As children we are often asked what we want to be when we grow up and without hesitation, we toss out anything and everything from fireman to astronaut, doctor to magician, famous singer to veterinarian and more! Our imaginations are limitless, and we are unrestrained from qualifications. As we grow up, we assess in greater…

“I didn’t value my art as much then because my art was not realistic.  In my head the only thing that I thought was worth anything was art that was very realistic! Lucy didn’t discover her passion or ability for painting until she was almost 50. She was a late bloomer but caught up fast! …

In the previous blog Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Art we touched on Imposter Syndrome and how it impacts our ability to identify ourselves as artists. Today we are going to dive deeper into how Imposter Syndrome (IS) affects our creativity and ideas on how to work around it. I say “work…

Jen Starling is an artist known for pushing the limits.  She is constantly looking for new ways of creating unique and interesting portraits and figures!  Learn more about her process and her upcoming course below! Jen focused seriously on ballet and modern dance throughout her childhood and adult life. She has a BA in Performance…

Have you ever walked into your art studio ready to create and found yourself entirely overwhelmed by the level of clutter and disorganization to the point where you slowly back out of your room and your creative spirit? The creative process can be a messy, wild one for many of us – paints pulled for…

“There’s a lot of spirit and a lot of soul in animals.  As I do people I realized I was able to capture that in people, and why not capture that in an animal.  I can’t get in there deep with an animal, have a conversation with it, talk to it, but I can certainly…

Have you ever started an underpainting and fell in love with the simple beauty of form and value in one color only to cover it up with the “real” painting in a variety of hues and find yourself subtly missing the original work? Monochromatic painting is not only something that can be done as part…

“Faces are really interesting.  People are interesting.  They carry a message with them, and I like to try to capture the emotion of the person, and the mood.”  More on finding the right reference and being an empath, below! Deanna Strachan-Wilson is an artist that wants to play and create art the way that she…

Have you ever felt that you default to one perspective, one compositional ratio, or one color palette? Do you look at your body of work and feel it becoming routine or repetitive? Finding the healthy balance between perfection-creating practice and feeling that your work is one-dimensional is crucial to long term success. We all know…

Do you ever feel like you always migrate towards one particular medium, neglecting the rest of your tools? Mixing up your mediums can be a fantastic way to shake yourself out of a creative plateau, try new techniques and add more depth to your current work. As artists our senses tend to be heightened –…

It would be marvelous to have a wide-open day to create from beginning to end with no interruptions. But if you’re like me, you’ve got the cell phone ringing, kids that need to go a million places, emails coming in, a business to run and oh wait, did I even eat lunch? The reality is…

Finally, an idea strikes! It’s in your mind perfectly – the subject, color palette and feeling. You pull out your art supplies and block off time to bring this beauty to life…but when you go to paint it feels stuck! The dread of artists block settles in, and we all are far too familiar with…