Today I was in the dentist’s office again for a major intervention. Next to me was one of those paintings that seem to always be in a dentist’s office. What is this about? We all know the kind of art. At least I think I do? I recognize it. It is easy to look at for...

Fear is always circling around in the background of many of the difficult decisions we make, especially in the creative areas of our lives. Whether you are finally ready to put the time aside to make your art for the first time or simply making the decision to paint...

The other day I spent about 4 hours painting and in the end I felt like I didn’t achieve anything. I went around in circles. I was thinking of so many other things, I couldn’t really drop into it. Of course I know that everyone goes in and out of being focused and...

My mother amazes me. She is tireless and wonderfully feisty. She still lives in the rambling house on an overgrown acre of land that I grew up on. She has an electric chainsaw she uses to cut down trees. She does heavy yard work in her isotoner slippers. Every year to...

When I was growing up my father owned an advertising agency. As a result he was always involved in something creative. I loved this. I remember sitting on top of the kitchen table as he used those smelly, toxic ( I still LOVE that smell, do you know the one?) felt...

How do we improve our art? I definitely subscribe to the 10,000 hours of hard work idea. This rule originally proposed in Malcolm Gladwell's NY Times bestselling book  "Outliers, The Story of Success" suggests that only by practicing 10,000 hours at a specific task...

Today I was working on a large painting. It was mostly white and had tiny black square shapes all over it. It reminded me of a snowy landscape. I was feeling kind of lost, almost as if I was wandering in this enormous white field with black stumps where trees once...

I love the quote by the philosopher, poet David Whyte..."Visitation, absence, visitation, absence this is how we learn"  This totally rings true for me. When I come back to work on a painting the following day I have about 45 minutes of objectivity. Things seem more...

I just returned from Chris Guillenbaum's World Domination Summit in Portland Oregon. The conference was especially remarkable because of this year's speakers. I especially was moved by Nancy Duarte visually mapping out the worlds greatest speeches, Jia Jiang talking...

When I was a in high school I took a stained glass class at a local art store. The first project was to make a Tiffany style lampshade. The pattern was basically a pansy repeating floral motif. The instructions said that I could choose any color of glass I wanted. ...