"I never lose. I either win or learn" - Nelson Mandela

I have been repeating this quote in a lot of videos and tutorials lately because it's the perfect mindset to use throughout your creative journey. Perfectionism and a focus on creating a beautiful painting will stymie you. Embracing experimentation, imperfection, and FUN will move you along your journey at warp speed. Get miles on the brush, and study work you love to enhance progress.

My new postcard project has really driven home to me how much I grow when I paint more subjects, experiment, and just show up to do the work. This practice has changed my work in SUCH a good way.

It started with the Beginner Diana painting I did (available at https://www.patreon.com/posts/8-for-limited-98104744 I created that tutorial using very simple beginner techniques and was surprised at how much I liked the final piece.

Then, the same thing happened with "Beginner Fox" at https://www.patreon.com/posts/fox-in-snow-114249734 

and then "Beginner Boss" at https://www.patreon.com/posts/13-tier-beginner-128608903. 

In these paintings I've built up the values, textures and colors using fairly thin gauzy watery layers that are allowed to dry completely in between layers. The result is a delicate, transparent look to the work. LOVE.

Then I started painting the postcards. Lots of them.

My goal was to create a lot of paintings/content to choose from to make the best tutorials possible. The result for me as an artist is that I got a lot more miles on the brush on a larger variety of subjects which I found creatively invigorating. I was incorporating my newfound discoveries about transparency that the beginner tutorials taught me. Perhaps my favorite was the butterfly at https://www.patreon.com/posts/gold-standard-of-131461471 

I LOVE how the black parts of the wings GLOW because I used color theory to create glowing black markings instead of heavy black applications of paint.

So in my newest tutorial, "Calico Kitten", the journey continues. I used more tea consistency layers to build up color, and played with more abstracted applications of some of the fur after studying the work of https://www.instagram.com/dvornikov.konstantin/ LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! See below for "Calico Kitten", my new start to finish real time tutorial I'm releasing this weekend.

I've been playing with this new transparent style A LOT in my new postcard paintings. Stay tuned for a lot more!

Be sure to join my Patreon for free to get updates from me - I post the most content there these days. www.patreon.com/rachelsstudio

More good news - my painting, "Diana's Patio" which recently won 8th place in a national watercolor show, The Georgia Watercolor Society's 2025 National Exhibition, sold this week. I will miss her. She sure took me on a lot of exciting adventures, including earning my signature status in Women in Watercolor AND the South Carolina Watermedia Society.

I also just finished the commission below. It is available as an advanced tutorial. And remember, prints and originals are available. Just inquire for purchase details!

Here is another recent favorite - wood ducks have special meaning to me because my father has worked hard to increase their population on Lake Murray in Lexington, South Carolina. When I was a child, we never saw wood ducks on the lake. Now, thanks to his efforts, they are daily visitors to my parents' shoreline. I created two wood duck tutorials, one advanced (see below) and one beginner version. Join my Patreon to access all these tutorials and more! If you join for a year you get 2 months free and in depth art critiques from me.