Don't Learn The Rules
It's your art, do what you wanna do
There’s a saying attributed to Picasso: “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” I’d like to offer my own version, which is simpler: Don’t learn the rules.
Watercolor, which is my main medium, apparently has lots of rules. I say “apparently” because I’ve heard about some of them, but I’ve been lucky enough to avoid being taught most of them. CAVEAT: Many art rules pertain to safety, because some art materials, like solvents and resins, can be toxic. I would never suggest that you ignore rules about those dangers. But watercolor painting generally doesn’t use toxic materials, and a lot of its “rules” seem made up just to make the medium more difficult.
There are a few watercolor rules that I follow most of the time, because they make sense. Working from light to dark is a good idea, and I usually do this, unless I specifically decide not to. Starting with a dark color and adding a lighter one on top will often produce an unattractively muddy result, which I prefer to avoid. Not eating cadmium-based paints is likewise a good rule of thumb, but I did nibble the cadmium yellow once, just because, and I am still alive.
Then there are rules that I really should follow, but sometimes don’t because I am a fallible human being, like not letting paints dry out in the palette and not leaving brushes in dirty water.
Then there’s the rule that I reject entirely: Don’t use black or white watercolor paint.
According to purists, any white in a watercolor should come from the paper, never from white paint. And black should be a mixture of other colors, never straight black from a tube. Why, then, does every manufacturer produce black and white watercolor paint? Black and white watercolor can look extremely cool:
Why deny yourself this awesomeness when those tubes of black and white are right there? This seems like a rule designed to discourage people from even trying watercolor.
Another rule I learned about recently is that any artwork on paper should be called a drawing, not a painting. Because most watercolors are on paper, this would mean that the pieces I’ve been making for years, using a paintbrush to apply paint, are drawings, not paintings. Huh? I polled some art people on social media about this rule. Some had heard of it, some not, but most seemed to agree that it was 19th century nonsense that could safely be ignored. I have a hard enough time convincing people at festivals that my watercolors are originals, not prints. Imagine if I started telling them that an artwork never touched by a pencil or pen was in fact a drawing.
I’m sure there are strict rules against what I’m doing with my Algorithm pieces, which is painting a watercolor and then printing over it. I hereby grant myself - and you - permission never to learn them. Just do your thing. As long as you’re not doing anything dangerous, why not just ignore the rules? The art police are not coming for you, because the art police exist only in your head.
You can find and purchase my rule-flouting original watercolor paintings (and other art) here. If you would like to see my work in person, you can find my upcoming show schedule here.
Amen! Agree 100%. As someone who rusts sculptures and makes baskets out of undesirable plants, I thank you for putting such good advice out there on the 'nets so we can live it IRL. 😊
Even after four years of university getting a Fine Arts degree, there was nothing I was taught as a “rule”. Techniques sure but no one ever talked about rules. I think the rules stuff comes from people that want to imply a form of authority, often to convince others they are doing something wrong and need their services.
I think art making can be filled with structures, patterns, techniques, strategies and we might even define boundaries for ourselves as we work. But I completely agree with you that rules that come from outside of an artist’s practice should be treated with a high degree of skepticism.
As an aside, I call most of what I make “drawings” but that’s just how they feel to me. That includes using paint, pencils, pens, collage, etc. It’s mostly commercial structures like galleries that enforce labelling artwork as one thing or another to streamline sales and target possible collectors.