We’re Back! New colors and sneak peek of my BIGGEST COMMISSION EVER

What's up everyone? It is Erica and it is also 2026. We ended last year on such a wild note working on that museum piece. I will be posting a video, but at the end of this video, I will be showing you guys the I mean just some back behind the scenes stuff about it. um if you have time. But I just wanted to get on here and tell you guys that I'm excited to see what you guys are creating, what I've missed, and I'm looking forward to um arting with you guys again. Hope you enjoy this piece I did today. I wanted to review some colors that I got um no time to try back when they actually came in, and I love them. If you've gotten any of these colors, tell me what you think down in the comments below. I look forward to hearing what you guys think. And um yeah, stay tuned to the end. I haven't done this in so long. I've missed it so much. I don't even know what's going to happen because it's been so long. But in any case, we are going to make magic today. I'm going to use some new colors that we have gotten in that I haven't gotten to play with quite yet. For this piece, I am using, sorry, my bottle is so um used, but I am using Art Coat from Stone Coat Countertops. I love this stuff. It's got great UV resistance. It doesn't have any odor. It's heat resistant up to 500 Fahrenheit. So, if you have a countertop or a trivet you want to do, this is a great option. And it's got a super long working time. So, that's always a good thing. All right. Now that we have that mixed and my camera has changed angles ever so slightly over time, which will probably happen again, we can get to mixing colors. Colors are my favorite part of everything. All of my artwork that I get to do like personally paint just because I saw it in my head and I wanted to paint it. Always has at least a little bit of every color and it's my favorite thing. Absolutely. So, here are the colors we are working with today. Our dark color is going to be Where are you? Where am I? Here. Here. No. Here. There we go. Raven's Midnight. It is from Color Passion and it's a super dark and moody blue color. Oh, and um the next one is going to be Skim Milk. This I'm super excited to try because it is um essentially a translucent white. So, you don't have to worry about how much white pigment you're putting in versus the clear um in order to get a translucent white color. And then the next one we have is wher it is a stunning color. It's like I don't know it's Peter. It's a silvery platinumy slight brown hue to it color. And then the last one that I'm using today is molten rose. It's a gorgeous molten rose gold color. You guys know that I have beef with rose golds because I can never find one that's not essentially just an off copper or an off bronze. So, those are the colors we're using. And let's see. I'm only going to pour the amount of resin into the cups that I want represented by each color cuz if I make more than that and not only is it wasteful, then I'll end up overworking the piece and that's never a good time. So, the thing I'm going to do most I think is the skim. I'm going to leave I'm not going to Usually I'll scrape the edges of my cup and get all of this goodness out. Make sure if you do that, you mix your resin and while you're mixing your resin, you scraped the edges, or else [snorts] that will turn out to be a bad time for you. So, I will save this about an ounce for in case I want to mix any extra of a certain color. Okay. I think the pewtor may be no rose gold. I don't know. I really like the look of those two together. Or else I would have just done um I don't know. I haven't done this in so long that I'm already confusing myself. So, the skim milk is the answer to your problems. If you always had an issue getting a good translucent uh white that shows other colors under it, this is the white for you. It's already a little bit diluted, so you just add the amount that Sorry about that. You just add the amount that you would already add anyways and it will make a translucent color for you. But you know what? If you end up with something that's a little bit too opaque, easy thing to do. So you can see the brown on that stick still nice and translucent. This will show the other colors under it really nicely. Um, but if you end up making it too dark for some reason, just add a little bit of um a clear and then it will kind of dilute it out. This I'm really excited to see. This Raven's Midnight. I know Vamp would love it. If you've never used paste before, I always prefer paste because my colors will be roughly the color that it is in the jar. So, there's no guess work with that. And I don't have to worry about pigments puffing up in my face. And um I don't know, they the paste do a little bit more action in the resin than the micas do in my opinion. That being said, there's always a time and a place for every material that goes into resin, but Oh, I'm going to have to turn the light on and show you guys this, but I don't know. I hope you can see how beautiful that is. Okay. So, because I really like how the rose gold looks next to the raven, I'm going to use more rose gold. Oh, this looks like it has a whole metallic sheen on top of it. So excited. When you use paste, make sure you don't put your stir stick. By the way, these are our pended stir sticks that we make. You can use them, wipe them off, and reuse them forever and ever. Amen. Well, unless you get a little bit rough with them and it breaks, just don't play rough with them. And they'll last you a good while. You can get these colors and the cradle board and the stir sticks from our shop, artisteath.com. Um, I have links in the bottom of this video. Ooh, that is really nice. Platinum rose. Beautiful together. I almost think I don't even need this um pewtor because the colors look so nice together. However, I have it out and I haven't gotten to see it in resin. So, we're going to mix some up just to humor myself, I guess. I hope you're all having a great start to 2026. That's a pretty color for sure. All right. Meow. Let's get to pouring. I haven't even decided what kind of application methods I'm doing or anything like that. I'm kind of just going back to my old school way of pouring resin. That was very intuitive. So, I'm going to put the color out, see what it does, and then move it around from there. I've also decided to put some Milky Way, just a little bit into the clear that I have left that I was going to use for um a last minute color idea because I've decided I want a little bit of actual sparkle sparkle. I usually don't use um this many solid color I mean shimmery colors in my pieces. I like to kind of balance the shiny with matte colors, which is another reason why I really like paste over micas because I can get not shimmery metallicy colors super easy. And you can use spray paints and things like that, but there's there's issues with everything that you put into resin. changes the science in it. And it's best to just use things that are supposed to be put in resin, especially if you're you need it to be archival because you're going to sell it or put it, you know, in your home. Okay, that is super sparkly. I'm going to go ahead and show you this before I put it down because it's beautiful. I'm just putting little breaks of sparkle through this. I have again no idea where I'm going to be going with this piece. It is intuitive, which means I'm going to kind of go with the resin's flow, as it were. All right. Now, since the skim milk is going to show colors under it, I really want to include some of this dark um on the underside, and I want it to be able to stick to the board. Resin's going to flow really easily where it's already been. And in these patches of Milky Way or shooting star, they're going to um my raven is going to kind of go over that instead of stay where I put it. And so I want to make sure I have some of the raisin on the raisin raven on the dry and on the wet. And with this one, I want to do kind of bigger breaks of color. I think I want to keep it raven heavy on this side. I'm not going to use it all. I want to keep some in the cup because I may want to add a vein or two of it up here later. And just so I don't get everything kind of just so I don't get everything kind of um so sorry about all that ruckus outside. Like I was saying, I don't want to get my fingers dirty and intermingle [sighs] my colors yet. So, I'm going to pull this color all the way down on this side. I don't know why I'm just feeling like I want to have a really heavy presence of it over here. Then I'm going to take my rose gold. Make sure it's opaque. Nice. And I'm going to wait on that because I want to make sure that most everything that I want to be on the underside is on the underside. I'm just going to go ahead and roll out all of the skim milk. I'm just going to turn it upside down right there. [snorts] Then I'm going to go with my um rose gold. Again, I'm being as random as possible because I want it to be intuitive. I don't want to kind of go in with a given idea and be upset if it doesn't go that way. I'm just going to let it go where it's going to, and then I'm going to fix it to be the way that I want it to look after it kind of goes on its own adventure. All right. So now for the pewtor, I'm just going to tie it in in little places. Probably could have been fine without even using the pewtor, but we mixed it and we don't waste resin around here. I'm just trying to fill in any open spots right now. I'll probably keep some extra pewtor on the side in case I want to run some veins through it. Okay. So, now our main goal in life is to fill in all of the dry spots before we start trying to manipulate um everything around. So, I don't want to mix my colors just yet. So, I'm kind of trying to be a little delicate and specific when I'm in big blocks of areas. So, I'm not going to use that finger over here. I'll probably just switch up the whole hand. Kind of get the white areas first. I really like doing pieces like this, intuitive pieces, when I haven't created in a while. It kind of takes the pressure off of you to create a masterpiece, I guess. Um, especially with all the work that um I have recently done for my museum commission. um being able to create and not have a goal or a desired result I suppose um it's a different animal when you get to create just for the sake of creating and doing intuitive work kind of forces you into that um I'm creating just for the sake of creating I don't know mindset I don't know if that's the right word or um but I hope you know what I mean. All right, I'm still just trying to fill in all of the dry areas. And I'm just using a stick to do that. Um if you scrape an area like this, you don't have to worry about it because resin's already been there. So, it's going to fill back in on its own. So, I'm just trying to break that surface tension anywhere that I see um dry cradle board. Sorry if there's ruckus. I have my windows open and I heard there's filming out there. I have no idea. I'm not trying to be like design um not trying to do any design stuff right now. Even if some of the areas look like it because I kind of skimmed over them, it's not the intention. All right, I think I have everything covered. And this is our starting spot. I guess this is the start of our creative journey with this piece in particular. And I'm just going to pop the bubbles. And since it is winter, resin will move slower than it usually would because when resin is cold, it gets thicker, more viscous, and more stubborn, I would I would argue. So, got to add a little heat sometimes. All right. Adding heat also further lets me know where I have dry spots. So, what do we want to do? I feel like I want to swipe a little bit. I feel like I may want to use the heat gun. Feel like I may want to tilt. I think I want to start there. I think I want to do some swiping and then some tilting. Right. Right, I've got my so wipey papers and we are ready ready to go. All right. So, I just want to kind of blend out some of this side because I know when I tilt this side, it's going to uh kind of do what I want it to do anyways. So, I'm just going to take this very expensive swiping paper. It's not expensive at all. And I'm just going to kind of move through the piece. And sometimes when I have like low resin spots, I'll take whatever got swiped off. I don't know how that sounded. And put it in my low areas. And also my table kind of goes this way. So when I have a little bit of [snorts] a lot in some areas, then I'll just tilt it so I can go that way. So I want to zoom you guys in. So let me wash my hands. All right. Now you can see up close what I'm actually doing. So, I'm taking this little piece of paper. And what I am doing is making sure that it is going to lay flat. So, I'm going to take the straightest side, not the crinkly side. And I'm going to lay it flat on the surface. You do not want to go like this because if you do this, you're going to scrape. So, you want to go horizontal. You want to just glide across the surface. Actually, I think I'm going to come this way. So, I just lay the paper down. I don't put any pressure. I'm just letting it glide on the surface. Then I'm picking it up down to trail off as it were. Um, so that's how I swipe. Really like how these areas are looking. So, I want to tilt now that I'm kind of just getting back into all of the things. All right. Now, I'm going to I want this to be the majority area, this raven's color. So, I'm going to tilt I'm going to tilt this way. And to do that, it's it'll move quicker if you um add some heat to it. You just want to put heat in certain areas to get certain areas to move faster or further than other areas. Generally, if there's an area you don't like, by all means, use the tilts. I think I like this um I don't know mountainesque looking sort of design. I don't know why I just did that, but I had it in my heart to do it and so I had to and I kind of love it. Okay, let me get you guys back into a better vantage point. Just going to draw a very careful line. Apparently I'll need a right there. I know I can't match it up, but I can make it look like it's related. Okay, I think I'm going to use some of this overflow over here. When you do intuitive work, it's very possible that you will create something that you do not like, but it's also possible that you'll create your next masterpiece. And I don't know, in my head, the line between a masterpiece and a waste of time just literally depends on the mindset. And if it's about selling it, then it depends on who is looking at your work. You know what I mean? I hope that makes sense. It's quite possible that I'm just babbling. Nope. I don't like that. If I don't like this these streaks through the blue, then I'll just swipe them through because there it's just going to add some sparkle, I assume. I don't know. Um, so yeah, let's swipe that >> [snorts] >> Oh, wait. Before I do that, I want to put another couple of lines of color up here varying the line weight. Some of the lines are very thick and some of them are very not. I want them to be there but sink a little bit but not sink so much that you can't tell that they were there because I'm going to tilt it again and create a shift. That's all of my skin milk apparently. So that's fine. Okay. Wait, we got some over here that I have no problem picking up on a stir stick. Pulling through this bit right here bothers me. So, I'm going to tilt it off. I want all this to just a little bit shift. And then I'm going to tilt it all back. I think I'm going to tilt it down this way actually cuz that's a little bit hectic over here. Add a little bit of heat to get that to move quicker. I don't want to lose too much of the blue. It's a little bit too even now. So, need this all to shift. No, I like that idea. Shift it all this way. Okay, now that I have lost all of my little cups. Okay. Well, I guess we wanted to add some this color right here. No, we didn't. Wait that with some heat and make it fill right in. I need to know what you guys think. I'll give you a closeup in just a moment. We're going to shift this way. This um rose gold and pewtor went together way better than I thought they would. I guess I should show you guys what I'm doing. I'm just heating all this down here to get everything to stretch. It's going to create a lovely pull up here as well. It's one of Jeff's favorite looks in resin. All right. I know I said I wanted to keep a lot of the blue in the beginning, but I'm happy happy with what it looks like in this moment. Therefore, that skim milk does beautiful, beautiful things. Raven Peter. Those are from my late tilt. I think I may leave those drippies. I like the movement in them. And it goes with these peaks right here. That super sparkle right there. them Milky Way. I like that dot. I'm going to let that dot live. But didn't the blue color, the raven under the skim milk right there, under the pink and next to that pewtor look so good together. Magic. And I have a floater. that created this beautiful design. We'll just make it work. Hit it with some heat. Melt right in. So, what do you guys think of my piece today? We have missed you guys so so much. Let me know down in the comments below. As promised, this is some behind the scenes of making my largest commission yet. Looks like this so far at the time. Currently cutting out my assistant. So, I projected shapes up, cut them out of one layer because they were supposed to come through on another layer and I couldn't have them layered on top of each other. So this is the prep part of making my piece. It was a lot. It was layers and layers just to prep it so that I could do watercolor on black, >> putting it on the actual substrate. So to do that, I um split my image into five pieces because each of these panels represents one of the five pieces. so that I can keep track of what's where. And then I picked out what I want to have on the top layer versus the secondary layer. This is going to be in two layers. And then I cut it out. I left the masking on so that it can protect everything else around the image. So, and most all of this I'm going to want it to be relatively smooth in terms of just um luckily I had my faithful helpers throughout the whole process. My Bowie, my canvas, and my Jeff. This is the wall that Jeff made me so that I could work on the pieces vertically. And it was kind of just a labor of love. I started this project in May of 2023 designing it and about 8 months ago they were no I guess at this point um I guess maybe it was 6 months ago now 8 months ago they were like you can finally start actually painting it cuz they approved my digital render and then I started painting it and I'm sorry I left you guys hanging on the YouTube channel. But as you can see, this piece was absolutely massive and it took quite some time getting down to the nitty-gritty details. But I am working on a fulllength video of the entire process that I did get filmed while working on this piece. Uh it's going to take me quite some time to edit it down. I'm still working on uploading them all into the same system cuz I had a few different phones and a couple different computers working in a GoPro throughout the whole deal and Jeff's phone. But anyways, I I fully loved working on it. I I had to teach myself how to work with watercolors. I had to work on the ability to apply watercolor to the substrate and it didn't always work out. So, there were a few times where I had to scrape it off, start over. But ultimately, I am in love with the entire process of this, both the frustrating and the amazing. It It was so much my life. I I love seeing it come to fruition, but at the same time, I'm so bummed that it's over cuz it was such a big thing for me. One layer of one panel done. And I cannot thank the people that have helped me throughout the entire process and the people that have been patient with me and the people that have ordered from my shop. And it took a little bit longer to get to >> exhausted from moving around these panels all day, but >> they're loaded. >> Somebody likes that golden light. >> I do love the golden hour light. >> Look at it. >> So, yeah. Sorry about that interruption of driving everything to Odessa update, but I really can't thank everybody enough for the patience with me while I I have been fully engulfed in this process. It's taken me still some time to get everything back to normal in my shop. But I do have new help. Her name is Stephanie. I still have Tutor, but Tutor is working on his grown-up job. And so, yeah, we got new help in. So Stephanie's helping me with orders and I'm just watching this with you guys missing the entire thing. I I really hope I get another opportunity like this because it was amazing. This lady walking with me up here is the amazing Lissa Wagner and she's amazing. We love her. That was one of the places in the mural Taco Villa via. I don't know. Words are hard, but we got to see all the locations that were in the mural that we painted while we were out there, and it was so cool. This is the room that all of the pieces uh will live in. This is the museum boardroom, and this is the rest of the museum. Well, not the rest of it, but different sections. It took quite a few people to install the stacks of panels and I really appreciate everybody out of Odessa and your patience and your trust in me with this process. It was absolutely amazing. But you'll see more of the whole process when I do the full video and I cannot wait to hear what you guys think of the piece. And I don't know, I just I'm in awe of you guys and your patience with me during this entire process. We've missed you guys so so much and can't wait to see you back on live. And if you guys ever do have the opportunity to go out to the Ellen Noel uh art museum out in the Midland Odessa area, I really hope you take the time to go see it. I will be through there as often as I can. I I can't wait to go back and visit. And we're supposed to be also having some merch up in their shop if people wanted to buy prints of the piece. Um, also I'm thinking about carrying prints of the piece on my website. What do you guys think? Good idea, bad idea? Let me know. All the construction guys that were patient with um last minute changes were so amazing. Thank you, Charlie, and your team. I I love it. So, this is what the end result looks like with all the stacks layered together in the room with the carpet and the table and the back lighting to make the sunset glow. I missed the piece already. Look at that amazing table. I did not do the table, but it is a resin pore table. And here is some um I guess behind the scenes footage from the grand opening of the museum. It was great to hear what everybody thought about everything and see everything put together. I'm just so in love with this space. So anyways, check this out. It's so lovely to see so many people come to appreciate art. And one of the most beautiful things about this museum is that the namesake Ellen Noel, she forever wanted to Never.