I have been coloring for a bit now, and have learned some things.
First off, less is sometimes more. There’s the tendency to want to fill the page with color immediately, because isn’t that what you’re doing? But I have fought that urge and to enjoy the white space, the negative space. It’s a tendency to appreciate the white color, to fight against the grain and to explore what feels right. It takes an eye to figure out the colors, and I hope I gain more of that as I go on.
The second is that you just have to live with your mistakes. I have made many color errors with my pencils and pens, but I can’t go back in time and they’re on the page. I can’t erase it, or start anew. I either move on or throw it out. There are the only two options. I made a mistake, and I move forward. That’s what you have to do. But it’s harder to apply this to real life. There are moments when you’re stuck in the past, what you should have done. Then there are moments when you’re stuck in the future, focusing on where you should be, or where you want to me. I used to be happy or I will be happy when I have that job. But there is just now. And once you free yourself of the burden of the past, you’ll become lighter. I’m not saying don’t realize the mistake, but realize it and move forward. It just takes time to dwell and get stuck. Life will move forward regardless. So I color the next section, knowing it isn’t perfect, and accepting that.