As much as I hate to admit it I let the quarantine knock me off balance. Even though we are fortunate to live in a small, isolated community and we have been able to get outside the entire time, it still got to me. So, at the beginning of June I finally embarked on a 30-day watercolor challenge. For so long perfectionism has stopped me from even trying, knowing that the whole things was, well rather ambitious. All in all, it took 40 days to finish 30 paintings, and then a few more to get around to writing this. Even though it was far from perfect, I enjoy setting big goals for myself and have also learned how to hold them loosely, keeping in mind what the real purpose is. For this challenge the real purpose was to paint more, and the challenge was how I was going to accomplish this. I was stuck and I knew to get back in the creative flow I had to just start somewhere. Overwhelm can be one of the biggest hurdles to creating so I knew I had to pick something narrow enough to avoid that trap, yet wide enough to keep it interesting.
Thankfully, quarantine life is still pretty wild in Alaska so painting something from the day seemed a good enough challenge, plus it doubled as motivation to get outside most days. As much as the perfectionist in me cringes to think about it, I have to admit quarantine life has been challenging. In many ways it still is, though the ample open space and long summer days help a lot. I’ve been putting together scrapbooks for a few years and had been meaning to get around to doing some illustrations for it, though typically I work larger than 4×6” and 3×4” needed for the scrapbook. This was a great challenge though, the pieces from day to day life in Southeast Alaska were small enough that painting one per day was not totally insane. Still, the goal was held loosely. After all, it is summer and in the midst of fishing season, and both are gone in the blink of an eye.
A few years ago I read something along the lines of done is better than perfect and this is a motto I repeat to myself over and over. Every time I painted something I was so so about, or every time I got behind and was tempted to throw in the towel because I wasn’t doing it perfectly, I repeated this and kept moving forward. This challenge also helped me continue to face and challenge the perfectionist in me and I will definitely do another challenge in the future… in the winter months!
Takeaways
- Flow of Ideas: In the beginning I was hesitant to take on the challenge out of fear the ideas would quickly dry up. Some days were more challenging, though the ideas kept coming. In fact, I even sketched out a few larger pieces while doing this after a few months of being really stuck!
- Social Media: The biggest take away for me was that trying to share the progress daily was just too much for me. People use social media for a variety of reasons, and to be honest it is a space I use mostly for a small handful of friends and family that want to see art and photos of Alaska. Before quarantine I had been of Instagram for over a year and half and had been off and on good old Facebook during that time. I use it just to share something that some may find beautiful, or to share things that may make people smile. In a way it helps keep in touch with some people, though I generally do not find social media to be a place where I am able to genuinely connect or have meaningful conversations. Connecting with other artists is the one thing I do really love, though I will be in honest and say that it can also be discouraging when you are also an artist and stuck in a rut…or if you are seeing photos of adventures you cannot have because quarantine life looks different where you are. This is part of the reason I wanted to share adventures through illustrations, to try and bring you into the adventure instead of just showing you mine. It will take more practice to do this and that’s okay because I will continue focusing on progress instead of perfection.
- Speed/Expectations: I am so thankful for the experience and for having gotten unstuck. At this same time trying to create at that pace resulted in some self-induced anxiety. Having some flexibility while also working persistently towards goals is something that is important to me. After a few weeks I altered my expectations from finishing a painting a day to working on one for at least an hour, even it took longer to finish. This helped the whole challenge be more enjoyable, after all it was supposed to be fun!
Have you ever done a creative challenge? If not, and you want to, why not? If you have, what were your big takeaways?
