Just Be You-Chapter 13

Chapter 13 — The Healing Garden Collection

"Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we should be and embracing who we are." — Brené Brown

This painting took two years to finish.

Not because it was technically impossible. Because it was waiting for something. Waiting for me to stop trying so hard. To stop reaching for someone else's standard. To stop asking the painting to be something it wasn't quite ready to be.

And then we named it.

Just Be You.

And I understood immediately where it needed to go.

I stopped trying to control it. Stopped reaching for something that wasn't mine. I just picked up my brush and painted like myself.

Wild. Playful. Free.

I let the cosmos dance and the daisies scatter and the dandelion puffs float wherever they wanted. And the lilies — oh, the lilies. They already knew what they were. They didn't need any help from me. They were just magnificent.

Four magnificent stargazer lilies command this 36×36 canvas with breathtaking confidence — deep burgundy rose, their golden stamens glowing, their swept-back petals dramatic and unapologetic. Around them everything plays — pink cosmos dancing on slender stems, soft tulips just opening, purple and lavender cosmos swaying freely, alstroemeria in warm coral, thistle heads adding texture and wildness. A carpet of white daisies, fluffy dandelion puffs, and tiny blue-centered wildflowers covers the lower canvas like the garden threw itself a celebration. Orange and amber grasses add warmth between the stems. And above it all — a luminous sky of soft teal and periwinkle blue with gentle vertical drips, like a clear day after a long storm.

Like the weather finally broke.

Like the last chapter of a story that earned its ending.

The whole collection has been about learning. Not just emotionally — technically too. Every painting taught me something the next one needed. The controlled paintings that taught me what freedom actually felt like. The moody backgrounds that taught me how to make a sky breathe. Two years of growing into the painter I was becoming.

This painting is the most alive of all of them. The most playful. The most me.

And it could only have been painted last. Because I needed every single painting before it — every struggle, every lesson, every layer, every lotus blooming in mud, every Henry sitting still in his secret sanctuary, every invisible coat finally laid down — to get here.

After the finding beauty and honoring the truth and starting to heal and embracing who she was and growing and being brave enough and the friends who showed up and the in between and the acceptance and the exhale and the rising strong — she picked up her brush and she painted.

Like herself. As herself. For herself.

Just Be You. And look what happened.

Just be you. Not the painter you think you should be. Not the version of yourself that looks good from the outside. Not the you that tries so hard it stops the flow.

Just you. Exactly as you are. Wild and tender and playful and bold and still learning and completely, perfectly enough.

The lilies didn't need permission to be magnificent.

Neither did she.

Neither do you. 💜

The garden is open. You are welcome here. 💜

Just Be You is available as an original painting, museum-quality Fine Art Paper Giclee Print, a Canvas Giclee Print, Fine Art Card/Mini Prints on archival paper, and Gifts

Explore the full Healing Garden Collection →

Ms. Laura Jones Paints | Creatively Beautiful