This was the third piece I covered, but the first where I truly completed the story. When I started this process, I thought I’d paint something random, cover it up, add a caption, and call it a day. But then my kids asked to paint the first layer. Watching them move across the canvas, listening to them talk through their choices—it changed everything.

For this piece, it began as a beach scene. But they quickly realized we didn’t have enough blue. Worry crept in—what if we couldn’t make anything? What if it wasn’t good enough? She tried to make it work, to fit the idea we started with. But after a few moments of doubt, she remembered what makes her happiest: ice cream. And just like that, the story shifted.

Sometimes we try so hard to fit into an idea, a group, a moment, that we forget what actually makes us happy. But when we stop forcing it, we often find something even better.