My Most Useful Watercolour Mindset (After 12+ Years of Painting)
Have you ever found yourself wondering what loose watercolour painting actually means?
I can promise you you're not the only one. After a good many years of watercolour, I want to share the two tips that I found to be the most helpful in allowing me to embrace this forgiving and fun approach to watercolour.
What Does "Loose" Actually Mean?
The term "loose watercolour painting" gets thrown around a lot, but its meaning can feel surprisingly elusive. Rather than trying to pin down a universal definition, I've found it more helpful to consider what this approach means for your own artistic journey. The answer often lies in understanding your deeper motivations for picking up a brush.
One of my biggest reasons to paint comes from a desire to unwind and capture life's small, precious moments. Picture this: you enter a room and peripherally notice fresh flowers in a vase. Before you consciously register their details, they've already brightened your mood with their burst of colour and vitality. That instant of joy—that's the essence I'm after in my paintings.
Now, some might interpret this as taking shortcuts or being careless with technique. However, I believe successful loose work still requires solid fundamentals—thoughtful composition, well-balanced values, and harmonious colour relationships remain essential.
These foundational elements ensure your subject remains identifiable and compelling. Mastering them takes genuine dedication and practice. So rather than viewing loose painting as an excuse for laziness, I see it as cultivating an approach rooted in confidence and joy.
This philosophy inspired the motto for my Happy Painters Monthly Membership: 🤗 bold hands, glad heart 🤗 which perfectly captures my vision of what loose painting embodies.
Expressive Painting vs. Photo-Perfect Realism
When discussing loose techniques, you'll often encounter the term "painterly"—both words essentially describe artwork that prioritizes emotional expression over precise detail. This stands in contrast to hyperrealistic approaches, where success is measured by how closely the painting mirrors a photograph. But here's my question: if perfect photographic accuracy is the goal, why not simply display the photograph itself?
One of the things I love about a painting is the evidence of someone's hand and heart, woven inextricably into the artwork and bringing the piece to life. I like a painting to look like… a painting! Every artwork tells a story, and the artist inevitably becomes part of that narrative, whether intentionally or not.
There's something quite magical about that, don't you think? ✨
While I want my subjects to be clearly recognisable, I'm not interested in rendering every minute detail to the point of overworking the piece. When painting florals, I aim for them to clearly read as flowers—but more like a heartfelt impression than a scientific botanical study. I've noticed that overly tight paintings often reveal the artist's struggle and tension, which can overshadow the very qualities that made the subject worth painting initially.
The original spark of delight that drew you to paint something specific can easily get buried under layers of laborious detail-chasing.
And honestly, how can you truly relax into the creative process when you're stressed about capturing every tiny element perfectly?
It simply doesn't work that way.
Tip #1: Let Go of Expectations
So if you want to have a go at painting in a loose style, here's my first tip: try and let go of expectation. Painting is so much more fun if you can let go of needing it to turn out exactly like the reference photo.
The tendency to doubt oneself is seldom keener than when we commit brush to paper. Doubt makes us self-conscious and hypercritical. I think that might be the very opposite of fun. But fun makes the best paintings. Starting off with a thought that you just want to see what you get when you paint a loose interpretation of your subject is likely to be far more pleasurable and far more successful.
I think sometimes it comes down to a question of trust. We have to trust ourselves, have a little faith in our ability to make something lovely on the page and to know that it can be lovely even if it's not exactly as we had seen it in the reference that inspired us in the first place. So my first tip, as I say, is all about letting go of your own expectations.
Tip #2: Collaborate with Your Paint
But that doesn't mean that the burden is now all on you to create a loose painting. Because actually, here's where we come to my second tip. And that is to collaborate with your paint. Because actually, the paint is here to help you. I like to think of it more as a creative partner. Watercolour does such fascinating, amazing things if you let it, rather than trying to control it.
What that means in practical terms is that it's best not to fuss too much. Place the paint on the page and then see what it does next. Let the paint and the water and the paper fibers decide exactly how the pigments are going to disperse and settle in your painting because this is where watercolor shines. Again, I think we might be coming back to that question of trust.
Trust in yourself to be able to make something of what comes on the page and trust in your supplies to let them do what they do best. Between the two of you, you're going to make something lovely. And you know…whether it turns out perfectly lovely in your opinion at the end is not quite as important as how much fun you have in the process.
It's All About Mindset
If you've heard about watercolor being a nightmare to control, ignore all of that. Treat it as your collaborative partner. Take a breather and let it help you. Loosen up and paint just for the fun of it.
Like so many things, I think a positive painting experience comes down to mindset. A mindset that is free of the expectation of getting things perfect and that is open to collaboration—collaboration with your watercolor supplies and trusting that you will be able to make something of what appears on the page.
Understanding that mindset is key is all very well, but of course, it would be helpful to have some very practical tips - the steps to take when you're faced with brush, paper, paint, and water.
Those very practical tips are exactly what I share in this post right here 👈.
Happy painting!
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