What's Holding You Back From Watercolor Painting? How to Spot Resistance and Take a Baby Step

The one thing holding you back from painting what you want, as often as you want, is resistance. The way through it is to notice it when it shows up, then take a baby step. Painting is often a metaphor for life, so spotting resistance in your painting can help you spot it elsewhere too.

Why This Matters

Resistance is often what stands between you and the painting you want to make. It can show up as a step in your process that just feels like too much. For example, I don't tape my paintings, because for me it's too much resistance. I just want to paint, without worrying about the tiny details. If you like to tape, that's totally fine. It just doesn't work for my own practice.

Resistance can also come from something that used to help. I once held myself to keeping my Instagram feed beautiful, perfect and cohesive. It helped me grow my account and find my community, but I realized it was no longer serving me, and it was causing a lot of resistance to creating. Perfection can quietly get in the way of results.

What you notice about resistance in your painting often shows up in the rest of your life too.

Try This

Recognize the resistance, then take a baby step. When you feel resistance to something, notice it first. Then take one small step toward it, instead of trying to push through the whole thing at once. If you're not sure where yours is, start by asking which part of your painting practice you keep putting off.

Want to Go Deeper?

If this resonated, you may also find this related Quick Tip helpful. It offers one way to approach those days when you don’t feel like painting:

Lazy Watercolor Painting: What to Do When You Don't Feel Like Painting

Ready to Keep Building Your Painting Habit?

If you're working on painting more consistently, my Free Studio Paint-Along is a good place to keep building that habit.

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If you're curious about my overall approach to teaching watercolor, you can find that on my about page.