Hello my fellow creatives!

I hope everyone is doing great, or at least hanging in there! Here in Finland we're having the darkest and coldest months of the year, and it's starting to take its toll on me. Luckily Christmas is just around the corner and with it comes a short break from the everyday work life.

How will you spend your holidays? Will you have the chance to take a moment just for yourself? How about immersing yourself in world of watercolor painting for a while?

I feel it's sometimes hard to pick up the brushes, because I fear I won't be able to paint something in the way that I expected or wanted to. Half of the time I envisioned the final piece would look one way, but it turned out to be something totally different - and not in a good way! But do you know what I've started to learn recently? Self-compassion and kindness towards myself.

If something goes wrong, let it.

If you make a mess, make even a bigger mess.

Your art doesn't define your worth as a human being.

There's bound to be mistakes and blunders - they are part of life as well as painting. That's one way to learn and to go forward. Every time you pick up the brush, you'll learn something about painting, and sometimes about yourself. Embrace it. Try to be free of expectations and just see where each painting session takes you, because in the end, it's irrelevant how your painting turned out to be. However, it's crucial how painting it made you feel. Did you enjoy it, did you get frustrated, happy, proud, sad, <insert your emotion here>? In this way painting can be seen as a form of self-care.

So how about it, do you feel like painting today? If you're looking for some inspiration, why not check out my newest class? It's a quick watercolor class of 40 minutes where we'll create this wintery pine tree branch:

Remember to take care of yourself and do enough of the things you love and enjoy! Happy holidays everyone!

Love,

Liisa

Liisa Halttunen

Skillshare-taught watercolor artist

94

20

Company

Community

Teaching

Mobile

Company

Community

Teaching