How do you get inspired to do your artwork? I mean, is there a routine you go through? Do you have to clean your desk or work table? Maybe you get your proper tools out and all in order, or maybe you meditate or do some sort of physical exercise first? I like to pull out… Read More
The new year is beginning. It is a perfect time to try something new in your art practice. Are there some new things you would like to explore? If that is too broad of a question, ask yourself what assumptions you are making that might not be true? Could you work in a different way by… Read More
I have a zany artist friend always intent on sharpening her pencils. Every time she attended one of my figure workshops I had to prohibit her from using her electric pencil sharpener while we were drawing because the noise was distracting to everyone in the zone. We laughed about my restriction, as she dramatically and unsatisfactorily… Read More
During the decades that I was teaching University-level studio art classes, I often surprised my students by assigning them readings in texts outside our subject. For example, I favored American author Annie Dillard’s book The Writing Life as a guide for my painting classes, and German philosopher Eugen Herrigel ‘s classic Zen in the Art of… Read More
The hallmark of a beginning painter is to pick up a brush and paint their entire painting with that specific brush. You can be assured that brush does have a voice and it is made for certain tasks. However it is never the best tool for all tasks. Furthermore to complete an entire painting with the… Read More
