Whenever I play it helps me feel calm and connected.

For a while, I’d been creating these very layered portraits of women with soft, realistic faces and incredible hair, using lots of mixed media art supplies and papers.

Every painting took SO many layers.

I enjoyed that their story evolved with each layer, but I found, especially on their faces, they lost their initial light and spontaneity. And I stopped having fun.

I kept trying to make my paintings perfect.

So I went back to painting more freely.

I experimented with new colors and art supplies. I dripped inks and allowed my water-soluble pencil to bleed out, even on the eyes. I let my faces and features be weird and wonky.

I accepted the imperfections and a whole new world opened up. It all reminded me to be a little kinder to myself and have more fun with my art.

Often times it just takes finding a new technique or color combination to bring my artwork to life. It’s when I start to play that things come so much more easily, without worrying about making everything look perfect.

Then, from that place of joy, things happen naturally and intuitively, so I can be loose in my art again.

You can see just how I use some of these ideas and techniques in the Joy Of Painting video sneak peek below.

This video is one of the backgrounds we create for a project in The Joy Of Painting. In this 9 minute video I share one of my favorite mixed media techniques in for creating a lusciously layered background.

If you’d like to play with more art supplies and develop your style, click HERE for all of the details on my online art class The Joy Of Painting.

Happy painting!
xo Juliette

P.S. Click HERE to join me for a Free Painting Workshop and learn my favorite painting techniques and supplies.