World Watercolor Month: Day 7 — Go and Live

Good morning, and welcome to Day 7 of my World Watercolor Month journal.

Today's entry is a little different.

Instead of writing from my painting table, I'm recording this from my car on the way to work. I didn't quite have my thoughts together before my morning painting session, but something I heard during my drive stayed with me, and I wanted to share it.

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The Professional Artist Podcast, featuring figurative painter Alia El-Bermani. During the conversation, she offered one simple piece of advice that immediately resonated with me:

Go and live.

Those three words stayed with me for the rest of my drive.

As artists, it's easy to spend so much time inside our own heads.

We wonder if we're painting the "right" subject. We worry whether people will like our work. We question if what we're creating is good enough or whether it will ever lead to something bigger.

Sometimes we spend so much energy thinking about making art that we forget to simply experience life.

The truth is, our best artwork often comes from the lives we've actually lived.

That thought became even more meaningful this morning as I worked on a painting for my aunt. She asked me to paint a bowl of tropical fruit with flowers.

At first, I thought, A bowl of fruit? How am I going to connect with that?

But as I began painting, I realized I already had.

Every fruit I added carried a memory.

The papayas reminded me of the papaya trees my father grew in our backyard.

The guavas took me back to summer afternoons picking fruit from my grandmother's tree.

The oranges reminded me of the little tangerine tree outside our family home.

Then came the mangoes, bananas, and finally two bright hibiscus flowers.

As a child, we had hibiscus bushes growing in front of our house. I remember picking the flowers, tucking them behind my ear, and even tasting the tiny drops of sweet nectar hidden inside them.

Suddenly, I wasn't just painting fruit.

I was painting memories.

I was painting home.

That realization reminded me that art isn't always about finding the perfect subject. Sometimes it's about discovering the stories we already carry with us.

Today's Thought

Go and live.

Travel.

Spend time with family.

Take walks.

Learn new things.

Make memories.

Then bring those experiences back to your sketchbook.

Your paintings don't have to look like anyone else's because no one else has lived your life.

That's what makes your work unique.

Every brushstroke carries a little bit of your story.

Thank you for joining me for the first week of my World Watercolor Month journal. It's been a joy sharing these mornings with you, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the rest of the month leads.

If today's post spoke to you, I'd love to hear from you in the comments. Has a place, a memory, or a person ever inspired something you've created? I'd love to hear the story behind your art—or simply the memories that make you smile. Until next time, go and live... then come back and create.

Fruit painting in sketchbook

Fruit painting in sketchbook