Your painting style isn’t about choosing a look

Watercolor Notes June 18, 2026 In this issue Reader responses to last week’s newsletter My crazy day What’s available Question of the week Looking Back Hi Reader,In my last newsletter, I wrote about creative resistance, the invisible force field that shows up right when you’re supposed to be painting. I used the analogy of magnets that I played with as a kid. No matter how hard you push the opposing poles together, they won’t go. That’s what resistance feels like, not laziness, just a force…

Watercolor Notes:Resistance with a capital R A recent plein air painting Hi Reader, Here’s a very random analogy for you, so stick with me…growing up on a ranch, there were always a couple of cow magnets in my dad’s animal-medical kit. I played with them as a kid and no matter how you tried to push the opposing sides together, they just wouldn’t go. There was this invisible force field of resistance between them, and I could feel the push against my hands. (In case you’re wondering, cow…

Watercolor Notes Hi Reader, I hope your May has been a creative one so far. I took Ellie to the beach yesterday and she dug a big hole. What she really loves is rescuing a small stick from the depths of the sand. If I find a stick and push it down into the hole she’s already dug, the game really begins. It’s serious work and play at the same time. She has to problem-solve and that’s what she loves most. This is similar to the reason why I enjoy watercolor painting so much. Painting is one…