the guy at the art supply store who told me I was "brave" for using watercolor
Went to restock on Arches paper today, expensive enough that I have to talk myself into it every time, and the guy ringing me up sees the blocks and goes "oh wow, you're brave, I could never do watercolor, too stressful, I don't have the patience."
And I just stood there with my debit card out like 🙂 ok. Because what do you even say to that? It's not the first time I've heard it and it's always framed like I'm doing something weird and self-punishing instead of just... painting. Like it's some extreme sport. I don't go to the oil painting aisle and tell people they're brave for waiting three days for paint to dry.
I know he meant it kindly. I know. But I'm so tired of watercolor being treated like the masochist's hobby when it's literally just the medium I fell in love with. Nobody tells a guitarist they're brave for playing acoustic. Anyway I bought the paper and went home and painted the same window I've painted forty times and it still came out wrong so maybe he had a point honestly
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I get the frustration, but I think it comes from a genuine place. Watercolour's unforgiving, you can't really cover, can't scrape back, can't build the way most of us learned to. Every mark stays. People who don't paint see that and think it looks like walking a tightrope. So "brave" is clumsy but it's not wrong, exactly. It's just the wrong word for the thing you're actually doing, which is working in your medium.
I've had the same thing said about cold wax. "Isn't that risky? What if it doesn't dry right?" And I'm thinking, I know what I'm doing. That's the point. It's not bravery, it's practice.
Next time I'd just say "it's only stressful if you're not sure what you want it to do" and let him sit with that a minute.
yeah, I think you're right that there's no bad intent in it. it's just one of those things you hear so often it starts grating even when it's meant well. like if someone called you brave for using a pencil next 🙃
but I do get what the OP means too, it does kind of position what you do as this stressful ordeal instead of just something you chose because you like it. watercolour's not a test of character, I just like how it moves. the bravery thing makes it sound like I'm out there defusing bombs
lmao "defusing bombs" exactly. like yeah I'm very brave, standing at my desk with a brush, truly life-or-death stuff here. and the pencil thing is real, nobody calls you brave for drawing?? it's just this specific thing about watercolor where people act like you're doing something masochistic instead of just... working with a medium that doesn't let you bully it into submission. which honestly is half the reason I like it.
you know, I think you're right that it's not wrong exactly, watercolor IS kind of a one-shot deal and that does make people nervous. and I get that "brave" is probably meant as a compliment, like "I respect that you can handle something I can't." which is sweet honestly. it's just that I hear it so often I've started bristling before the person even finishes the sentence, which is probably unfair of me lol.
but "it's not bravery, it's practice", yeah. that's exactly it. like I didn't just pick this up and decide to be fearless one day, I've messed up so many paintings and learned how to work around the mess. that's not courage, that's just... time on the page. cold wax sounds intense though, I've never tried it but I've heard it's a whole different kind of unforgiving