Paint Like a 5 Year Old!

Surprising takeaways to implement into your own practice

“Mama, can we make explosions?” This is my new cue to take out the liquid watercolors. Explosions is how my son describes the wet-on-wet-watercolor technique. But just because he is the son of a watercolorist, doesn’t mean he is exempt from the many frustrations of “wa-wa color” (as it’s know around here) no matter how many techniques and tips I share. When it goes well, he has an enviable looseness and ease with abstraction. When it goes badly, he’ll swear off watercolor forever and scrub off his mistakes with a wet paper towel till the paper gets pilled. But thanks to these newfound explosions, he’s taken a new liking to the medium again. I’ve always been a firm believer in nourishing his inner artist since the days the paintbrush landed in his mouth more often than on the paper. I’ll dish out some technique every time we paint together, but I always take notes on how he draws to expand my ideas on what art can be and how I can paint more freely.

1. No technique, all process. I love the idea of the explosions because it’s about embracing the moment and seeing what happens. Paint because you like how it looks while doing it; the final result is irrelevant. How do you implement this? Give yourself restrictions and see what happens. Dampen your watercolor paper and give yourself 2-3 minutes before the first layer of water dries to play around. Pick out a few colors and just let loose to see how water carries the pigment. What if you are allotted 4-5 brushstrokes before you stop? Adapt this exercise to your regular practice as a warm up or backup if you’re not feeling “inspired” in the traditional sense.

2. Experimentation is everything. Enviable mix of colors? Check. Looseness without being caught up in the trap of realism? Check. Free from the constraints of technique and academic training? Check. What is art in its purest form? It’s very much what my son possesses every time I pull out a new sheet of watercolor paper. How can you reincorporate play back into your practice? This can include making a new drawing tool (think taping a paintbrush to the end of a stick), painting large-scale while lying down on the ground, drawing with an opposite hand, cutting up a watercolor and collage it back together again. For more suggestions, check out pages 122-123 in my new book Thinking in Watercolor.

3. Hang it up or throw it out. Maybe it’s a budding artistic personality, but my son has the tendency to either rip up what he doesn’t like immediately or proudly hang it up on the wall as soon as possible. Two weeks ago, I wrote about confronting the conflict in every painting. It happens like clockwork. You’re in the process of making something and you don’t like how it looks. Do you power through and adjust your technique? Or do you stop? I’m not encouraging you to be impulsive like my son, but with adult maturity it’s worth taking a step back to revisit your painting with fresh eyes before doing anything drastic. And absolutely scrap it if you need to.

4. Progress through volume. My parents sold my childhood home in Chicago a decade ago and they compressed my entire childhood into one small UPS box they shipped in the mail. I may have 10 drawings from my childhood, but they were carefully selected because they had something to say and spoke of a very particular moment. This reminded me of a recent quote about creative work from bestselling author and college friend James Clear, who said, “don't underestimate the power of giving yourself permission to create junk. Most of what you create will be mediocre or bad. But that's okay. You only have to show people the good stuff. Make 100 things, discard 90, and share the 10 best. Create, create, create. Edit, edit, edit.” As I like to say, art isn’t just about the paintings that can be framed and sold, but about the years of practice, the scrapped attempts, the chicken scratch napkin sketches and all the lost time staring out the window.

   So I give you the permission to create work with childlike abandon. Do it for the fun and make any decisions later. -jkw

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   Wanna paint with me in Paris? I just announced the dates for my next 5-day Paris Watercolor Retreat November 10-14th 2025. I choose to keep it bespoke and intimate. Spots are limited. Feel free to drop me a line if you’re interested at jessiekanelosweiner @ gmail.com

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