Eleven years ago, I remember the resignation that I felt when I found that I was pregnant and the doctor told me that I needed to reconsider my oil paints. I remember converting my art studio to a nursery, and the final oil painting that I created there. I remember struggling with difficult and confusing watercolors that could not be corrected. I made the switch to exclusively watercolor about eleven years ago. I finally gave away the last of my oil paints and I don’t regret it. Here are some of the reasons I love watercolor:
Health concerns: I was pregnant with my son and was advised to be careful about getting paint on my skin. Some of the chemicals in oil paint are harmful and difficult to wash off.
Speed of drying: watercolors, even wet washes are dry in about 30 minutes. Oils can take weeks to dry.
Speed of working: water dries fast and I can cover a large amount of paper in a short amount of time. Sometimes I can knock out a small watercolor in under an hour.
Studio space: I can stack 5 or 6 large watercolors in a corner of my studio or bedroom. They are portable and easy to store - even for someone who might not have an art studio.
Finished works store easier too: Paper is easy to lie flat in a drawer or portfolio. Canvasses are a lot bulkier.
Market saturation: There are more oil and acrylic artists in my area than watercolorists. I have less competition for art buyers who like watercolor.
The paints are portable: A small palette, brushes, and a watercolor block can fit in a small bag for on-location sketching.
Art prints are easy. I have a great scanner and professional printer. Sometimes it's hard to see the difference in my original art and a high-quality print on hot pressed paper. No canvas texture stands in the way of beautiful and true-to-life prints.
I love my watercolor paints and couldn’t imagine switching back to oil. Sometimes the obstacles that we face lead us towards the path we were meant to take. Was there an obstacle that pointed you down an unexpected path?
Edit and print beautiful posters for your next concert or recital using my concert poster templates. Here's how my templates can make it easy to create beautiful promotional materials for your music.
Since I want to focus on creating beautiful art, I’ll let someone else handle the manufacturing, shipping, and delivery.I’ll sell templates, downloads, and of course, my original art on my own site. I’ll still work with a few trusted partners to create things like canvas art and cell phone cases to sell on my own site, but my plan is to shift a lot of the products to places like Redbubble and Zazzle so my international customers can have a better experience with my art.
The CASE actaims to make it easier and more affordable for artists and copyright holders to assert authorship rights if their work is infringed. They could go to small-claims court or a regional court to file a dispute. I still hope that it's a long time before I have to go to battle for my rights as a creator, but I'm grateful that there are other organizations campaigning to make the process easier for creatives like me.
