The power of loosening up
Doing the opposite thing
I’ve been enjoying loose watercolours for a while now - a year ago I felt completely stuck in my art practice and didn’t know how to relax into it. When talking to other creatives, they said I would benefit from ‘loosening up’. I immediately felt a grumpy resistance 😅
The response I wanted to give was “I don’t need to loosen up, YOU loosen up”…which of course, also told me they were probably right 😉
So I did something I never do; I always do lines first and then colour them in. I started with water, letting it flow, dropping the pigment in it and watching it move in its own direction. When it was dry, I drew on top of it, and it didn’t have to fit perfectly; the way pencil and paint worked together made “mistakes” actually pretty beautiful.
It turns out I love the process. Not having a very clear end result in mind. Letting things appear on my paper was liberating and made me feel much less pressure. So thanks, friends, for the tip!
ART PROMPT:
Do the opposite of what you normally do!
This might be:
doing things in the “wrong order”
using a material that feels counterintuitive
using a material that is the opposite of what you usually use (for instance, markers instead of paint
go for another base: use canvas instead of paper, go big instead of small or the other way around
Let me know how you get on, I’d love to see the results!
The drawings are beautiful Janet. I especially love the Peony. The colour is really vibrant.
Love this ideas of the lines second.