Technique is a Trap + Not a Tutorial

I realized something recently: I haven't taken a technique class in years. No workshops on "proper" brushwork, no tutorials on the "right" way to layer paint, no courses promising to teach me the fundamentals I'm supposedly missing.

And, my work has never felt more like me.

That's not a coincidence.

I see this a lot - so many people are convinced they need to learn MORE before they can create anything authentic and real. One more class on color theory. Another tutorial on composition. The "correct" way to hold a brush, mix paint, prepare a surface.

Every new technique you learn adds another layer of someone else's rules to your process. Every "correct method" is another voice in your head judging whether you're doing it "right."

That’s when work looks like your teachers' work. Competent, maybe. Correct, sure. But not yours.

At some point—and this is the hard part—you have to stop taking technique classes and start making marks that belong to you. Even if they're "wrong." Especially if they're wrong.

I finally stopped trying to do it right and just did it. Covering up paintings. Making marks, hating them, putting more marks and paint on top of that. Using materials "incorrectly." Letting the mess and ugly parts be part of the process instead of something to fix.

There’s an exercise in the Wild Creation Guide about making something, then making it again by covering up the first version. That's not a technique. That's permission to stop performing competence and start exploring what wants to come through you.

When I share these studio videos of me working, I'm not showing you the "right way." I'm showing you MY way, developed through years of just...doing it. Probably breaking rules I don't even know exist.

Watch if you're curious about one person's process. Then do it your own way.

Mounting Canvas to Panel - How I attach canvas to rigid panels. Unedited, real process, imperfect results.

Applying Gesso - a curated collection of studio ephemera - marks, experiments, and paint-off papers from my real-life creative practice.My approach to priming surfaces. Maybe not the textbook method, I don’t really know, just what works in my studio.

These aren't tutorials. They're glimpses. Take what resonates, ignore the rest, or do it completely differently. That's the whole point.

Speaking of making marks that are yours - I just put something new in the studio shop. It's called Quick Start Marks and it's literally designed to get you unstuck and making things right now.

15+ handmade textures and marks from my actual studio practice (the stuff that happens between paintings, the experiments, the beautiful accidents), 3 phone wallpapers made from my work, and the "Make Something Ugly On Purpose" prompt that breaks through creative paralysis.

Print them and cut them up for collage. Layer them under your own marks. Use them as warm-up exercises. Make something deliberately bad with them.

These aren't precious resources you'll save for "when you're better." They're functional tools to get you moving. Use them, tear them apart, experiment - whatever serves your creative spirit.

$7 - Quick Start Marks (PD Ebook, easy to print, instant download)

If you're sitting here wondering "but what do I do with these?" - that paralysis is exactly what this addresses. Pick one mark. Set a timer. Make something. That's it.

As always, I’d love to hear from you - just hit reply and let me know your thoughts, questions and current projects. I read and reply to every message!

Be Brilliant!

Monette

P.S. Those studio videos? Just me working. No script, no polish, no "correct technique." Watch them here: Canvas mounting | Gesso application