Lately, I’ve been experimenting with my favorite art supplies and colors in new ways. For a while now I’ve been in love with acrylic inks in turquoise, cobalt blue and prussian blue. I’ll drip the inks in my backgrounds and, as I smudge out my acrylic paint, I’ll go over the drip and get this gorgeous feathered effect. This happened by accident once and now... Continue reading
When I’m stuck with my art, I go back to painting backgrounds or whimsical animals. I’ll get out a few blank canvases and squeeze three acrylic paint colors right onto the surface (neon red, pink and white). Then I might drip some acrylic ink (neon yellow and green) and pour water on top to see what happens. This gets me out of my head so... Continue reading
The other day I got super stuck on a big painting on my easel. I just couldn’t let go. I needed to return to having fun, so I put a bunch of blank canvases on the floor and started splattering acrylic inks and liquid watercolors on top to cover up the white space. Then I dumped a bunch of water on top to see what... Continue reading
Thank you so much for all of your kind comments and posts about my Free Painting Workshop! It’s been wonderful to see you all enjoying this gift. I’ve been getting so many questions about which of my classes to take next, so here’s a bit more info about each of my online courses along with some fun tutorials for you. In 2009, I founded The... Continue reading
When I’m struggling to be loose in my art, I’ll often take a step away. I make a smoothie, go for a walk, or lay in the hammock and read. This makes me stop and look around, so I’m not so focused on painting something perfect. Then I can get out of my head and paint from my heart again. The other day when this... Continue reading
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). That’s why I have many paintings going at once. When I make a mistake or get frustrated, I set the painting aside and pick up another piece that I feel I’ve ruined. But the other day I... Continue reading
My paintings come together in many layers. When I begin, I might know whether I’d like to paint a woman or an animal or something completely imaginary, but it’s in the process of creation that I discover what the piece needs to be. This involves lots of happy accidents and beautiful mistakes, but sometimes it’s so hard to just flow with it all in the... Continue reading
For years, I stopped painting. Art was the thing I loved to do growing up and in high school, but I didn’t know how to make money from being creative. All of my early work ended up in the basement or trash. I felt like my creativity didn’t matter. I went to college to study biology, but I couldn’t stay away from the art room.... Continue reading
Whenever I paint, the eyes and face have to resonate with my heart before I can go deeper into the rest of the painting. There’s always an ugly stage, but, little by little, layer by layer, the face and shape comes together and then it feels like magic. But sometimes I still get super stuck. The other day when this happened, I was in the... Continue reading
Whenever I try to paint something new, I get stuck. Documenting my painting process in photos has helped me be kinder to myself and understand the ugly stages are just part of the process. Yet I so often assume that I can just sit down and paint what’s in my head. Or look at a past painting and do it again. But that doesn’t happen.... Continue reading
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