Watercolor Painting Fears

Watercolor is beautiful and expressive, but it’s normal for beginners especially to be hesitant around this medium. The unpredictable nature of watercolor can cause us to be fearful of making mistakes or trying new things. However, this fear should not be a reason for discontinuing your journey. Today I want to share with you some tips to help you overcome these watercolor painting fears and find success!

Go With the Mistakes

Everybody makes mistakes and it’s just a natural part of learning a new skill. It can lead to new ways of putting down brushstrokes and watercolor painting that we might not have thought of otherwise. We need to embrace mistakes, searching for what we can learn each time to make improvements in the next painting.

The next time you try watercolor painting, remind yourself that you are learning and that your goal is to enjoy the experience. It’s not about perfectionism but rather, having a playful experience filled with self-care. My newest SkillShare class on watercolor floral shadows is all about embracing the mistakes when they happen.

Try Projects on a Smaller Scale

I encourage you to try to tackle smaller things first. Try making a 2“ x 2“ square and painting something small inside. Once you have created a thumbnail of what you would like to paint and feel confident, take that to a larger scale. It will not only increase your confidence but will also give you a map of where you are going with your project.

You can also paint a bunch of small items over and over on one sheet of paper. Change things up with a variety of colors, textures, brush shapes, etc. The repetition will help you feel more confident in your painting skills and give practice to the object that you choose.

Be Mindful of Your Watercolor Painting

When we start to overthink by letting our fears seep in, we start to feel overwhelmed and anxious, which leads to anxiety manifesting in our watercolor painting. Take a deep breath, remind yourself that this is supposed to be fun, and paint with the intention of getting better with every brushstroke. If you find yourself feeling anxious again, take deep breaths, walk away, and come back when you feel more peaceful again. I’ve talked about how to stop trying to create perfect art in this post to offer some more ideas.

Another way to be mindful is to focus on a few of the sensory experiences in front of you. What can you see, smell, taste, touch, and hear? For example, You can see the colors, the paint swirling around in the water jar, the sound of the brush on paper, and how the brush feels in your hand. Taste? Maybe you’re sipping on a drink or eating a cookie. Maybe you can smell a vase of flowers nearby. Tune into these sensory moments to turn down the noise in your mind.

The Next Step

Letting go of the fear takes a lot of practice and determination but just like being afraid of the medium, we can learn to relax and embrace it as well. To help you further with this, I’ve created a course that you can access free for 30 days that will help you let go of perfectionism in your art while painting watercolor florals. Check it out here!

Do you have a tip that helps you when you are feeling anxious from watercolor painting? Leave me a comment on your story.