I used a pen this time which, I don’t know, feels too harsh. I was able to go outside the lines more with the actual paint (something I really want to do) but those black pen lines feel so precise, I can’t tell if the painting is free-spirited or completely rigid.

Reminds me of myself: half hippie, half fundamentalist.

Here’s the good news. I worked on some more watercolors after this one, and I think I just might be getting better at it. Art is this wonderfully frustrating roller coaster of “I made the most amazing thing ever to have been made” straight down into “Who am I kidding? This is garbage” and usually settling somewhere in the “eh, it’ll do, but let’s go again” range. So I don’t want to get too excited about my progress, knowing tomorrow’s eyes typically forego the rose colored glasses.

So instead of product, I’ll celebrate process: I am definitely learning. I’m figuring out how to have fewer strokes but with more impact, to let what is left out mean as much as what makes it in.

And because this is my kinder, gentler 31 in 31 (see day 1), I’m not committed to any of my posts being fully “done.” I might revisit them from time to time. But once the month is over, I’ll gather up all the work that most passes for finished, frame them, and make them available on the site. Stay tuned. I have a feeling I’ll be turning a corner soon.