30 in 30: Day 22 Original Portrait Painting

"Tracee" acrylics on 16.5x23.7 heavy paper, Available

Oh, don't you love when inspiration just bite you in the bum and next thing you know you're off! That was me today. I'm pacing (racing, rather) trying to catch up in the 30 in 30 challenge. I refuse to drop out and being the overachiever, I actually want to do 30 paintings before this weekend ends.

This painting was inspired by today's muse, the gorgeous Tracee Ellis Ross. Some of you may remember her from "Girlfriends"? Her character Joan was my icon. I would watch that show and get an idea of what a "real" lawyer's life looked like (back when I was hell-bent on being an attorney). Friends, relationships, aging, all of it. I miss that show.

She has such a great energy about her and I snapped several of photos from her Instagram gallery for inspiration. Thanks for viewing!

3 Lessons a Yoga Class Taught Me About the Trap of Comparison

3 Lessons a Yoga Class Taught Me About the Trap of Comparison

Hi guys! I recently wrote an blog post on Medium.com on art, yoga, and life. Hope you check it out!

Here's an excerpt:

After trying a rather challenging balancing act unsuccessfully, I watched my morale sink as I looked around the room and saw that more than half of my classmates could do the one that I couldn’t. I cursed in my head and even made a few angry faces (sorry teacher). And in between fighting the tears and my body, I realized in that moment my mistake—I was comparing myself to others, something I do far too often as an artist as well.

Here are 3 reasons why comparing doesn’t work...