Hello, Friends! Someone asked the other day how I came up with the hair for my portraits of women. And, while it started with a few circles in the first layers of my paintings, this hairstyle is actually a dramatization of how I sometimes wear my own hair. Whenever I paint, I like to wrap my hair around chopsticks to keep it up – I... Continue reading

Hello from my studio! I’m in the middle of painting a new collection, inspired by lots of fall color. So I’ve been thinking a lot about my creative practice and how my process has changed since I started painting in 2009. As I’m painting, I always take the parts that I love most from each piece and recombine those elements in new ways. Sometimes that... Continue reading

Hello, Friends! Lately, I’ve been thinking about the ways I’ve developed my style and learned to be loose in my art. When I first started painting my whimsical characters in 2009, I used lots of untraditional supplies like glitter glue, bleeding art tissue paper and crayons. As soon as I started to have fun, my paintings seemed to come to life. I wanted to return... Continue reading

Hello, Friends! The fall color here in Wisconsin has already been amazing and is completely inspiring the new collection of paintings I’ve been working on. We live in the middle of a 10-acre forest, surrounded by the tallest oaks and pine trees. The leaves are just starting to turn orange, golden, and red. While I love summer, this time of year is the perfect time... Continue reading

Hello, Friends! I have some exciting news to share with you about my new mini course Watercolor Joy! As you probably know, I’ve been painting lots of small studies for my recent collection. And I started painting watercolors in my sketchbook. Well, today I’m writing to you from my studio balcony where the weather feels like we’ve jumped right into autumn. We live in the... Continue reading

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... Continue reading

Hello, Friends! Greetings from my studio in Wisconsin. I hope this finds you well as we ease into autumn. The leaves are just starting to change, so I’ve been going on lots of inspiration walks and taking photos in nature. I love gathering color inspiration on these walks. Since all of my paintings begin with a few abstract layers of color, these photo walks are... Continue reading

Hello from my studio in Wisconsin! It has been beautiful to see what everyone has been creating this first week of my online course – the Portrait Painting Masterclass – this session is sold out, but you can join the waitlist here. I’m also in the process of finishing a few paintings for my next collection. Remember how I mentioned that I’d been painting all... Continue reading

Hello, Friends! I’m writing to you from my studio in the woods, where I’ve just covered up a few large canvases with lots of first layers of color. I set up a temporary studio in the backyard so I could really make a mess – I even got out my watering can to splash tons of water. This is my favorite way to let go... Continue reading