While not my personal project I have participated. It is a fun challenge. They send you the 6x6 canvas and a limited palette depending on where they plan to put you in the mural. After that, it's all you. Some months later your painting is turned into a tile and added to the mural. I've circled my three. Here's the link if you want to get your art up in a public place and support -https://register.muralmosaic.com/

We love a stunning final piece… but can we talk about what comes before it? The thumbnails.The messy sketches.The color studies.The “what if I try this instead?” moments. Preliminary work isn’t just prep it’s problem-solving. It’s where composition gets stronger, values get clarified, and ideas evolve from vague sparks into intentional design. Planning before the final piece often means fewer frustrations, bolder decisions, and more confidence when it’s time to commit. Sometimes the “before” stage is where the real magic happens. Let’s talk about it: Do you create thumbnails or value studies before starting a final piece? Has planning ever completely changed your original idea? Or are you more of a dive-in-and-figure-it-out artist? Drop a before & after in the comments if you have one, sketches included. Let’s normalize showing the process, not just the polish. 👏 For my before and after this is my "Floating Cities on a Distant Planet" piece. My preliminary is in gouache in my sketchbook to study colors and composition. The final is mixed media with acrylic, gouache, and fine liners! As you can see, the concept shifted quite a bit from the preliminary sketch to the final painting. What began as mountains evolved into expansive gas clouds, which opened up the composition and gave the piece a more atmospheric, otherworldly feel. I also introduced a second floating city in the distance to create more depth and narrative interest. Instead of a traditional cloudy sky, I opted for cloud rings, which added movement and a stronger sense of scale. It’s a great reminder of how much can change between planning and execution, and how staying open during the process can lead to a more dynamic final result.

The gold foil prints arrived earlier than expected, and I am beyond thrilled! As promised here they are!

The cute coloring books finally came in and I will start on the naughty kitty one. I’m super excited to continue using the markers I have and find what I like! I’ve attached a photo of a page I did last week that I received as a gag gift and thoroughly enjoyed coloring it. Since the set of colors I have are pastel it lightened the overall image! I need to work more on skin tones especially on top of getting used to the markers! The Ohuhu set for skin tones I have are double ended with a fine and broad tip. I’m starting to prefer the brush tip that the pastel colors come in because I struggled mixing the colors together. Unfortunately the book wasn’t made for markers and I tried to fix my mistake with a colorless blender marker but it may have messed it up a bit more. Funny enough I’m very proud of how the water bottle/soda turned out 😆 since I feel it blended well with the other colors I chose.

Able to take some time to do something rather than staring at my computer screen. Here’s the progress I’ve made on one of the rhinestone kits. It took what I have longer than I thought probably since I wanted it to look perfect. 🤣 It is a small Kuromi set that once finished you can place like a sticker on any journals, notebooks, etc. and has been fairly relaxing to do!