I broke my own rule. I'm not mad about it.

Today I'm showing you a two-page sketchbook spread that broke one of my own rules — and why I'm glad I did it anyway. I don't usually cut recognizable shapes. It feels too deliberate, too on-the-nose, like I'm doing the viewer's thinking for them. But I cut a flower — a big, bold, Scandinavian folk art inspired flower — and used it as a mask across two pages so the positive and negative space swap between them. One page: a flower made of color. The other: a flower made of black paper. In this video you'll see the full process: acrylic paint layers, hand-painted collage papers (including scraps from my desk butcher paper — don't throw those away), the mask cut and applied, and the final reveal. If you've been avoiding something in your work because it feels too obvious or too risky, I hope this gives you a small nudge. 📩 Want more of this kind of thing — just process, just making, no perfection required? Join my email list in the link below. That's where I share what I'm working on before it goes anywhere else. SUPPLIES: Nova Color Paint (Acrylic): Yellow ochre, fluorescent red, raw umber Golden Paints (Fluid Acrylic): Green gold: https://amzn.to/4ecWKfO Titan green pale: https://amzn.to/3SzuQ6s Quinacridone gold: (no longer available) Hand-painted paper scraps for collage Black butcher paper or card stock for the flower mask Matte medium: https://amzn.to/3SzuQ6s #abstractart, #mixedmedia, #collage, #sketchbook, #abstractpainting