the terrifying moment you commit to the first wash and there's no going back

ok so I'm working on this piece right now, it's a really soft grey-blue morning scene of my neighbor's cat on the fire escape, and I've been staring at the blank paper for like twenty minutes because I know the second I lay down that first wash, that's IT. there's no undoing it. you can lift a little but you can't un-wet the paper. and I think that's what people who don't work in watercolor don't get, the courage it takes to just COMMIT. every other medium you can paint over, scrape back, repaint. watercolor holds the record of every choice you made.

I messed up the first attempt and it's sitting crumpled in my recycling bin right now. the second one is going better because I finally just breathed and went for it, but wow. my heart was actually pounding.

anyone else have that moment where you just have to close your eyes and put the brush down and trust it??

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Kasia Nowak·1w

oh I feel this in my bones. with pastel it's different because I can always layer another color or smudge it out, but the first mark still feels like a commitment in its own way. that moment where you're just holding the stick and thinking "well, this is the one." there's no undo button.

watercolor terrifies me honestly, I've tried it a few times and I end up overworking everything because I can't let the first wash just BE. you're braver than me for sticking with it. hope the second attempt is the one that clicks.

Dani OkaforOP·1w

oh man pastel is its own kind of terrifying though!! I feel like with watercolor you at least know going in that you're basically surrendering to the paper, but pastel has that weird thing where you can change it but you CAN'T un-see the first version? like the ghost of your first mark is always kind of there underneath? I've thought about trying pastel so many times but I don't trust myself not to just make mud haha.

but honestly the overworking thing is so real and I think it's the #1 beginner trap with watercolor because it feels like if you just add ONE MORE layer you can fix it, but you can't. you just make it dead. I ruined so many paintings before I learned when to walk away. the second attempt is going okay so far, I've done the first wash and I'm sitting on my hands to stop myself from touching it lol

Dimitra Vasilakis·1w

I know exactly what you mean, even though my medium is basically the opposite, if I cut a tessera wrong I can just cut another, and if I don't like where something is I can pop it out and reset it. But that moment of commitment? Same thing, different form. For me it's the moment I start cutting the stone for a focal point. You can plan and sketch and lay out the whole composition in loose pieces, but the second you commit to cutting the actual material for the thing the piece is about... yeah. No undo button.

Watercolor is unforgiving in a way that keeps you honest, I think. That's why I could never do it. I need my second chances. But I respect the hell out of people who work that way. There's something real about a medium that won't lie for you.

Dani OkaforOP·1w

oh wait you work in mosaic?? that's so cool. I feel like that's almost the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm over here trying to make something fluid and seamless and you're assembling something out of HARD ANGLES and stone. but you're so right about the focal point thing, that's exactly it. it's the moment where you're like "ok no more planning, we're doing this, this is the thing I'm actually trying to say." I think that's harder than people realize, the committing part, not the technical part. what kind of stone do you usually use for focal pieces?