This year my 100 things that marked the year post has shrunk to 35. While I did a lot this year, there was not as much variety as usual so I’m editing it down for you. Artmaking and studio practice This was not much of a painting year for me. I was just flat […]
Artist’s life
The List: One Hundred Things that Marked the Year
Various artists and bloggers I follow do a public year in review. Some write a narration, one publishes hers in an annual report magazine, and one makes a list every year of 100 accomplishments I always reflect on the past year as a prelude to goal setting. I’ve just never made it public before now and […]
A Room of One’s (My) Own
Years ago, I read Virginia Wolff’s book, A Room of One’s Own. In it, she posits that in order for a woman to do creative work she needs space of her own and her own money. I’ve been lucky to have had a studio space, even if it was sometimes part of the living room, […]
What I learned from the film about Antonio Lopez Garcia, Dream of Light
Recently a friend visiting my studio asked me why I paint the way I do. She asked if I paint the ceramic figurines in my paintings to look real merely to show that I can do it or if I had other reasons. I answered her that I thought it was a matter of fidelity. A […]
Studio Challenge – Week 3
Joshua Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus from The Minimalists blog, posit that organizing is well-planned hoarding. It’s just organized hoarding. If we don’t do the work to ask questions about whether we truly need and use something, and about what it means to us to have it in terms of preserving illusions about ourselves, etc., we […]
Week 2 – Studio Challenge – your art materials
This week we’ll focus on raw materials and tools. Art supplies! The phrase can send shivers down our spines and give us goosebumps. Who doesn’t love to get new materials? It can be stimulating when you’re in a slump. It can feel like a win to get a lot of something you need on […]
Studio Challenge Week 1 – Where is your art?
One of the biggest obstacles to decluttering, cleaning and staying organized is knowing who we are at any given time. You are not the same artist you were in your 20s or 30s and yet you may have artwork, materials, and ideas that you’ve hung on to since then. Our subjects, materials, and processes change. […]
How Rose Frantzen inspires you to paint at her Alla Prima Workshop – Part II
This is part II of a two-part post and continues with the painting process Rose Frantzen modeled for us at the workshop. If you missed part I, you can see it here. Rose has tremendous energy. She moves around a lot while she paints, walking back and forth, turning around and sometimes fairly dancing with […]
Crafting your successful MFA portfolio and creating meaning beyond the paint
Most of us want to take our work to the next level, a level which will be different for everyone. It can be difficult to figure out how to do that. Recently, someone I know online asked for feedback on her portfolio and how to answer questions on her graduate school MFA application. I thought […]
How to break your addiction to Candy Crush and become more productive
(And now for something a little different…) Candy Crush is a superb distraction for those moments when you feel the need to engage in a bit of procrastination. It can be habit-forming, but if you do it right, it can also make you productive. When I started playing, I just played a game now and […]
20 things I learned from 30 Days of Plein air painting
I just completed the Strada easel 30 day plein air painting challenge. I did 30 small paintings, one each day and posted them on FB in order to have a chance to win a Strada Easel. Of course the real reason I did it was to be able to do a small painting every day […]
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Popcorn Skies and a month of Plein Air
I want to win a Strada easel. I know. Fat chance. Strada easels are the brain child of Bryan Mark Taylor and they are a cool, light-weight field pochade box. They’re running a contest for the month of September and no doubt thousands will enter. You have to paint en plein air every day […]