Painting with Confidence

Probably the number one issue I hear time and time again that plagues fellow painters during their artist endeavours is a lack of confidence. A lack of belief and faith in their own abilities with a brush has put off many an artist whether they are newcomers or long standing sufferers of their artistic toils.

I once spoke with a art teacher. I’ve never had lessons, she was accompanying my wife’s friend during a camping trip with her kids. I’d taken my paint kit on holiday and was practising between days out when she asked if she could look at my work. I hadn’t been painting long and showed her my best efforts from my first 12 months of painting with watercolours. She was very complimentary but I couldn’t tell if she was just saying that to be kind and encouraging but I appreciated her comments regardless. But what I found most interesting was her attitude towards her own work. She was an oil painter and prepared her own canvasses before letting loose with her paints every night. She told me that during each painting session she would drink 3-4 cans of lager to loosen up. This, she said, encouraged her to take risks with her art and helped her achieve heights sobriety would never have allowed.

Taking risks

I listened to her comments with interest. She’d taught me an important lesson: always be prepared to take risks at the easel. You’ll be surprised at how often it comes off and leads to styles and techniques you would never have found otherwise but the key for me was taking these risks without the need for alcohol! Eventually I learned how to paint without worrying about making mistakes. It’s important to loose the fear of failure in order to help your confidence at the easel. Making mistakes is part and parcel of learning anything new and shouldn’t be feared. Instead, I would go as far as to say you will learn more when things go wrong rather than when everything come off perfectly without you really knowing how or why. Our mistakes are there to be learned from and should be relished. There’s always something that can be learned from every painting we do. Never think a painting session has been a complete waste of time just because you are disappointed with the end result. Even if it’s subconscious, you will have learned lessons you can take into your next painting.

Painting with watercolours or whatever your preferred medium takes time to learn and your skills and techniques will improve over time. There are no short cuts but practise will undoubtedly pay off for those that persevere. So take risks and reap the rewards. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and try to go with the flow and let the paint do its thing. Don’t be a control freak! Your confidence will increase with every success you have.