Do you ever find it hard to cover up your paintings? I do (all the time).

Then sometimes a happy accident happens and it makes me stop and realize I just need to let go.

The other day, I felt like my painting had finally come together. I set it aside to dry. But then I went to put my floresent red ink away and spilled the color all across my near-perfect face.

Mistakes always happen in my art, but sometimes they make me feel like I’ll never be able to paint beautifully again.

While I generally take chances and am carefree with my artwork, I often feel like I’ll never be able to fix a painting, especially the eyes and face. So I went back to my favorite colors and supplies. I set them all out in front of me and started to play.

I’d already ruined my painting, so I wasn’t so fearful about covering up my muddy mess. Often times it takes getting stuck in that ugly stage to finally get enough courage to let go and paint something new.

In this video from my Bliss Mixed Media Painting online course I share mixed media techniques for creating backgrounds in your sketchbook. In class, we’ll layer all sorts of art supplies – oil paintsticks, watercolors, pastel, ink, acrylics, pencil, papers and pen. You’ll learn how to paint more freely, so you can easily develop your own style.

Whenever I play and layer supplies in new ways, my paintings seem to come to life and a whole new world opens up.

It’s taken a lot of paintings, successes and mistakes to know what works best for my creative process and style. If you’d like to learn more ways to paint freely and develop your own unique artistic voice, I’ve put together my Bliss Mixed Media Painting online workshop (early registration is open for a limited time). Click here for all the details.

Happy painting!
xo Juliette

Ps. Click HERE to join me for a Free Painting Workshop and learn my favorite painting techniques and supplies.