Original, fresh, new, innovative, groundbreaking. Fuck ’em. Find your myths. Find your idols, symbols, guardians, guides, angels, totems, whatever you want to call them. Call them cliches if you want. Find YOUR cliches, and love them, squeeze them and hold them tight. What reoccurs in your dreams? Moments of synchronicity? What image do find yourself spontaneously drawing, even if you […]
How to deeply explore your inner world
Who’s in charge of your art? (AKA, how to believe in yourself)
I’ve been dabbling with a blog post about the different approaches to art making. This was triggered recently by a parent who signed up to participate with her daughter in my Kids’ Art Camp. I was excited to get a parent participant, but unfortunately she didn’t realize what she was signing up for. Thinking that the class was going […]
Healing a pesky sub-personality
Sisters, let me tell ya, it has been QUITE the week here. I love summer break, don’t get me wrong. But being home all the time forces me to deal with all the stuff I escaped by going to work. The grand experiment this week is to see what effect creativity has on my ability to deal. And what […]
Why learning how to box made me a better artist
There you are, remote in hand, the kids driving you nuts, trying to read the mood of your significant other, feeling defensive and/or pouty. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the table, piled with clutter, where, if you weren’t so “lazy” and “untalented,” you would be creating. But the thought of creating is so blah, who cares? […]
Atheism, Mysticism, and Art
I call myself a reluctant atheist.
Pinned down, I do not truly believe in anything supernatural. And my shoulders sag a bit with this admission.
And yet.
My life is better, so much better when I pretend that I do believe otherwise.
Art and Shame
“You shouldn’t be making art like that!” This was said to me once. It stunned me. At the time, I had just started making art again after a long dry spell. The person who said it to me was an artist who did watercolor still lifes. She let me and my young son come to her studio. My son would […]