Fluffy Bluebird

12” x 16”; Watercolor on paper; 2020

This handsome little fella was the first bird I painted in watercolor. I’d hemmed and hawed and procrastinated and made excuses for why I couldn’t paint birds in watercolor, but ultimately it boiled down to the fact that I’d gotten comfortable painting in acrylic and was afraid to fail if I tried to paint them in watercolor. I had so much fun with this guy once I gave myself permission to fail. It turns out that was the wall that needed to come down. Once I shifted the focus from “doing it well” to “doing it with joy”, I started growing in skill in leaps and bounds. I’ve tried to make that a permanent shift, and to translate it to other areas of my life as well. I am a perfectionist by nature. I want to do things well or not at all, and as a result I managed to tie my own hands behind my back by limiting myself to things I knew I could succeed at. Now when I find myself getting fixated on perfection, I remind myself that I don’t have to do it perfectly; I just need to do it with joy.