Relinquish control and unleash creativity

When I first dabbled in paint as a kid, as most of us did, the rules were simple. Try to hit the page. Thick, pasty watercolor paint limited to the primary colors was slopped on vast, thirsty newsprint sheets. This was raw creativity at its best.

In high school, I found acrylic paint to be my medium of choice. Not only does it dry faster, but it is also bursting with rich color and dramatic power that suits me. It was a reliable, controllable medium.

Years later, I decided to take some watercolor classes. My desire to flex a new form of creativity came unexpectedly, and I found I enjoyed working with a medium that allowed the paint and white parts of the paper to do the work. I could work and rework the piece until I achieved the desired result. However, with watercolor, too much reworking ensures disaster.

Until that point, all of my artistic training had left me in control. With watercolors, it was like starting over and reverting to childhood. I had to learn to relinquish control over the process. I did a series of mini exercises—water, three or four tubes of color, and a five-minute time limit after which I had to walk away. At first, the five minutes seemed like five seconds, but I continued until, in five-minute stretches, I could pump out some interesting freeform paintings that have since found their way into our family room.

Ultimately, I realized that being open to what was available to me and allowing the medium to guide the process helped me to create something I could never have achieved if I had restricted my focus to include only what I could control. In certain ways, the very definition of being creative means to relinquish control.