Blog Post

Painting My Way Back to Peace

10/8/25

Life can get busy sometimes, and feel unmanageable. Even vacations can turn into stressful events, no matter how well we thought we planned everything out.

Recently, my vacation didn’t go as planned, and I needed to come home early unexpectedly. I was stressed, frustrated and sad. I was distressed and unhappy, and it was affecting those around me. Many people say exercise is the key to everything, including stress. For some, this may be the case, but for myself, it is only part of the solution.

I started painting. Initially I worked on a project I had already started. Learning how to do faces well has always been a challenge for me, and this project involved a face. It was the “just right challenge” for me and I started to lose myself in the process and the trial and error it involved. When it was completed, I hungered for more. I was beginning to feel myself again. An hour had slipped by.

I decided to pull out my of my “pricey” pieces of watercolor paper. There are different quality levels of watercolor paper, from beginner to professional level, and the professional level paper is more expensive for a reason—it has many qualities that make it very enjoyable to work with. This was the first hurdle—choosing expensive materials often puts a little pressure on me to feel like I have to produce something amazing. I decided to intentionally ignore that feeling and gift this paper and time for myself to have fun.

Second hurdle: Blank page. What to do? I had purchased some new Daniel Smith watercolors recently, and I was eager to experiment with the colors on this amazing paper. I picked a color that made me happy—a pretty blue, and I made a big circle, enjoying the sensation of the brush moving across the paper and watching what the paint decided to do. I picked another similiar color and dipped my brush in, then made some tiny dots in the paint while it was still wet. Ahhhh. Beautiful! What was it going to look like when it dried I wondered?

I pushed forward. I have seen artists use blues and earth tones together, so I loaded my brush with a golden brown. I made another shape, then another, adding bits of other colors to the paint. Oh so pretty! It was feeling heaving in one spot, so intuitively I added paint in another to visually balance it out.

I kept at it, progressing from circles and shapes that “fell off” the page, to adding a light blue imperfect wash in the background, and some small interesting dots with pens.

My heart began to feel even lighter. I was starting to feel myself again. No longer was I caught up in negativity.

Here is my finished piece, with a possible mat that I might use for framing.

“Golden Orbits”, available for purchase

Blog Post Title Two

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.