INSPIRATION

The Plein Air Convention, Finally all about it

April 30, 2012

It’s been a week since I got home from the The First Annual Plein Air Convention and Expo and my painting trip at the Grand Canyon. I wanted to post something on this earlier, but I spent a few days catching up on work, shipping paintings, a commission, sifting through information, resting, and just trying to absorb some [...]

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Working in a Theme Stretches Your Possibilities

April 9, 2012

Artists begin working on series often without realizing it. Their obsessions are fueled by an emotional attachment to a concept or to a place. We want to learn all we can about it and to do our best. We start our artistic journey developing skills and techniques which are necessary to express ourselves. As time [...]

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Create a Scrapbook of Inspiring Images

April 3, 2012

I started with stacks of art magazines. When they became overwhelming, I started cutting out the images that I really liked. I would stuff them into a shoe box and thumb through them when I needed some inspiration. Eventually that shoe box gave way to a notebook. I placed the photos into plastic sleeves. Over [...]

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Stir Your Imagination, tips from Art Workshops Online

March 7, 2012

What do you do to stir your imagination? Do nothing, contemplate, and it will come Put yourself in a new environment Write about your art Go through your collection of favorite photos or things Go for a walk Participate in a painting challenge Go to youtube to view art Visit the local galleries or museums [...]

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Create and Compose Art with the IPad by Janet Vanderhoof

January 19, 2012

I met Janet on twitter and saw her posting about creating art with her IPad and about the Nomad Brushes. Intrigued, I checked the post. I had never heard of using the IPad for creating art. Last year I took a workshop using Photoshop for the artist in composing. To me it was way too [...]

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Practice Doesn’t Always Make Perfect, Getting Good at Bad

January 5, 2012

How many times have you heard the old saying “Practice makes perfect”. We’ve all been taught this from the time that we first learned to play piano, played softball or learned our times tables. But, what happens when we don’t learn all the baby steps, the proper form, or the rules, we only practice skills [...]

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HOW I FIND INSPIRATION

July 20, 2011

This article first appeared July 16, 2011 on the blog Seven Sentences Being aware of all the different sensations around me as I take a walk is a great way to provide some inspiration for painting, being “in the moment” as they say. Use your senses and really take in the world around you. The [...]

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KNOWING THE FRUSTRATION OF BEING AN ARTIST

July 4, 2011

First published on ezine.com on July 12, 2011 The progress of an artist is a continual self- sacrifice, a continual extinction of personality. – by Eliot, T. S.. Know what you do well. Know what inspires you. Know that small changes in your habits make small changes in your art. Know that big changes make [...]

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HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU CREATE ART?

May 31, 2011

First published on ezine.com on May 31, 2011 I was recently talking to a friend of mine that is a creativity coach. Our conversation eventually went to what it means to me as an artist to create. She posed the question, “How do you feel when you paint?” We have had conversations about this before as have [...]

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HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO PAINT THAT?

May 31, 2011

First published on ezine.com on May 17, 2011 Today I spent most of the day running errands and taking care of business. I didn’t get any painting done. Tomorrow I will be in the studio painting and hopefully getting a lot done. “They” say that being an artist is 50% taking care of business and [...]

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