Painting is much like writing.

When we were learning to write in school, we learned vocabulary, sentence structure and punctuation.  These are the foundational blocks of writing.  Once we mastered these, we went on to learn paragraph development, story arc and how to shape the scenes and character to capture the mood we are trying to convey.  

These very same structures exist in painting.  Mark making, mixing of paint, framing the image, extraneous details etc.  

Both these forms, writing and art, boil down to self expression.  How do we express ourselves?  Which elements do we feel are important in our story/image? The artistic license gets to decide how we express ourselves. 

However, the biggest challenge is allowing ourselves to express what we want.  The hardest part is that we don't always get it 'right' so we can judge ourselves pre-maturely on the form of our expression.  Once we learn that the early judgement is simply our monkey mind then we can decide to press on, get curious and figure out which mark or phrase does express what we are thinking. 

If you speak to any writer they will tell you that the first draft will likely not be the last.  It is simply the starting point.  There will be refinement, editing, and paring down the subject into its essential parts in order to be concise and still get the message across. Our art is the very same.  Which details are necessary and which details are extraneous?  What can I cut out and not lose the focus on the art work all together? 

So if you are a budding artist, who has stumbled across that monkey mind that tells you "you better stop now, because you don't know what you are doing." Then you have likely bumped into a question that you can't quite answer.... yet.  That question being, what's wrong with this shape, how do I correct it, why doesn't this look the way I expect it to?  This curiosity is what will lead you to investigate what needs to change.  Perhaps it's the colour, or the tone, or the value that is off.  If you feel it's off, then it's off.  Your artistic eye is not pleased by what you have created so far.  That's it.  Get curious.  Try something new.  Pull out a new tool to evaluate your work so you can find the answer to the problem that you are trying to solve. 

Much like a piece of writing, when you read it, or have someone else read your work, the error often jumps out, then you have the point of focus to resolve that error. 

Our paintings are the same.  You do have the awareness to know where things are not working, you simply may not have the tool to figure out the answer.  It's just learning how to use a new tool. I would love to teach you the tools that I have learned to create beautiful paintings.  I have a course coming up that may be of interest to you.  Here is the link

If you have a desire to paint, then you can, of course, paint.  It's just learning.  

I hope this inspires you to keep going with your art and your mark making.  Leave me a comment below if you have any questions.  

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