Trusting the Layers (and Myself) 🎨✨

Today was one of those slow, happy art days — the kind where time just softens around the edges, the table slowly disappears under a pile of paint and collage scraps, and you catch yourself grinning at a color combination that just clicks 😄. I spent a few calm hours painting with acrylics on cradled wood panels, and I wanted to share a little of that process — and a few things I’m learning along the way.

Let’s start with the surface. I’ve been using cradled wood panels recently, and I’m kind of in love. They feel sturdy and grounded, like they’re ready to handle anything I throw at them — creatively or literally 😅. There’s a freedom in painting on wood that I don’t always feel with paper. It absorbs layers in a really satisfying way and encourages a kind of exploration that feels fearless.

One of my ongoing challenges has been building a process with acrylics that feels as joyful and intuitive as my watercolor flow. Watercolor has its own rhythm for me: I start with a wax pastel sketch, add juicy color in small, contained zones, leave lots of white space, and finish with loose pencil marks. It’s playful, layered, and it feels like home.

Acrylics, though? They’ve taken longer to feel natural.

I love what they can do — the layering, the textures, the richness — but I’ve often been too impatient to really let them shine. I tend to rush, wanting instant results, and that’s led to a lot of abandoned pieces that didn’t get the chance to evolve. So lately, I’ve been trying to slow down. To let the layers breathe. To stay curious just a little longer. 💫

And that’s where my Rainbow Method comes in 🌈.

This method is a personal system I return to again and again. It’s all about approaching a painting in terms of color zones rather than objects or forms. A pink area here, a patch of orange there, cool blues drifting into moody greens… It gives me just enough structure to keep moving without locking me in. It’s both intuitive and directional — and it’s been a big part of what’s helping acrylics start to click.

Today, I introduced something new to the process: collage.

Now, confession time — collage and I haven’t always been friends. I’ve tried it before, usually at the beginning of a piece, layering thick papers before I had any real sense of where I was going. It always felt disconnected, like I was following someone else’s process. The pieces never felt like mine, and I’d usually abandon them early.

But this time was different ✨

Instead of leading with collage, I brought it in after the painting had already found its voice. And wow — that shift made all the difference. The collage didn’t try to take over. It wasn’t the star of the show. It became a gentle background harmony, adding richness and texture without overpowering anything.

I also discovered a few things that finally made collage feel good:

✅ Thin papers are everything. I used tissue and rice paper instead of heavier collage elements, and they blended seamlessly into the layers. They felt more like glazes than additions — subtle, soft, and integrated.

🎨 Tone-on-tone collage is my love language. Pink on pink, green on green. It’s a bit like glazing, but with paper. It deepens the color zones while keeping the harmony intact. 💕

🌀 Using my own marks. I printed my own tissue paper on a gelli plate and even scribbled on tissue with oil pastels. Once glued down, the tissue vanishes and the pastel marks just float on the surface. It feels magical.

💡 Adding collage later = clarity. By waiting until I already knew what the piece wanted to say, collage became a conversation, not a guessing game. That timing made all the difference.

Honestly, I feel excited about these pieces — and that’s not always the case halfway through a painting 😅. I don’t feel the urge to rush them or give up. I’m still invested, still curious. And that, for me, feels like a huge win.

As for what comes next… I’m not totally sure 🤔
I’m toying with the idea of adding cold wax, or trying some oil layers on top. Maybe I’ll do more mark-making, or introduce something unexpected. I’m leaving it open for now. Because what I do know is that I’m enjoying the ride — and that’s everything 💛

Here’s a peek at today’s progress — joyful mess, scribbled scraps, and all 💥

Have you ever had a medium or technique that didn’t feel like "you" — until you tweaked when or how you used it? I’d love to hear about your own breakthroughs. Message me — I’m always curious about how other artists find their way back to joy 💬💛