Trying to Get Back Into Watercolor Painting

[nielda-fCC]

I started watercoloring during the pandemic and I quickly fell in love with this media. I learned a lot and would often spend hours painting every day.

After some time I decided to start sharing my learnings on social media and eventually some friends started asking if they could commission artwork from me.

I’d say I was not working with that. But eventually I ended up accepting two commissions.

For the first request I spent one month studying to create something, it was really challenging, but also a nice and enriching experience. After that I was really tired and spent for the first time a long while without painting.

A few months later a friend asked me to create a watercolor from her home. I also spent a month studying and she loved the result.

I think that was my last watercolor. I can’t say I’m 100% sure. But I know that after that I stopped painting.

I am not completely sure why. Maybe I simply got tired or became interested in other hobbies. But I also ask myself if I was feeling pressured to make my hobby profitable.

Painting was something I did outside my main job. It was supposed to be a way to relax, experiment, and enjoy being a beginner.

In the culture I live in (I’m Brazilian) there is often this pressure to turn every skill or hobby into a side business. So, maybe it stopped feeling like free time? I don’t know.

Also, I tend to move between hobbies. I enjoy learning something new, even when I am not particularly good at it, I think it’s humbling. And, since I’m a teacher, I think this makes me understand better how the people I teach feel. Don’t take me wrong, I love being an expert in many things I do and I’m proud of them, I just always leave the door opened to experience things which I know I won’t be the best.

After watercolor painting, I explored other interests and left my brushes untouched for quite a while.

Recently, I’ve been feeling the need to paint again. I spend a lot of my day in front of screens, so having a quiet, screen-free activity sounds especially appealing. But I am still trying to figure out how to fit it into my current routine.

The painting below is one of the pieces I made before I stopped. I am hoping that sharing it might give me a little push to start again.

And since we are sharing. Have you ever felt this kind of feeling? Of not wanting your hobbies to be monetized? Or, have you ever thought about that?

Also, do you have any hobbies that you stopped and later returned to? How was it?

So many questions! Feel free to pick one you resonates or answer them all. =)

Thanks for the space to share!

[hbar1st]

Your paintings are beautiful (especially the first two to my mind).

I have shared your feeling of not wanting to monetize my hobbies (crocheting/singing) but I’ll admit that it was mainly due to not wanting my hobby to be judged by a customer. It’s okay if people on social media like or dislike something I made, many will not comment if they don’t like it, and those that do like it will share that most likely, but it is different when I’m trying to sell you something. The quality must be there and if you don’t like it, the judgement will be there too. I’m not too willinging to put up with that I think.

[dhess]

This is so inspiring. Your paintings are lovely…and such detail! I’d love to try this myself. Mind if I asked where/how you studied? YouTube videos?

[zaira_h]

Beautiful paintings! These have that cildhood summer vibes, so nostalgic. Water colours are a tough medium and very unforgiving as well. But once done, the results are ethereal!

[zaira_h]

This is my most recent one, it is a bookmark.

[beaucarnes]

I love how combined watercolor with cutting it out. So cool!

[beaucarnes]

I relate to wondering about hobbies and monetization. About 9 years ago I started a robot toy YouTube channel just for fun as a hobby. I wasn’t thinking about it making money. But eventually it started making money and it definitely changed how I thought about the channel. It’s not as fun for me anymore to make videos on the channel. I don’t know if it’s because the channel turned more into a job or if my interests just changed. Probably both. I post a lot less. Now there is just the yearly tradition of a Christmas video that I enjoy and make sure I do every year on the channel.

[hbar1st]

wowie zowie! That’s very pretty!
Do you laminate something like that after you’re done?

[moT01]

Those look really good @nielda-fCC & @zaira_h

I’m curious - what’s the process you use for creating them?

[zaira_h]

First I find an inspiration usually on Pinterest. Then I start with a faint outline and then start filling in colours in a thin layer and then build upon that. I also use a black fine point marker to create a final outline as it makes the painting look neat even if you made mistakes. sometimes, I also use a white gel pen to add streaks and highlights.

[estefaniacassn]

Your watercolor paintings are so beautiful, Nielda!

Love the pink butterfly. So cute and detailed.

I can absolutely relate to you when you say that you want to incorporate screen-free hobbies into your daily routine. And like you, I have also had hobbies that I’ve stopped for a while and then return to.

I recently started learning the fundamentals of drawing. I have always found drawing challenging, especially drawing in perspective. Learning this from a technical point of view, with formal techniques has been very helpful so far. I’m still in the fundamentals, but like you said, it’s kind of fun to be a beginner, right? There’s a whole new world of knowledge and discovery ahead of us when we start exploring a new hobby.

[nielda-fCC]

That’s a great point! I think that to sell things we do need to be more prepared for this kind of judgement!

[nielda-fCC]

I’m glad you liked it. I’ve collected several resources over the years as I was learning. I can share my reasoning with you.

At the beginning I tried to find one creator I could elect as my “main instructor”. Someone I liked both painting and teaching style. And I’d consume all the content I could from this person. Then, I’d switch to another creator and so on. This way I was not having to review the basics all the time. And avoiding getting mored.

My main instructor as a beginners was Ana Victoria Calderón. She has courses on SkillShare but she also has content on YT.

Another thing I’d do is to find nice tutorials I could follow step by step. These would vary a lot, and I had no commitment to follow more of their work. I’d just do one project, and move on to the next one. Among these projects I’ve also experiment paying for some of Domestika courses, But in my opinion they weren’t helpful to me. Maybe the way of filming didn’t work for me.

I hope I answered your question. Let me know if I forgot something!

[nielda-fCC]

Zaira this is soo perfect! I love it.

[nielda-fCC]

I love the robot channel!! I hope you bring it back! So creative!

[dhess]

Thank you. I’m looking forward to trying this myself!

[moT01]

Definitely gonna try some water colors when I get a chance - will share if I do.

I have gotten into some acrylic painting the last few years - don’t get time to do it often, but I have a lot of fun when I do get to it. Here’s the two I’m most proud of:

^ The northern lights I hadn’t seen at the time I painted it - but have since seen them many times.

^ and the eclipse I saw a few years ago.