are the ones where I manage to let go of control and as a result I achieve expressive lines and movement and shapes that suggest form rather than carefully rendered details. But because I lack control I don’t enjoy the process as much. In the end I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing because I’m always experimenting hoping to stumble across a process that allows me to enjoy both the making of and the actual drawing/painting. It’s exhausting 😅🥵
Well, it seems we're in the same place. 😂 Trying to find my ideal process too. Trying to remember not to repeat past mistakes. Trying to keep my mind open and be loose and spontaneous. Trying to stop in time, before I overwork it. Phew! Hard to believe one can be so in love with something so difficult. 😌
This is happening to me. I make composite art with portrait photographs. A couple of years ago I took some portraits that I absolutely love, and I know just what I want to do with them. However, that was a couple of years ago. And, I still have not touched them for the fear of not making them perfect. I also feel that once I make a composite with a particular portrait, I can not go back and make a different composite with the same portrait. I know it sounds weird, but this is how my perfectionism freezes me sometimes. (I haven’t admitted this to anyone else yet.)
Wow, that's some serious art block. 😯 I know that feeling, it's devastating. Really hope you can get out of it! Your art deserves to be made and seen, regardless of whether or not it's "perfect" in your eyes. That's what I remind myself of sometimes. That I prefer to make art and fail and not make art at all. Lowering the stakes on myself. 😅
oh god - I know what you mean by "no soul". Sometimes you take a step back and it's just too "painted in", like paint by numbers. Just as you said. It's hard to explain
Yes! Exactly like that. 😌🙏
Well number one, you are to hard on yourself!!! I thought the birds were beautiful. I have found the same problem with doing realistic painting s
Haha, thanks! 🖤🙏🤗
3:57 I know! I draw people and anime in a realistic way and boy! I perfectly know what you mean! I draw them perfect, all lines and proportions in place, It looks alike. Like I just print it and copied on the paper. But I look at it and ... I sigh. I call it lack of essence. It looks perfect,alike but it lacks their essence, Is not the characters I wanted, it's a twin looking perfectly alike realism and stuff, but definitely not the character! And I wonder, is it really worth the perfectionism? So when drawing I need to find their essence,otherwise it won't work. So maybe try to connect with the birdie,find their essence and draw him/her. I suppose it needs to create a connection. And backgrounds! Gods I never get them right!!! I did a draw I loved... ruined it with a damn background!!! You can guess how happy I was (sarcasm alert!). Now I'm struggling with when to draw during the day. Possible that I'm never at peace?! I just chuckle at myself at times. Stressing over nothing,I'm such a dummy!
the flying bird looks so much looser, something to be said about just turning the camera off and just painting 😀
So true. I should do that more often, but then this channel would have a lot fewer videos. 😅
hello, love your job ;) is it possible to have subtittle because i don't speak english and i don't understand what you say :)))
it will be fantastic for me to have french subtittles. thanks bye bye