![\"Watercolor](\"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015-06-02_01.jpg\")
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There was a time I half-apologized for my paintings. I called them “little watercolors.” “Not real art, but I like them.” Or, “just something I do now and then.”<\/p>\n
I dismissed them because I compared them to an ideal, rather than appreciating them for what they were: experiments in colors, shapes, patterns. A genuine communication of how mysterious and beautiful I found life to be.<\/p>\n
But there’s only ever going to be one Van Gogh. Or Monet. We’re each unique. So the only painter I can possibly be is myself.<\/p>\n
I’m not a formally trained artist. I haven’t spent my life studying and practicing painting. But I love to paint, and I love what<\/em> I paint, imperfections and all. Painting satisfies the non-verbal part of me that has things to express. Even if it’s “just” flower patterns, or a mandala of multi-colored petals. Or a mermaid sitting in a quarter moon.<\/p>\n Each time I paint, I learn something new\u2014about my technique, about shapes, and about what I’m trying to express.<\/p>\n Life is the same way. It’s the practice of taking chances, expressing our uniqueness, and growing into ourselves. It’s all about learning through making mistakes, getting up, and trying again.<\/p>\n And when I think of life as practice<\/em>, I can let go of the ideal of perfection. I can choose to take imperfect action.<\/p>\n What do you hold yourself back from doing because you fear it won’t be “good enough”?<\/strong><\/p>\n How would your life change if you did it anyway?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There was a time I half-apologized for my paintings. I called them “little watercolors.” “Not real art, but I like them.” Or, “just something I do now and then.” I dismissed them because I compared them to an ideal, rather than appreciating them for what they were: experiments in colors, shapes, patterns. A genuine communication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-painting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172,"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Watercolor](\"https:\/\/www.juliebaldwin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015-06-02_02.jpg\")
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