“Ugh…. I think I’ve messed this up. I’m not sure it can even be fixed. I really don’t want to have to start over again.” I’m working on a project for my Mom’s birthday, and it’s the most involved painting I’ve done to date. When I left off yesterday, I was really happy with it, and then today….I made a BIG mistake!

I tried to fix it, but because the color I was using was a staining color, I couldn’t get it to budge. Before, I would have trashed my painting and started all over again. This time, I decided to think about it for a few minutes and move on to another part of the painting while I figured it out.

A little backstory here — When I first started with watercolor, I always followed step-by-step tutorials. I didn’t vary from what the instructor was doing at all, because anytime I tried to do something on my own, it was a disaster. I didn’t really trust myself to be able to make decisions about anything. Of course, at the time, I wasn’t really equipped to make the right decisions, because I didn’t have enough experience with watercolor yet.

I still have a LOT to learn, but I’m starting to feel a little more confident in my ability to make decisions regarding my artwork. For example, with my mess today, I was able to go back and disguise my mistake. I didn’t panic and destroy the work I’d already done; I gave myself a little time to figure things out.

Because of the things I’ve learned so far, I’m starting to feel more confident in my decisions. That’s huge for me, because I was so timid about trying to do anything on my own.

A few of the small projects I’ve worked on these last couple of months

Now that I’m starting to trust myself more when it comes to my art, I feel I can really start to grow as an artist. Being so afraid to mess up, and not trusting myself to make the right decisions, really has held me back in some respects. The decisions artists make in their work are the things that set them apart from every other artist out there.

Of course, I’m still following tutorials while I develop the foundational skills of watercolor, but I don’t feel I have to be quite so rigid. I’m starting to trust that I can do this, and that I can get good at it eventually.

Do you ever have trouble trusting yourself when it comes to your art? How do you get past that? Please share!