Recently I've found myself with a strong desire to experiment with art styles that are much looser and more relaxed than what I normally do. I can be such a Type-A perfectionist kind of person, and I wanted to create something that didn't have to be perfect, or rather that it could be perfect in its imperfections. This new series for the blog is my way of giving in to that craving.

One of the things I love about my job is my commute. I take a bunch of back roads to get to work (big thanks to my Dad for showing me the "back route") and it usually takes me exactly 35 minutes unless I get stuck behind a tractor. It's full of beautiful farmlands, barns, quaint farmhouses, cows, and the occasional turkey or deer sighting. I'm not a morning person by any means, but the one thing that makes getting up early bearable for me is having the chance to witness some gorgeous sunrises. I also see a lot of fog on my commute because I go up and down a small mountain, and I'm often driving into and out of fog within minutes of each other - all of this can make for some interesting landscapes.

At some point I started taking pictures during my drive on particularly visually impressive days. When I post them on Instagram I tag them with #commute. These photos are almost always taken while I'm driving - I just point my phone in the direction of the photo I want to take and hope for the best. Half of them are blurry, but some of them turn out well and I edit them with Snapseed, Vscocam and Instagram. It's frequently a highlight of my day and helps to keep me conscious of what I have to be thankful for.

One day recently, Alex from A Couple Cooks suggested on Instagram that I start illustrating these #commute photos, and I of course immediately thought it was a brilliant idea. The more I considered how to approach a project like that, I realized I could take my desire to create more abstract-ish paintings and run with it by doing paintings based on and inspired by those photos. One of the reasons I love taking these pictures is because I'm drawn to the colors and shapes they make within that Instagram square crop. Doing these loose digital paintings would be a perfect way to highlight the aspect of those images that I love so much.

Below I've placed my painting next to the Instagram photo it's inspired by so you can compare the two. I'd love to hear your thoughts on seeing this new artistic side of me - what do you think?