Don't Just Pin Inspiration...Paint it!

I guess I'm feeling a little nostalgic about my face painting journey so I'll share this memory with you. Katherine ask on Facebook, "please could you share 3 things that you've done in your career that has taken your painting to another level?" I actually remember that time extremely well. 

About six months after I started my face painting business I was getting really discouraged. I seem STUCK in my same bad habits, my work wasn't improving much and I was ready to quit. One night browsing, I came across this Christina Davison cat design on Facebook and instantly fell in love and had to try it.

It's obvious there were a lot of techniques I wasn't doing properly when I painted my version but it was the first time a work of mine resembled a painter's that I really admired. This made me feel that...someday...I would paint as well as she and Mark Reid and Marcela and other face painting heroes of mine.

FABAtv has since come out and you can actually watch Christina paint this beautiful design and learn it for yourself. I highly recommend her "All About the Animals" class where it is featured. I, myself, actually went to Amarillo Texas and studied with Christina. She really helped me with my teardrops, my butterfly line work, my animals...basically filled huge gaps in my techniques. I could finally do a real tiger stripe!

So, if you feel like you are in a slump and don't like your work...take on the work of another inspiring artist...even if you haven't taken a class from them, even if it looks nothing like the original, even if you aren't sure what paints they used or brush....just do it. You may find that EVENTUALLY, it will become one of your most popular designs....something you never thought you'd be able to paint.