Just as we communicate with our art, we need at some point, to communicate in writing to connect with potential buyers and sell our art.  Whether you are entering shows, have a website, deal with galleries, market your art on social media, or do commissions—there will be written communications that become a necessity.   Then of course there is verbal communication with YouTube, videos, speaking to groups, teaching and speaking with clients!! Wouldn’t it be a dream if creating our art...

Feel like experimenting—finding a different way to create and evaluate your art work? Harmony/balance is one of the principles of designing. It is also the goal of Feng Shui. When we were building our new home in SC, I decided to use some Feng Shui principles as we designed and decorated and I applied these principles to the artwork that went into some of the rooms. That’s when I found out how much fun it was to plan a design...

I have heard over and over from judges and workshop teachers that a painting or work of art needs to “tell a story”.  I keep asking myself, “exactly what kind of story?”  Now if I paint people walking on the beach or children building a sand castle—I have a story.  But what about a beautiful floral or a wildlife portrait or an abstract —how do I tell a story here? Recently in “American Watercolor”, author Kelly Kane quoted master painter...

I’m glad you’re here to spark your creativity! For the last two issues of our ArtSpeak blog we have been exploring our creative connections—finding our best creative selves. If you missed the first two parts of the Creative Connections series, just click the following link and you can catch up! Creative Connections - Passion and Flow In this issue let’s talk about the last two words: FOCUS and RISK. The word focus may seem to be at odds with the...

You and your brushes spend quite a bit of time together creating.  This makes it very important to take good care of them and maintain their shape and condition.  First, if you have not read “Cleaning Your Brushes”—start there!  Here are some additional tips that will keep your brushes in top shape. In between painting “sessions”—let’s say you are taking a break for a couple of days. The brush has been cleaned properly but you want to make sure to...