Rediscovering John Marin, American Watercolorist

He was ambidextrous & worked with brushes in either hand. The freshness of his work proved his restraint.

Magic wands. Tools of the Trade?

When the brushes used for calligraphy were completely worn out, artists wrapped them in silk and buried them in a beautiful place.

When Shape is the Thing… from Matisse’s Cut-outs to Silhouettes

And, just so we are clear…. she doesn’t draw anything…She “freehands” by holding the paper and the scissors in the air while looking at her subject.

Cursive writing. No longer relevant?

Cursive text from a journal my grandfather carried through Europe in 1900…the same paintings, sculpture and churches I visited more than 100 years later. Seeing the text in his own hand is powerful. Can I absorb more of my grandfather’s personality by the energy and grace he conveys through his cursive?

Catastrophe Averted: Painting in Peril

Blackberry Jam: Understanding the Cosmos A number of years ago I was working on a very detailed series of large watercolor paintings – (32 x 22” and larger) when a disaster threatened to destroy a very important painting. This painting, that I had been working on for about 40 hours, was due at a juried […]

Courage and Creativity: Clashing on the Journey

Being an artist takes courage. To really get into the deep muck of being an artist you have to conquer your fears and allow yourself to be put out there—by your own doing. You have to grapple with challenging the conventions of normalcy. The creative process might involve the sometimes brutal slamming together of unknowing, […]

Emerging Art Form: QR codes

Constraints as a Channel to Creativity Most artists will admit, there is something creatively exhilarating about constraints put on the creation of your work. Some art exhibits require work done in a certain medium–like the Transparent Watercolor Society’s requirement that the art actually be completed in transparent watercolor– not opaque. Or the challenge of a […]

Pro Artist? 6 Social Media Tips for Savvy Self-Promotion and Pete’s Peppers, too

Know how to eat up the life of a professional artist? Juggling priorities, keeping up with art trends, sparking personal creativity, volunteering, chasing money, marketing your “brand,” pitching to galleries, and actually CREATING art.  After all that, you might think about social media. As a professional artist, I found that frequently I could spend only […]