Two years ago, someone told me, “Art isn’t that serious. Just pour the paint. Come on.”
As I’ve been practicing watercolor more, I think about that quote. I don’t agree. I’ve learned how differently people view creativity.
When she said it, I felt rushed. Like I didn’t have a place in my art. The colors I chose reflected what I liked. I wanted my canvas to look like a geode I had as a kid that my mom tossed because “it’s just a rock”.
Crafting vs. art
If you only look at art as putting mediums together and not the intricacies of the styles, techniques and purposes behind it — paying no mind to those things or your perspective — you’re ignoring what art is about.
You’re crafting.
Art is an expression, whereas crafting is replication. There is nothing wrong with crafting, but it’s not the same as engaging with art as a form of communication, culture or identity.
I forgot my pour painting at her house, but I’m leaning towards creating a new piece anyways based on how I engage with art now. Back then, I felt rushed by her annoyance and disconnected from my art.
Through watercolor painting, I’ve connected with art. I didn’t grow up making art. It wasn’t quite allowed in my conservative home. I couldn’t do anything messy, so no scissors or glue — and definitely not paints!
So I’m curious to see how I might feel about creating a pour painting now. 🤔
Art as cultural dialogue
I fell onto this whole topic I’m writing about now while watching a workshop on drawing and painting Islamic geometric patterns by Samira Mian.
And I remembered learning about Japanese brushwork when I looked up the origins of kanji (because I don’t just learn languages — I look into how they’re developed).
Learning about different art forms showed me that art carries culture, history and belief.
Watercolor painting is more than a “pretty medium” where people paint flowers or landscapes. The way it flows can reflect philosophical or cultural ideas.
To paint with watercolor, one must slow down, relax and stop trying to control everything — which sounds like an oxymoron because watercolor is ALL about water control!
The first thing I thought when I saw Samira’s workshop was, “Ooh, I’m watching that.”
The second thought I had about it: “If my family knew I was learning about this, they would freak out.” I thought of one relative who would accuse me of cultural appropriation despite me learning traditional methods from someone else who has studied Islamic geometric patterns and made a career out of teaching people like me!
(And it’s the same person who told me not to take art seriously and do it without thinking.)
Why art is serious to ME
Art is serious because people are serious.
To take the time to learn the story behind a style, or the culture behind a technique, is to treat both the art — and the people — with the respect they deserve.
Learning about the stories and the cultures alongside the techniques expands my worldview and helps me be more empathetic.
Artistry is a discipline. I began learning watercolor in 2023. I sucked to much and didn’t give much thought to what I painted.
The more I learned about watercolor, the more intentional I became. Because, with watercolor, you have to be intentional. You have to think ahead a little bit of where and what you will be painting, the colors you’ll be using, and how much water to use.
Otherwise, you wind up with messy watercolor paintings you can’t even salvage.
Plus…if I only cared to paint the “easy” styles without care for the education behind those styles, that would lean into appropriation. It’d also be soulless…and what’s the point of that?
Art has become the method I feel I best express myself — what’s on my mind, what I care about, how I experience the world, why I paint the way I paint.
I swapped a written journal and blogging about all the drama in my life for a watercolor journal and have not looked back. Painting makes me feel so zen.
Time and energy go into my art as an expression of me. Art is serious because I’m serious about myself and what I put into it.
However, I’m not so serious that I cannot handle mistakes or never “go with the flow”. I do go with the flow — of the brush, of the paint, of the water.
Art as a form of sociology
Through art, we can observe
- Change over time – how movements like surrealism, futurism or even graffiti reflect resistance, progress or unrest
- Cultural values – what a society prioritizes: beauty, order, faith, rebellion
- Group identity – what symbols, patterns or stories unite people
- Power dynamics – who gets to be called an “artist”; whose styles get stolen or dismissed
- Social norms – what’s considered socially appropriate or taboo to express
Engaging with art through this lens means I ask, “What does this say about the people who made it and the world they lived in?” — it’s a cultural analysis.
When I reflect on my own place in the cultural analysis, I’m adding my own data to the social story — asking, “How do we fit into the world together?”
In addition to painting, I’m also witnessing
- belief systems
- class structures
- colonization
- evolution
- gender roles
- globalization
- resistance
I’ve never been able to “just read a book” because of this, either…but I also wouldn’t change a thing if I could. I love this about me.
This is how I’ve always experience the world as an autistic person…probably because I didn’t fit in with my non-autistic family growing up.
Do you take your art seriously? Let me know in the comments below!
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