Gestural Self Expression in Art Every summer I teach an art workshop for Stanford physicians at Stanford Sierra Camp with Jane Lombard, MD. Creativity and self expression is essential for everyone, including physicians. Stanford Medical School and Hospital has been on a mission of incorporating art into the medical school curriculum as well as […]
Answering The Call Of Your Creative Journey
TRANSCRIPT from my interview with filmmaker Sidharta Pascual. The Artist’s Journey is similar to the Hero’s Journey. In both cases, you’re answering the call of your creative journey. You’re living your life and you yearn for something- meaning, aliveness or a sense of adventure. And then one day you finally answer the […]
Don’t Lick The Paint: What Artists Can Learn From Mozart & Other Artists
I was in rapid fire communication with my editor Yolande McLean this morning. I told her that I needed to read through the entire manuscript of my forthcoming book The Artist’s Journey again. This would be the zillionth time I’d pored over it since I began writing it eighteen months ago. Yolande’s […]
Keeping It Alive: Moving Past Repetition In Your Art
Keeping It Alive: Moving Past Repetition In Your Art Have you ever had the experience of creating a painting you love only to be afraid that you won’t be able to create a painting like that again? That it’ll be a one hit wonder?I remember years ago painting oil landscapes on panel at the Palo Alto […]
The Power Of Simplicity & Constraint In Art
The Power Of Simplicity & Constraint In Art There’s power and potency in working with simplicity and constraint in your art Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – Leonardo Da Vinci Multum Non Multa There’s a Latin phrase multum non multa which translates to much, not many. In employing much, not many in your art, you go deep rather than wide. You explore […]
The Artist’s Journey In Art And Life
I was invited recently to give a talk at the San Francisco Opera Guild on the topic of the hero’s journey in art and how the artist’s journey and hero’s journey are related. I was delighted because this is a topic I’m passionate about. I believe that your artist’s journey is your very […]
The Hero’s Journey & Art
The Hero’s Journey & Art Our lives are a hero’s journey of moving from the known to the unknown and returning back again, transformed. As artists, we continually step into the unknown and evolve our work. We search and find our way, lose and find ourselves in our paintings and explore and experiment on our […]
The Crossroads Of Conflicting Voices In Your Art
I want to share with you some thoughts about how working with and finding yourself in unknown territory in your art can open you up to deeper experimentation.At first, when you try something unfamiliar, it can feel scary and intimidating. You may feel frustrated because you don’t know exactly what to do. Your usual marks, moves and […]
The Holy Grail of Creating
There’s a secret to fulfilling your destiny as an artist To express yourself in your art, to search for your truth, you must first master yourself – a never-ending wrestling match with the dark angels of self doubt. It’s similar to the biblical story of Jacob wrestling all night until daybreak with an angel by […]
How To Get Unstuck In Your Abstract Paintings
I am finding ‘what to do next very challenging These are the words one artist I work with used to describe one of the biggest challenges most artists face. As artists, we face this problem of how to move past feeling stuck in abstract painting, in the middle of the painting, each time we […]