Today I’m sharing with you my artist’s manifesto. We all know that creating brings up perils- the perils of fear, self doubt, inner criticism, second guessing, procrastination and even resignation. These fears can stop us in our tracks. Our job is to move beyond the fears and create anyway. A few years ago, I […]
The Tyranny of Technique in Abstract Painting
As a teacher of abstract painting, I see recurring themes in artist’s struggles with their art. One of these is the sentiment: “I feel like my art doesn’t measure up to what I want it to be”. There are 4 big traps that artists face in their life cycle as artists. These are the places […]
The One Thing in Abstract Art
I had an ‘aha’ recently after talking with artists in our Artist’s Journey group. We’d been discussing painting for yourself, finding what you love, searching and finding your way, exploring and experimenting. [Note: I have a video for you at the bottom of this post]. I saw that each artist was stretching and risking and […]
Gestural Self Expression In Art
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 […]