What to do when you don't know what to paint? (3 Watercolor Action Steps)

Maybe you’ve had this happen to you - You finally get that quiet time to paint, you enter your workspace, get all your supplies ready - and you have no idea what to paint. Instead of diving into this thing you love, you find yourself scrolling for that perfect reference photo that gives you that spark of inspiration. 

I’ve had times where deciding what to paint has taken me longer than actually painting it. 

To help you prevent this frustration, I have three pieces of advice and three action steps.  

First for a few ways that you can shift your mindset:

1. Feel free to take elements of an everyday scene and make it your own. There is no perfect reference photo, so use your creative license to change what you have. Rearrange things, add to the scene, change the time of day, or add shadows. You are the artist, and you can alter whatever you’d like to create a scene that excites you.
2. You don’t have to paint subjects that are typically painted. Just because other people don’t commonly paint a certain scene doesn’t mean you can’t. A while back, I posted a video of a painting of an auto parts store that I did - something not commonly depicted in paintings. But I painted this scene because I loved its atmosphere and light.

• Pay attention to what you pay attention to. Perhaps the best way to become acquainted with your preference when it comes to scenes to paint is to look for trends in what draws your attention. 

And finally, my recommended action steps:

1. Start a note on your phone or paper where you record the scenes that catch your eye. Take a picture and write just a few phrases about what it is about the scene that interests you. 

• At the end of the week, go back and review these pictures in the notes and see if they have anything in common. Look for common trends. Notice anything that surprises you or sticks out from the ordinary observations. Is there a scene that you wouldn’t normally paint included?

• Pick one of these scenes to paint OR pick a common theme that you see within these photographs to practice. For example, if you notice that you are attracted to scenes with a lot of contrast, practice this element. If you notice that water appeals to you, take some time to strengthen your skills in painting water and reflections.

The more that you can become sensitive to the things that you're sensitive to and the more skills that you can develop to paint those things that you're excited about, the more of you that you're going to put into your art.

To wrap things up, I want you to think about this simple equation: time plus sensitivity plus practice equals personal style. 

So taking the things that you know you're excited about - that you want to paint - and practicing those things explicitly and with consistency will help you to develop and understand your own personal style. This is a journey and can take years, but the more sensitive you become to the things that you're sensitive to, the quicker that journey is going to be. 

I hope this helped give you some ways to avoid scrolling through photos and searching for inspiration. Until next time, keep working, keep pushing, and keep moving forward in your painting!