Spring always makes me want to get outside to paint. A while ago someone wrote to me and asked about my Yarka plein air easel. It is a wooden field easel similar to the French easel, but with the materials compartment in the front of the easel instead of behind. So it opens more like […]
Studio Challenge – Week 4 – Put it all back together
Spring is officially here, and we are wrapping up our studio challenge just in time. Now for the fun part. Since we finished de-cluttering and cleaning, it’s time to re-create our space. A few years back I did a major overhaul of my studio, but it can still use some tweaking. Mine is a multi-use […]
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. […]
Clean vs Cluttered – join the clean studio challenge
We all have our preferences. Some studios are cluttered like Francis Bacon’s (well, few are probably that cluttered), and some are pristine. What works best for you? Do you know or is it by default that your studio looks the way it does? Several years ago, I did a massive de-clutter and upgrade to my […]
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 […]
Landscapes Unleashed exhibition opens tomorrow
I am pleased to let you know that my work has been included in a show opening tomorrow at the Unsettled Gallery in Las Cruces, NM. The show is based on interpretations of Landscape and includes treatments ranging from impressionism to magic realism to abstraction. Artists showing Include Nolan Winkler, Roy Van der Aa, C. […]
A Painting Challenge re-boot and my Daily Eight
How much time did you spend in the studio in the past month? If you’re like me, it wasn’t as much as you wanted. It’s great to spend time with family, eat lots of food, celebrate together. Then the last week of December our thoughts turn to the new year and re-booting our life and […]
Season’s greetings and a gift that can change the world
Have you ever thought about who owned the manger? I mean we know the owner of the Inn said there was no room there. No vacancy. Imagine traveling to a town in the winter, riding on a donkey when you are 9 months pregnant, being jostled about and tired to the bone. There is no […]
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 […]
Studio Sweep Link
Here’s the link to the Studio Sweep Sale. http://paintinghabit.bigcartel.com/ Enjoy.