Whether watercolor painter, sculptor, drawing student, or any other artist, all encounter so-called rules of their craft. But do they really matter? I have taught art classes and had enough conversations with artists to know that many do hold dear certain rules.

And yet, very few rules must always be obeyed. In fact, artists have been defying the rules for centuries. For instance, back in the sixteen hundreds, the artists of the Baroque period flaunted some of the established rules for art at that time. One such rule called for full light falling upon the people in portraits. Rembrandt, among many, went his own way and cast dark shadows across the figures, thus obscuring even parts of faces. What he may have lost in full disclosure he more than made up in a rich, complex, even mysterious piece, not to mention subtle implications about the person portrayed.

Today, even some artists who depict in exactitude purposefully fail to include all the details. For example, medical artists focus on the specified parts of the body and leave out some others in order to highlight the important parts, their functions, and their relationship to each other.

Yet, those who are beginning to paint or draw unnecessarily constrain themselves with rules. Some may believe they should not use a ruler to draw straight lines; they should draw them freehand. But no such rule exists. Artists have a choice. And I make my own. When I draw a straight line, I may or may not use a ruler; it depends. Sometimes, for the pencil drawing, I will use a straightedge. And most of the time, for the actual watercolor painting, I go freehand because I prefer the hand-done look and I feel the hard edge of an exactly rendered line goes against the overall impression of the picture. Other times, I want that contrast—hard line versus softness in the rest of the painting. It all depends, and I, the artist, get to decide.

Rules are not made to be broken. But they can give us creative types ideas of what to try next—that is, what to go against, what to do differently, what can set us apart because no one else has done that before. And I emphasize “try.” Doing differently may not give good results. Doing differently does not automatically confer superiority over the old way. Doing differently has no more validity than doing as it has always been done. It all depends.

We artists constantly experiment. That is how we learn, improve, get out of ruts, reach new heights. (And, yes, this applies to all of life.) And you, the viewer, as well as we, the artists, decide whether we have succeeded.