Do you ever get stuck with your art?

Painting daily helps me to follow my intuition. I paint quick, small paintings in my sketchbook every day, especially when I need to loosen up with my art or get grounded.

But I also follow a step-by-step practice so that when I do get creatively stuck, I can get back into my flow with complete ease. From there, my creativity is set free.

I often hold myself back whenever I get too uncomfortable with my artwork – usually it’s when I paint a face that looks too weird and imperfect. I want to cover it up, throw it away and start painting the same way I did before.

Oftentimes I’ll repaint the character with closed eyes – like I did for the owl in your free painting workshop (there’s a link below in case you missed it).

But instead of falling back into my comfort zone, I’ve learned to pause and take a step away. I look at what I want to cover up – maybe it’s the smudged black water soluble pencil around the eyes or the super bold neon pink paint pen on the cheeks.

Sometimes I love these imperfections, but they’re different, so my first instinct is to cover them up.

That’s when I return to using my favorite colors and techniques and start to play. I’ll add dots of cobalt blue acrylic paint and a splatter of neon yellow pearlescent acrylic ink.

These colors and techniques make me happy. They get me back to being playful rather than feeling self-critical and tight. They help me to follow my intuition. That way, I know what to do next and when to stop. I can see when I’ve overworked a painting because I’ve felt it. I’ve made mistakes in my daily paintings, which gives me the confidence to try something and cover up my art, knowing I will be able to paint with ease again, once I return to my favorites.

I finally realized the freedom doesn’t happen unless I’m having fun and that means dancing between what’s in my comfort zone and playing. I have to experiment, paint something completely imperfect, then keep following my joy and doing more of what I love.

I’m sharing more of these daily watercolor paintings along with more in-depth, mixed media paintings in the Portrait Painting Masterclass.

If you’d like to learn more about the inspiration behind the Portrait Painting Masterclass, what’s included, and how it works, you can learn more HERE .

Here’s a little of what Portraits class alumni are saying:

“I couldn’t wait every day to see the next lesson and drive into my paints. I found a lot of freedom and joy in the process of creating these paintings.” -Pam Cook

“I loved everything about this class! Painting faces has been something I’ve shied away from, as they seemed so intimidating before. But Juliette made the process so easy, AND FUN! I have learned so much and actually LIKE what I painted! I have joy in painting faces now!” -Dr. Cortney Baker

“This class style really accelerated my ability to lean into my style rather than trying to follow step-by-step instructions with the goal of replicating what Juliette made.” –Meg McAlister

“I simply LOVED this class. I never could imagine that I’d ever be able to create these great ladies. Your instruction and the repetition in the daily painting sections made me so much more confident and able.” -Dheera Kitchlu

“I LOVED your portrait painting class so much and feel such gratitude. I’m not a morning person by nature—at all—but each day at 5:50 a.m., it was a joy to wake to my alarm clock and know that it was time to see what that day’s new lesson would bring.” -Savannah Stoner

I’d be honored to have you join me for this new class. It’s going to be so good and I can’t wait to see the gorgeous paintings you create!

With love + gratitude,
xo Juliette

PS In case you missed my interview on The Creative Genius Podcast – we go deep into my process and creative journey. I hope it brings you a lot of inspiration and encouragement on your own journey.

PPS I’ve also put together a Free Painting Workshop to share more of my favorite techniques – from covering up the white space to finished painting… click HERE to join my Free Painting Workshop and learn how I create a painting in 30 minutes.