In every painting there are so many layers and mistakes underneath the finished piece.

Sometimes I hate just showing you the final painting because there are always so many layers. I wish I could share all of the false starts and mistakes too.

So often I get to a point where I’ve repainted a face five times, so I give up. I let it go.

I usually recognize that I’m trying to paint something beautiful, which doesn’t allow the good “me” stuff to come out. So I move on to something new that helps me loosen up and not care so much anymore. Then I’ll come back to that first painting and try again (and again).

Most of the time, my character looks nothing like it did when I started. It takes lots of trying different things to figure out her best posture, profile and facial gestures.

And then there’s her hair… these girls with the wild hair go through so many changes. That is how they get so much depth and color. Little by little they come together.

Sometimes my paintings sit for weeks without faces… just scraped over, grayed out pencil and paint messes until I come back to them and try again (and again).

Every painting is a culmination of my experiences and feelings and all of the paintings I’ve ever created before that one. It most often takes a ton of mistakes and unfinished paintings before something deeper that resonates with my heart can emerge.

And I can never stop until the paint touches my heart.

If you’d like to follow along, I’ll be posting more paintings over on my instagram, facebook and google+

A few of you mentioned that you missed my sale last weekend, so I just wanted to let you know I’ve extended it until Tuesday, November 29th.

Enter code 10PERCENT and save 10%.

This sale includes all of my online art classes and everything in my etsy shop (including my Inspired By The Little Things ebook). I’m sorry I can’t extend the sale to include my other books or society6 art prints, but they are still available.

3 Month Payment Plans are also available for my classes (even with the discount code).

Click here to register for an online class.
Click here to browse my etsy shop.

**This discount code cannot be combined with other coupons or offers**

Happy painting!

xo,

Ps. If you want even more inspiration and insights into my creative process, plus some details that I only share in email, sign up for my newsletter here.