Hey there, Reader!

I left you with a mysterious cliffhanger in last week's email. Allow me to reveal it to you now.

Last week, I mentioned that when I returned to watercolour painting, I encountered a problem.

The unexpected challenge I ran into is procrastination.

You see, while I was healing from burnout, I did a lot of inner work and self-reflection to aid my recovery.

So over the past several months, I've made amazing progress with adopting healthier habits and improving my artist mindset. And recently, I've used inner work to come up with a strategy so I can overcome procrastination as an artist.

I know procrastination is a very common problem in the art community. For that reason, I'm sharing with you the strategy I'm using so we can unpack the solutions together!

1. Identify the Challenge That's Holding You Back

Two months ago, I set a goal to get back into the rhythm of making art regularly. Here's what happened.

Surprisingly, it has been hard for me to establish a consistent habit of painting with watercolours. To discover why, I was very honest with myself. After deep introspection, I had a BIG realization:

I consumed too much information and didn't practice painting with watercolours nearly as often. In other words, I watched videos and read blog posts about watercolour more than I actually painted and made art.

As I'm sure you know, all the knowledge in the world doesn't manifest your goals or dreams because knowledge without action doesn't get you anywhere.

Therefore, I identified the problem as procrastination. Next, I needed to figure out why I felt resistance to paint with watercolours.

If you're in a similar situation as me, I recommend you follow these steps. First, be honest and acknowledge that you're procrastinating. Second, make a commitment to understand why you're facing resistance.

For example, when I asked myself why I was procrastinating, the answer was that I felt uncomfortable painting because I knew my brushstrokes would be awkward after taking nearly a year off from watercolour.

It felt daunting to paint because my rusty skills would likely produce some failed paintings, questionable washes, and funky colour mixes until good old muscle memory kicked in again.

But when I dug a little deeper into the inner work, I discovered the true source of my inaction.

2. Brainstorm A Solution to Overcome the Challenge

Truth be told, I realized that I was procrastinating with watercolour painting because I'm afraid of failure.

Watercolour is known for being spontaneous and unpredictable because you need to learn to let go of control and allow the water to flow where it wants to flow.

However, these realities are difficult to accept if you're afraid of failure because you equate every mistake with "failure," "doing something wrong," or "being bad."

Fortunately, there's no inherent truth in any of these claims because they're just limiting beliefs.

To improve my artist mindset and internal dialogue, I started using a cognitive reframe. That means I question the limiting belief and reframe it as something neutral or positive.

For instance, now when I paint with watercolours and I feel insecure due to the fear of failure, I tell myself this:

Now it's your turn. To uncover why you're procrastinating, ask yourself "Why am I procrastinating?" When you uncover the answer, ask yourself "Why?" again.

Do this as many times as you need to until you discover the answer. This method is like peeling away the layers of an onion until you reach the core.

Once you have an answer to your why, you have the power to come up with a workable solution, Reader.

Whatever the case may be, now is the time to empower yourself with a solution that works for you.

3. Take Action and Honour the Lessons You Learn

The cognitive reframe I mentioned above is helping me break through resistance and overcome procrastination.

Nowadays, if I paint a flat wash that doesn't lay down perfectly smooth, I accept the imperfection and try again by painting another layer over it. I remind myself that every so-called failure leads to self-growth.

Or if I mix colours that accidentally turn out muddy, I fix the mistake by painting another layer over it using a different paint-to-water ratio for the pigments. If the mistake isn't solvable, I leave it and accept that I did the best I could.

The key takeaway is that failure isn't scary when you view mistakes as great opportunities for self-growth and learning.

As a result, my artist mindset is shifting from self-critical to more self-accepting. I feel my self-confidence is improving because I'm learning to trust the flow of water, release control, and accept the outcome (the art) without judgement.

In other words, my relationship to failure is improving for the better, and it reflects positively in my artwork.

Therefore, I know from experience that such a transformation is possible for you, Reader.

Now it's your turn.

Take a minute to identify the resistance that's holding you back from painting with watercolours. Acknowledge it. Reframe the limiting belief or change the habit. Then take action to break through procrastination.

Remember that you become the watercolour artist of your dreams by taking action, painting consistently, and becoming that ideal version of yourself.

If you need clarity and structure to help you take action or overcome resistance, I recommend that you check out my helpful eBook titled How to Paint 7 Easy Watercolour Landscapes: A Beginner Artist's Roadmap to Success.​

In this self-study eBook for beginners and advanced beginners, you learn to create watercolour landscape paintings that you love by following along to step-by-step tutorials that show you how to lay down washes, apply layers, and control the flow of water. In addition, a basic colour theory guide and a simple composition guide help you paint landscapes with confidence and ease.

I hope you enjoyed the golden nuggets of wisdom that I shared in this newsletter!

As you learned today, doing the inner work to improve your artist mindset is as valuable as sitting down to paint with watercolours.

Because, in my opinion, with every limiting belief you overcome, and with every watercolour painting you create, you experience self-growth and become a better person.

And that makes painting with watercolours so worthwhile.

ACTION STEP: Click here to learn how to get better results with your watercolour landscape paintings. It's time to transform your relationship to watercolour from budding potential to blooming confidence, Reader!

Talk to you again soon,

Your friend,

Miranda

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