What Now?

I’ve been painting for a year, and now I’m wondering… what happens in Year Two?

My first year of painting went by in a frenzy of buying art supplies, watching YouTube tutorials, reading “how to” books, testing different mediums and practicing new skills.

I could barely keep up with myself and all the things I needed to learn.

My initial goal was to become competent enough in watercolors to render animals in a believable way. I didn’t think too hard about things like voice or style or what to do with all the paintings I’d eventually accumulate.

I just painted. And painted some more.

This is a recent watercolor painting of a pair of anhingas. I had to give myself a pep talk or two before tackling it.

Thirteen months later, this is where I’m at. I’ve painted a lot of animals, and a smattering of botanicals and people. I have a decent understanding of values and colors and pigments. While I still use watercolors the most, I’ve expanded into gouache, oil pastels and mixed media.

I’m not a rank beginner anymore.

But these past few weeks, I’ve been feeling a bit lost. I’m able to paint technically more challenging subjects but they’re starting to feel less satisfying than when I was turning out wonky alpacas and misshapen trees.

Maybe it’s time to look at all those things I’ve been deferring. Instead of trying paint subjects mostly as they are, maybe I’m ready to paint them how I want them to be. I just don’t know what that looks like yet.

I might need to explore painting in a different way, where it’s less about technique and more about moving outside the boundaries I created while I was still new to painting. I might need to stop worrying about finished paintings and start being braver in my experiments.

So that’s what I’ll do. :)

I’ll keep you posted about all the mishaps and happy little accidents that are bound to happen. If you want to follow along, and haven’t subscribed yet, now’s the time!

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