Abigail Morales: Capturing Lyon’s Everyday Beauty Through Watercolour Art
Abigail Morales, a Mexican watercolor artist living in Lyon, shares her creative journey from a hesitant start to embracing her passion for art. In this post, she reflects on the pivotal moments that led her to pursue watercolor painting full-time, offering insights and tips for fellow artists navigating their own creative paths. This is Abigail’s story in her own words.
On Who Abigail Morales Is & The Spark
I've always considered myself someone creative, but I never actually listened to the voices inside me, telling me to go that way. I was also very stubborn.
I am Aby, a Mexican watercolor and surface designer living in France, in the inspiring city of Lyon, creating and sharing my creativity with the world.
It wasn’t until one afternoon, after spending the whole morning dealing with administrative papers in a bureaucratic office, that I finally listened to my creative calling. The place felt like a black hole of creativity—gray and dull. When I left, everything felt inspiring. I was back in a colorful world. My heart was screaming to see beautiful things. I just wanted to go home and do something creative.
When I arrived at the tramway station, I saw one leaving. The next one was coming in seven minutes, which felt like an eternity! Fortunately, there’s an art store in front of the station that I had always intended to visit but never did because of a lack of time. Now, I had no excuse and seven minutes to kill. Needless to say, I missed several tramways after that. The place absorbed me with its colors and lovely sketchbooks, and I left the store with my first watercolor palette.
From there, I dove headfirst into the world of creativity, art, colors, and cute universes that now fill my life almost entirely. Funny thing, I don’t mind doing my administrative papers anymore because now I associate that place with a nice memory.
Abigail doing what she does best
On Handling uncertainty
Although I was very excited about my new watercolor palette, it took me a while to establish a routine and find mentors who aligned with my style and interests. About a year after I started painting occasionally, I was painting one night when an idea suddenly hit me like a thunder. The thought was: “I want to feel this way all my life. I want to do this all my life.”
I jumped out of my chair to share my revelation with my partner and even called my family for an emergency meeting to share my idea, tears of joy in my eyes. They were very supportive, despite not fully understanding what was going on with me. To be fair, I didn’t fully understand it either.
That day, I made a commitment to paint every day, no excuses. I wanted to make this my career, no matter how long it would take.
I was excited and wanted to try everything. Instagram became an eye candy store for me. What seemed wonderful at first soon became an overload of information. I felt like a chicken running around without a head, being a little good at everything but never following through with an idea before jumping to the next shiny thing. I wasn’t going anywhere.
On Discovering Focus
By that time, I discovered the book "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. The book asks you to write "morning pages," which are three pages of unfiltered writing, for 12 weeks. I started reluctantly, thinking I wouldn’t make it even a week. Now, it’s been more than two years, and I write almost every day.
Through the writing process, I started noticing the things that made me “me.” I decided to narrow down what I was consuming artistically and focus on my own path. I knew I still wanted to improve my skills, but I decided to focus on one topic for an entire month purposefully, not looking all over the place for my next painting idea. By narrowing down my creative energy, I started seeing progress in my skills.
At the beginning, it felt like I was giving up on all the exciting possibilities out there, but I shifted my mindset to “This is just momentary.” I had all my ideas on a piece of paper and only looked at that restrained universe for my next painting. I also started enjoying the paradoxical freedom of not having to make a choice all the time about what to paint.
Writing and meditation are now my best allies in dealing with any blocking aspects of my creative projects and help me clear my mind. I should say that after three years of painting every day, there hasn’t been a single day where I ran out of ideas or had a creative block.
My inspiration comes from the little details of my daily life and imagining funny situations—like “What would a whale look like with a birthday hat?” Sometimes, it’s a color palette or a topic that sparks my imagination. I am also a fan of videos of funny animals; rabbits and bears are my favorites.
I start my collections by writing about what I want in them and the feelings I want to convey. Then, I begin sketching. I usually finish all the illustrations for several collections before they become patterns. My process involves many steps: sketching, painting, scanning, refining, and then creating the pattern. Creating a hero pattern can take me up to two weeks because I like to step away from it to let it breathe—like dough, you might say.
On Documenting on Instagram
Sharing my process and artistic journey on Instagram has been very rewarding and fun. I feel motivated because I believe I’m inspiring others and sending something pretty through their phones—a breeze of fresh air, a ray of sunshine, an image that helps them connect with their creative inner child. But it wasn’t always like that. For many years, I was reluctant to even be on a platform like Instagram, fearing it would steal my creativity and that I didn’t need anyone else’s appreciation.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. Despite the occasional overwhelm, I discovered so many artists and inspiring things that sparked my own creativity. Realizing that others value and feel inspired by my work motivates me to continue. It gives me even more proof that I am on the right track and that I am finally paying attention to my inner voice calling me to make art and share it. Not sharing would be selfish—it would be like preparing a delicious birthday cake and eating it alone in my room. I don’t want that.
On Marketing
I talk about my project with anyone who wants to listen. I believe that connections outside the online world are as important as those within it, and I try to foster them the best I can, even though I’m kind of a social introvert.
The marketing aspect can be challenging for many artists, and sadly, I am not the exception. However, I stay open to the idea, reminding myself that it’s just a skill I can learn and improve upon, just as I did with painting.
5 Tips to Get comfortable sharing your Creative Journey
1. Share Your Everyday Artistic Life: Your daily artist life is unique and can inspire others. Share your creative process, routines, and behind-the-scenes moments to connect with your audience.
2. Start Small and Build: Show up consistently, even if it's just little by little. Remember, if you can engage one person, you can eventually engage a hundred.
3. Create an Inviting Artistic Universe: Pay attention to the details in your photos. Think about the setting and what you want to have nearby when sharing your process. A good photo can convey a thousand words and create a compelling context for your art.
4. Get Comfortable with the Camera: Practice filming yourself without the pressure of posting it right away, at the beginning it can be filming just your hands, and for small periods of time, I used to shake just putting the phone in a filming set without even pressing record! Over time, you'll get more comfortable, and the initial nerves will decrease. Allow yourself to be imperfect and authentic.
5. Post Like Nobody's Watching: Remove the pressure of being seen and treat your Instagram as an artistic diary. Focus on how you want people to feel after they interact with your content—happy, curious, excited, or inspired.