Practice makes Watercolor and Videos Perfect(ish)

I’ve been thinking about the word ‘practice’ because I’ve been doing videos for my three beginner’s online watercolor courses. This is a new venture for me and there are times when I’ve made mistakes which I’ve addressed by repeating the whole video. My husband does the editing and I don’t want to make too much work for him, so I do it all in one go.

I’m happy to do it in one go because it maintains a flow, which is in keeping with watercolor. The first video was too slow and laborious; I was talking too much! So I willingly repeated it, knowing I had learned from the first attempt. Half way through the second video, the phone rang. A small voice inside me said, ‘stop, you can’t have a phone ringing in a video.’ I ignored the voice and instead said out loud to whom-ever will be listening, ‘there’s my phone, this is my home and the phone rings sometimes.’ The small voice said, ‘no, you really can’t have a phone ringing in a video, it’s not professional, stop now.’ But I didn’t, I noticed that another part of me felt very reluctant to do the ‘whole thing again.’

The left hemisphere of our brain really doesn’t like ‘practicing’ or repeating things – too boring! So I kept going, somewhat conflicted, but none the less I kept going. My husband, who had been upstairs appeared and waved a note in front of me saying, ‘You can’t have the phone ringing in a teaching video. It’s not professional.’ I knew this all along. Really, I knew it.

So I did it again. All good, I was happy with the result; getting better each time. We played it on our TV and it seemed fine, till my husband said, ‘what’s that hum?’ I hadn’t noticed a hum, but when he drew my attention to it, yes, there was a hum, a noticeable hum in the background. The gas heater! ‘Oh, it’ll be ok won’t it? No one will notice a hum…’

I’m doing it again this weekend and actually, I’m willing, because this time, we’ll turn off the phones, use an electric heater and I can address the odd little slip up I made in the painting demos, which of course no one would have noticed…

As an artist, I regularly repeat things (over and over sometimes) in my desire to realise the vision that sparks and ignites the creative process. I have an art ‘practice’ which involves mindfulness. I often begin with something that doesn’t come anywhere near the vision and so, move on, opening to the next moment and evolving with each discovery. I just keep going from moment to moment, absorbed in the process, till I get close to the vision. Sometimes I abandon the painting if it doesn’t satisfy me and accept the ‘failure’ (sometimes I have a hissy fit!) as part of the practise.

Making videos is a new experience for me, so my left hemisphere, which is only comfortable with what it already knows, is resisting the process. I know, through my years of experience as an artist, that it will come on board when it sees there is an outcome to be gained. It takes a conscious effort; a choice, to shift the attention from the resistance of the left, to the openness of the right, moment by moment.

Today I’m doing my video again. I think I can develop a ‘video making practice.’

In my three beginners watercolor courses you can learn how to create subtle light tones and luscious darks with simple autumn leaves.