The yips

Practice, muscle memory, and the hypnic jerk of creativity

Watercolor technique practice, and some BTS photo cutouts. I am swimming in BTS photocards. Send help. Or binders. Or both.

I’ve been practicing watercolor lately.

I’ve never been good at watercolor. When I was in visual arts conservatory in high school, I usually painted with acrylic but I’ve never been much of a painter. I preferred colored pencils, oil pastels, charcoals, graphite, and gouache — media meant for paper rather than canvas or wood. Watercolor was never a medium I used much, probably because my art teacher wasn’t as comfortable with it, but mostly because I just suck at it.

I suck at absolutely everything when it comes to watercolor. I suck at mixing colors. I suck at controlling how the water moves on the page. I suck at finding the proper ratio between pigment and fluid. I suck at blending, layering, feathering — any of the techniques I have a decent handle on in other media, including digital.

Watercolor reminds me of writing the first Guardians of Dawn book.