A new painting from start to finish (plus: I’m glad to be back!)

“Always remember to judge everything by your inner feeling of bliss” Osho 

Hello again!

It feels simultaneously like no time has passed and like years have passed since I last wrote an update (in reality it’s been a little over a month). I needed the mental break and the time to create new art and connect with my family before a very busy Fall. It felt good to take the break and it feels good to be back.

The past few weeks have been tumultuous for so many (most recently: the devastation in Texas). If you’ve been seeking a concrete way to help Houston families put their lives back together, here’s a great way to help. I know we’re now all watching and praying that the next hurricane drops in strength before it nears land. My heart is with you, friends.

Here’s what I’ve been up to during the month of August:

We took a trip up to Maine with family to stay on one of the lakes. Here’s the view:

Every time I’m in such a remote place the world just astounds and inspires me. I felt so creatively recharged from all that fresh air (and the lack of internet / cell service!) that I created a bunch of new painting sketches during Isaac’s nap times and I’ve been steadily painting throughout the past month.

I’ve also spent a lot of time with my little guy and he’s growing so fast! I feel like every day he does something new and it’s amazing to witness. Here we are at the playground enjoying a recent sunny day:

I’m pretty sure the swings equal pure bliss for this little guy. He gets SO excited, giggles like crazy, and tilts his head back to feel the rush of air. I love his innocence and happiness so much that he’s inspired me to funnel both into all of my new paintings.

Cue the first painting I worked on while up in Maine.

Eric, Isaac and I were driving down a dirt road toward the campground when we saw two foxes. They ran off pretty quickly but I was thrilled to see them up close (I LOVE foxes!), and I decided to sketch a mama and baby.

Here’s an initial sketch and the first layer of color:

I sketched the foxes in a little field of flowers and I love how they’re sharing such a sweet, loving moment.

For this painting I used gouache instead of acrylic paint and decided to leave the background white instead of filling it in with paint. I love how much the color pops against the light background:

At this stage, the stars just weren’t bold enough against the white paper. What I love about gouache is that you can do experimental things like paint stars a number of different colors to see what color combo works best. I gave myself a handful of options to choose from, though believe me, part of me also felt like I was ruining the painting!

I love how the stars turned out in the end once I repainted them. Cheery yellow trimmed in gold:

Here’s the digitized version of the painting that I’m using to make prints and cards:

And here’s one of my favorite detail shots of the print. I love all the bright color:

The print is already available in my shop here.

This painting celebrates everything I want to celebrate in my art moving forward: love, innocence, connection, family, happiness. These little foxes also mark a new animal series I’ll be working on this Fall / Winter, so stay tuned!

I have a few more new paintings to share with you, which I’ll do in upcoming posts. In the meantime, I hope you’ve had a wonderful end to the summer and to our friends who are struggling or picking up the pieces after the storms, I’ll keep seeking out ways to help!

With love,