Hello, Friends!

I used to struggle to be loose and let go in my paintings. I’d get super fearful about covering something up because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to paint anything better.

Now I’ve learned that in adding those layers, taking chances, and creating beautiful, unexpected mistakes, my paintings come to life.

It wasn’t until I snapped in-progress photos of my paintings that I realized every painting has an ugly stage (especially the eyes and faces).

And at that stage, I’d especially get frustrated and feel like I couldn’t finish another painting.

That negative self-talk completely took the fun out of painting. But once I realized it happened to me every time, I learned to turn off my inner critic.

But the other day I was painting in my studio and I tried all of these different eyes and faces, and just couldn’t let go.

I needed to return to having fun, so I let the colors in my first layers be my inspiration.

This new painting was inspired by all of the fall colors happening right now around my home in Wisconsin.

When I started covering up the white space, I had so much fun splattering inks and high-flow acrylics with lots of water. The vibrant reds, pinks, and oranges in my first layers represented the changing seasons, and soon she became this woodland spirit… I love it when the initial colors still show through in the finished piece.

It all became a meditative process, playing and working with the colors and remembering there’s no right or wrong way.

She’s inspired by nature and the tallest pine trees outside of my studio that look stunning as the sun rises and sets – full of majesty, enchantment and wonder, especially in autumn. She is also a reminder of the changing seasons and new beginnings.

She’s called Into The Woods – 12″ x 12″ (SOLD).

As a child we had a woods on the side of our house and I just loved to go into nature and explore. There was such a sense of freedom to run wild. I’m always trying to cultivate more of that feeling into my adult life. That’s what my latest work is all about.

My latest paintings are meant to inspire that same sense of childlike boldness and wonder which feels like freedom and magic, spreading hope and abundance to all.

For my Collectors, I’ve added a few more new originals to my shop.

With love + gratitude,
xo Juliette

PS Don’t forget to join my free painting workshop if you’d like to paint together.