Join me in creating beautiful hand-painted papers for mixed media art, collage, relaxation, and inspiration. Each week I send out a message that carries an honest and helpful look at what the life of a creator is actually like. My readers don't identify with the misguided "starving artist" cliché and neither should you. If you are ready to fall in love (or re-fall in love) with the creative process, please join me by subscribing.
An ancient poet and his impact on your art
Painted Paper StudioJanuary 12, 2024 Ever find yourself going down a strange internet rabbit hole, only to stumble across something you can never "un-see?" Last Sunday, I spent the day in bed - a cross between severe jet lag and a bad cold. While scrolling the interwebs, I ran across the following quote, and I've been thinking about its relevance ever since. After considering all the different ways this could apply to my life, I wanted to share what it means to me in terms of creativity. As a group, we artists are a fascinating combination of creativity, sensitivity, and fear. Am I over-generalizing? Yes. But please allow me this for a moment as I explain. We feel a pull, a need, or even a compulsion to create, even when we are unsure of our abilities or are afraid of putting our creations out there to be looked at or judged. This fear shows up as us working "secretly," only sharing our very best work if any at all. The fear also shows up as us abandoning a piece t as soon as we hit a block or uncertainty. Frequently, the result is that we never continue to explore the technique, and we stay blocked. The quote above asks us to consider that who we are at the moment of that block is not who we will be moments, days, or even years later and that we are already different for even getting to the block. Said much more simply, in the creation of art, you are never the same creator twice, and what you make in the future cannot be the same because your mind and body have already changed. Reader, this idea translates into all realms. Every story you've ever told, every argument you've ever had, every decision you've ever made will always be different in the future because you've already lived it in the past, and you are different now. I find this to be an extremely optimistic quote - allowing for the possibility of experimentation and exploration in our lifelong pursuits. What about you, Reader? Does this quote feel optimistic, and how can you use it in your art? Let me know by hitting Reply to this email. This email may have felt a little heavy, but this week's video is not. It's a fun little romp in one of my art journal notebooks. You can watch it here: Thank you so much for reading through, and as always, I appreciate you. xo, Jackie
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The Painted Paper Studio | Jackie Bernardi
Join me in creating beautiful hand-painted papers for mixed media art, collage, relaxation, and inspiration. Each week I send out a message that carries an honest and helpful look at what the life of a creator is actually like. My readers don't identify with the misguided "starving artist" cliché and neither should you. If you are ready to fall in love (or re-fall in love) with the creative process, please join me by subscribing.
Weekly Message August 1, 2026 Good morning Reader, and "hello" August! Small art journals make me happy - how about you? They allow us to work small, quickly, and can be the substrate for beautiful art pages. This week I am not sharing a video - it's just been too hot to film in the studio, so instead, I thought it might be fun to show you what I doodled in one of my small art journals, and how I did it, right here in this email. The art journal . . This art journal here is a 5" × 5"...
Weekly Message April 25, 2026 Hi Reader! I did something this week that scared the absolute hell out of me, and if you had ever told me I would do this, I would have responded, "Absolutely not!" You see, I am afraid of heights - terrified, really. And I should be specific. I'm terrified of untethered heights. I'm fine in an airplane, a high-rise building (as long as the window is not floor-to-ceiling glass), or even on a chairlift (as long as there is a safety bar). I am not ok standing on a...
Weekly Message March 1, 2025 Hi Reader! You know those days when you sit down to create, and… nothing happens? Your hands are ready, your supplies are waiting, but your mind? A total blank. The ideas that usually flow so easily feel stuck behind an invisible wall. It's frustrating, isn't it? That feeling of wanting to create, of knowing you should create, but feeling like you just… can't. Maybe you start scrolling for inspiration, or maybe you walk away entirely, telling yourself you'll try...