As of today, I am in Day 40 of my #the100DayProject! Woohoo! Initially, the thought of committing myself to painting something every day was quite daunting. But, after more than a month into it, I must say that it feels GREAT!
Every day I look forward to putting in some time with my brushes and paint. Some days I would have enough time to paint slowly and leisurely. Some days I have only 10 minutes to do a quick sketch. And there are days where I have to paint quickly with two children fighting and screaming next to me, demanding my attention. It gets pretty crazy!
During those times, I just have to dig deep into my zen zone, connect with my artist self, create something as calmly as possible for at least 8 minutes, and then turn my tiger mama on to the little ones. 😛
Anyway, now that I am 40% (yay!) into the project, I just thought of sharing some of what I’ve done here on the blog.
Sooooo… after doing this consistently for 40 days, there are some things that I have learned:
I am falling even more in love with painting and watercolour. My mind is almost always consumed with thoughts about painting – if not about subjects, then techniques; if not about techniques, then art supplies. Whatever I see, I often catch myself wondering, how would I paint this?
I need to take better pictures. Hahaha this is purely for Instagram purposes. I realised that my pictures are not very consistent, and I need to figure out the best way to make the pictures of my paintings look better.
There’s no need to decide on ‘my style’. When I first started dabbling in watercolour, I was trying very hard to define my style. Am I a pen and wash person? Or do I prefer loose painting? Do I like the fashion illustrating style? Or slightly more realistic portraits? WHAT DO I LIKE and WHAT DO I WANT TO ACHIEVE??
But then, last week, it dawned on me that there is no need to decide on a technique or style! Why limit myself? The world of watercolour and painting is so wide and amazing! Why should I shut myself off from endless possibilities?
And so, I have decided to throw the whole idea of style out of the window, and focus on learning, exploring and creating. Go loose today and realistic tomorrow. Try pen and wash, or paint without sketching first. Just do whatever I fancy! And I believe, as I focus on trying everything, my style will find me. 🙂
You can check out my Instagram to see more of my paintings, or follow my project journey through my hashtag #100dayswithnataliesia.
Are you into watercolour painting as well? Or are you participating in #the100DayProject? Let me know if you are!
Love,
Natalie
Gorgeous work!
Thank you!