My first commissioned piece is underway. 

It may not look like much in the beginning- just a faint outline, piles of paper, colors, textures, and an idea waiting to find its way- but that's the part of the beauty of watching a piece become. 

This one is teaching me something new: how to create through someone else's perspective.

I began with an idea of where I thought the landscape should go, started building the layers... and realized I needed to pull some of it back. Instead of adding more, I simplified. I returned to the mountains, the sky, and the larger shapes before allowing the smaller details to find their place. 

For someone who loves layers, texture, symbolism and that wonderful little temptation to add just one more thing, there is something surprisingly rewarding about learning restraint. 

More than anything, I'm grateful for the opportunity to create differently- to listen to someone else's vision while still discovering where my own artistic voice belongs within it.

The mountains are beginning to take shape. 

And so is the lesson.