It's rough out there. How are you all holding up?  Micheal Franti sings, "We can bomb a world to pieces, but we can't bomb it to peace." I'm not quite sure what to do with myself, sitting here in my comfortable house. My kids are happy, my husband healthy (this is all mostly true). From where I sit, the world is good and beautiful. In another part of this same world though, terror rains down on innocent children. The need to be right trumps the right to peace--and there seems to be no price too high to make that point. My artist friend Christine Mason Miller shared her ..read more

"A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."  (John A. Shedd) I'm trying some new things in my art biz, things that are pushing me outside of my comfort zone.  You may have noticed an uptick in posts and emails from me. You may have noticed I've been sharing more about my online shop.  The voices that live in my head (some of them are not all that nice) were heckling me yesterday, questioning this new emphasis on marketing, with very clear opinions about where I'm headed (what are you doing, turn back!).  I've been really excited about the change ..read more

Where do your creative ideas come from?How do you decide what to make? Do you create work for the market, or follow the whispers of your heart? Is it possible to do both? Making Work that SellsI've been thinking a lot about this lately. It's come up in my own business, as well as in some of my coaching sessions. As a working artist, I need to make art that I can sell (otherwise all I really have is a very robust hobby). Art agent Lilla Rogers says people buy your joy. And I've seen this again and again, in my own work, and the work of my coaching clients. When I ..read more

There is a tendency when we are creating, to get bogged down with fear. Fear about whether we are good enough. Or smart enough. Fear about never being recognized for our work. Fear about being recognized by everyone for our work. Fear about selling our work. Pricing our work. Fear about buying the wrong brand of paint. Or the wrong paint brush. And on, and on, and on. On some days (the harder ones), this list can feel like it will weigh you down and pull you to the bottom of the sea.  Creativity though, that sassy minx, wants to PLAY. She’s esoteric and doesn’t work to a schedule. When w ..read more

I've been pondering this question lately. I don't know about you, but my life is is FULL. One of the more pleasant side effects of being in my 40s though is wisdom, including the insight that self-care sometimes means that I can't do ALL the things. As a mom and business owner (plus I'm married to a very social butterfly), this isn't easy. I know I need space and quiet to balance the busyness though, so I'm practicing saying no more often. For a while, I tried saying yes only to things that would bring me joy (we're talking optional invites here, not day-to-day o ..read more

Imposter syndrome comes up on a fairly regular basis with my coaching clients. Many (most?) creatives have experienced that nagging feeling that you're not good enough, or that you've made it somewhere that you're not really supposed to be, and that any minute they're all going to figure out what a fraud you actually are. It feels miserable.  Tips on How to Deal with Imposter Syndrome as an Artist: 1/ Recognize that it's normal Imposter syndrome is incredibly common, especially among artists. In fact, studies show that up to 70% of people experience this at some point in their ..read more

Happy Love day. Today is for you, whether you are happily coupled, happily not, or anything else in between.  Sure, love is in the bouquet of flowers your new paramour sent to your office, but it's also in the way your dog wags his tail as soon as you walk through the door. It's in the phone call from the friend you've known for 15 years, and when your 6-year-old niece shares her dinosaur collection with you over zoom. Love is there when your partner of 20 years comes back inside after scraping all the snow off your car. An ..read more

Let’s say you just sent new art off to three different art directors, hoping to license your latest work. You’ve spent the better part of the last month pouring your heart into these projects. Sending it off and shopping it around feels big and exciting. And terrifying, but in that good I'm making my dreams come true kind of way.  After 2 weeks though, the sound of crickets is deafening. And because you are human, you have already started to make up a story about why you haven’t heard back. You might think to yourself that art directors are very busy people, and that y ..read more

Every time I start a new piece of art, I have high hopes. Despite years of evidence that it really can go either way, I nevertheless approach a blank page with ignorant optimism. Sometimes when I don't like a painting, it means it's just not finished yet. And sometimes, when I don't like a painting, it means I just need to move on. Lately though, it feels like I've made a lot of ugly art. After the high of my trip to Morocco, this has been particularly hard to take.   For many years, my default response was to be really hard on myself when I fell short or let my ..read more

Do you believe in following your heart? Do you trust where it will take you?  Last week, I was in Morocco with a group of kind, funny, creative, and adventurous women at Jennifer Orkin Lewis and Gayle Kabaker's painting retreat. Jennifer and Gayle travel to gorgeous international destinations where they teach and do painting demos, and the attendees capture their travel experience in their sketchbooks. It is indeed as wonderful as it sounds. When I first saw the announcement for a trip to Morocco, my heart said Yes! (I’ve always wanted to visit Morooco). But my head said No Way!, and then ..read more