You can find the full list of all 7 Weeks of Creative Celebrations here.

Welcome to Week 3 of 7 Weeks of Creative Celebrations!

I’ve been thinking lately about the moments that guide us — the little nudges that help us find our way back to what we love.

Years ago, I worked as an editorial assistant and graphic designer at a newspaper in Minneapolis. I didn’t hate it, but I knew it wasn’t for me. I’d drape scarves over the fluorescent lights above my desk, trying to make the space feel a little more like me — my own small sanctuary in the middle of an office.

One afternoon, I stepped outside for lunch and was surrounded by monarch butterflies fluttering in the sunlight. I remember thinking, What am I doing inside all day when I want to be out here, in the light with them?

It was one of those quiet whispers — the kind that says, you’re meant for something else.

That moment became a turning point. I didn’t know it then, but it was the beginning of my return to painting — and to joy.

That’s why this week’s creative celebration feels so close to my heart. It’s all about rediscovering the joy in your creative process — the playful, permission-filled kind that helps you loosen up, experiment, and remember why you fell in love with making art in the first place.

I’m happy to continue my gratitude sale: 50% off my most-loved classes with lifetime access, including my most popular class, Serendipity 1 – Develop Your Style, the playful Whimsical Animals class, and The Joy of Painting.

(If you’d prefer monthly or annual access, you’ll also find all of these classes inside my Membership.)

Let’s paint together!

This Week’s Mini-Class: The Joy Of Painting

We’re continuing the celebration with a full-length tutorial from The Joy Of Painting. You can explore the full course here.

In this project, we’re going to focus on creating three whimsical watercolor portraits in our sketchbooks. If you don’t have a stabilo pencil for this project, dark ink (calligraphy, acrylic or india), dark acrylic paint or a black water soluble oil pastel will work too.

The idea behind these playful sketchbook projects is that they can help jumpstart your creativity and keep you creating, even when you don’t have a lot of time.

For this first sketchbook project you will begin by drawing in your lines with a water soluble pencil, and then add shading with water. This is a perfect way to experiment with new characters and supplies, to create a painting if you don’t have a lot of space or time or to do when you’re travelling and can only carry a few supplies.

I’ll be working in my sketchbook (93lb paper), but these are fun paintings to do on any kind of paper. You can even tear them out of your sketchbook and add them as collage to another painting.

ART SUPPLIES
Sketchbook – Bee Paper (93lb paper)
Water-soluble pencil (black) – Stabilo – marks all coloring pencil
Watercolors – Winsor & Newton travel set

THINGS TO REMEMBER

*Draw your character first and add shading with water. Then go back and layer your color with watercolors.

*When using water-soluble pencils in your sketchbook, try not to use too much water on your brush, especially around the face and features. Remember, you can always go back in with more pencil to redefine the features in the face and anything else.

*Take the parts you love most from each character and project and recombine them in your own way to make your art unique to you. Maybe you love the face on one character and the background from another – keep recombining your characters, colors and supplies and little by little your paintings will take on a life of your own.

ART TIP: How To Get Started

If you’re new to all of this and wondering what the best way is to get started, it’s totally up to you how you go about painting and watching the videos (and I think as you go you’ll figure out what works best for you).

Lots of students have said they watch the videos as they paint or just have them playing in the background to keep them inspired.

In a recent online class I was taking, I left the video running as I was painting and found it was comforting to just have someone in the background working through their painting too (the same way it’s so fun and inspiring to create with friends or your kids or grandkids). At times, I’d be stuck and wondering what to do next and see that the teacher was using pyrrole red, so I got out my red and that inspired me in a new direction… very spontaneously and intuitively, keeping it all loose and fun.

If I’m taking an online class from someone new, I like to watch the video to get inspired. After that, I turn the video off, put on my favorite music and get out all of the listed supplies (and any others that I love to help make whatever I’m creating more my own). Then I start painting and usually after a bit I go, “Now what did she do next?” And that’s when I’ll go back to the video and play it again (sometimes as I paint or sometimes I’ll watch some, paint, have to rewind, then paint).

The most important thing is to not let watching the videos get in the way of you actually painting (that happens to me… I’ll get intimidated and get so comfortable and enjoy watching the videos, that I don’t paint).

Also, when I’m just learning from someone new I like to fully indulge in their process. I forget all about trying to make things in my own style or doing things the way I like to do them. I use my own colors, but I really replicate their techniques so that I’m learning 100%. After I’ve done a painting in the teacher’s style, which can feel uncomfortable because I’m usually copying and learning and trying new things, then on the second piece, I’ll take it in my own direction.

In the first painting I might use my own colors and make my girl a bear or give her antlers, but I will use the same supplies and most of the techniques from the class project.

Then in my second painting, I will do the project again, but take what I loved most about creating that first piece and do more of that. So if I loved the way the colors looked on top of my shaded pencil, I will do more of that. If I loved the pattern in the background or the shape of my girl’s head and neck, I will do that again in my next piece. I also like to mix up my second character a little, so maybe if I drew a girl with flowers around her, in my next piece I will try a girl with bear ears or a flower crown.

Changing small things in each painting helps me to develop and strengthen my own style.

As you paint, I hope you give yourself permission to play wherever it leads — maybe even outside into the sunlight, where the butterflies fly.

Thank you for being part of this creative journey with me. Your presence, stories, and artwork continue to remind me that creativity truly thrives in connection.

Sending so much love and gratitude. Happy painting!

xo Juliette