Paint like a Third Grader - How to find your painting style

A third grader just can't seem to color within the lines. If you are a super realist, you should just leave right now before I drive you crazy. Do you draw everything out in precise detail before you start painting. Stop right now! Do you hear me! This is for your own good. Does everything have to be perfect, really! There is no such thing as a perfect painting. If it was perfect, it would be a Photograph, and not a painting.

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I read an article in an art book a long time ago, and it had three different paintings of a bird nest. These three paintings looked exactly alike, but they were painted by 3 different artist. That's what happens when you paint exactly what you see and you don't put a personal touch on it.

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Does that tree really have to be that exact shape? Trees come in every shape imaginable. Try drawing your paintings out in as few lines as humanly possible. This will allow you to make more decisions along the way, and react to the paint. When I paint trees. I paint the foliage first. Then I paint the trunk and branches to fit the shape of the foliage. This helps me to get different shaped trees. If I paint a painting with a road in it, I will draw a line for the horizon and draw the road , that's it. This means I have to make more decisions along the way. The more decisions you make, the more you learn, the faster you will develop your own style. Simplify! Paint outside the lines.

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Fall Leaves
An original splattered watercolor painting
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The foliage in this painting was all splattered on with a 1 inch brush, in 9 separate splatterings.
The tree trunks and the sky were painted last.
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