My journey with watercolors

And why I've been afraid to write to you.

You’re reading Soft Hobbies, a weekly newsletter for creatives in all mediums, with a special focus on writers. I’m Auzin, a Seattle-based writer in the fiction, poetry, and tech spheres. Feel free to visit my author website or check out my socials.

Greetings to the 540 softies who subscribe to this newsletter! Thank you for being here.

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Hi softies,

Over 200 of you have joined Soft Hobbies since the last time I wrote to you. I’m overjoyed to be building this space for writers and artists to explore their hobbies and creativity through gentler, slower approaches. I have dozens of ideas for what to write about each week, how to make this more of a community and less of a one-way street, and how I can keep helping other writers, which is my main goal with this newsletter. If you stick around, I hope you can see these ideas come to fruition in 2025 and beyond. Your engagement and encouragement keeps me going.

If the words I write at the top of each post are correct, Soft Hobbies is supposed to be a weekly newsletter. But I haven’t written to you for over three weeks, despite how well this post has been doing (which I’m very thankful for). I’ve been scared, and not without reason. The world doesn’t feel like a place for softness right now. I don’t feel safe living in this country.

Sorry for writing it like this — I want to support and uplift you, but I’ve been afraid to write, even though my most public writing (this newsletter) is not controversial or truly revolutionary at all. I have strong political beliefs, but I choose not to do political or journalistic writing in the public sphere.¹ What does that mean for me? Am I safe because I am silent? Am I safe at all?

Please donate to Rümeysa Öztürk's support fundraiser if you can. Her daylight abduction by ICE has haunted me for a week and feels deeply personal. My mental health and nervous system are suffering, but that’s nothing compared to what she has gone through and continues to go through. Please donate to help cover her legal costs and living expenses through this horrible trauma. I hope she can return home and continue with her studies.

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Before I had readers, I was writing this newsletter for myself, to prove that I could maintain a consistent writing routine and be less afraid to share my work publicly. Soft Hobbies is a promise to myself, one that I make and keep and break and make again. It’s the safest space I can create for myself and my words on the internet. I have to put out words I’m proud of, even if it terrifies me to do so.

And, you are here for the hobbies. For the idea-sharing, inspiration, and accountability. In the spirit of that, I interviewed myself about one of my favorite soft hobbies. Not sure if I’m a better interviewer or interviewee. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Soft Hobbies: Hi, Auzin. How are you today?

Auzin Ahmadi: Hello! I’m having a pretty good day. I did some chores I’d been putting off, and now I’m writing. Very happy that I made time to write today.

SH: Great job. So, I heard you like watercolor painting? How long have you been doing that?

AA: Since 2022. It was an outgrowth of my temporary interest in oil/acrylic painting, when I was basically just making abstract shapes and colors because I liked the texture of the paint on canvas. I think I saw a YouTube tutorial on watercolors, and it made me want to try them out.

SH: Where did you get your first painting supplies?

AA: I got brushes, paints, and canvases for free from a local Buy Nothing group on Facebook in 2019. It was an older person who was clearing out their stuff. I deleted my Facebook, but now I use the Buy Nothing app (it’s not Meta-affiliated) and sometimes I get crafting supplies from there. I buy watercolor paints, brushes, and paper from Etsy, Blick, or my favorite Seattle art store, Artist & Craftsman.

SH: Do you prefer watercolors over oils and acrylics?

AA: I actually use acrylics in tandem with my watercolors sometimes! I use white acrylic for highlights a lot. I don’t use oils anymore because they’re kind of unsafe and I don’t trust the ventilation in my space. Watercolors are super innocuous and barely have a scent to them. They also dry faster and have a more delicate, fluid feel to them. I’m not really a visual artist, and watercolors are good for amateurs who make lots of mistakes.

SH: You say you’re not really a visual artist, but you’ve made more than a hundred paintings since 2022 and you’ve sold your work online and to strangers at art markets.

AA: Wasn’t I supposed to tell you that information before you cited it in the interview?

SH: My bad.

AA: No worries. But yeah, it’s hard for me to call myself a painter. I don’t really feel like I am — it’s a hobby for me. And my paintings have barely any technical skill behind them. It’s just shit I learned from YouTube or copied from a better artist. Writing is basically the only artform I feel truly confident in claiming as part of my identity. I also have a lot of friends (and a partner) who are incredible visual artists with refined personal styles and high levels of technical skill, so I don’t want to pretend that I’m as good as they are.

SH: Do you think they’d mind if you called yourself a painter as well as a writer?

AA: Probably not, they have more important things to care about, to be honest.

SH: What do you like about watercolors?

AA: Watercolor painting is so relaxing. It makes me feel calm and elegant. I can make the same painting 10 times and it will be different each time due to the nature of how the water mixes with the paint. I love making paintings as gifts for people, and I love how low the barrier to entry is for making a painting that I’m proud of.

SH: Which painting are you proudest of?

AA: Definitely the fruit basket still life that hangs in my kitchen. When we moved in, there was this big ugly mark on the wall from a clock or something that had been hanging there before. It couldn’t be removed, but I really wanted to cover it up with art. I cut a sheet of watercolor paper to the right size, found a good reference photo, and did my best to match it. I’m thrilled with how it turned out and was very proud of myself.

SH: Very pretty. What should someone do if they want to get into watercolors, but aren’t sure how to start?

AA: Search “watercolors for beginners” or “easiest watercolor flower” or similar on YouTube. Get the cheapest supplies possible, except for paper, definitely spend the most on good watercolor paper. Listen to your most relaxing music or ASMR videos. Let go of perfection and just enjoy the way the paint mixes with the water.

SH: What can painting offer to a writer? How does it help the writing process?

AA: How does watering flowers help the birds to build their nests?

SH: Thanks Auzin. This was a very interesting interview.

AA: See you next time!

Here’s a few more of my favorite paintings I’ve done:

Keep creating, keep struggling, keep helping each other. I hope to see you next week.

Softly yours,

Auzin

1. This could change in the future.