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Artspiration

Easing into the new year

There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither. ~ Alan Cohen I had a grand plan of talking about sketchbooks and goals and what-not as we transition into 2024. However… Instead I’m going to recommend not taking this week so seriously. (Perhaps next week we can chat about […]

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Artspiration

Train-spiration

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can. ~ Danny Kaye The train tracks are less than 100′ behind the store. So we hear the train go by on a daily basis. Inspired by those trips and the time of year, here’s a poem: Santa’s Artful […]

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Artspiration

Don’t forget to make time

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. ~ Marthe Troly-Curtin It’s that time of year (especially in the world of retail) where time just slips away into some sort of vortex and there just isn’t enough of it to do all the things. This is the case the rest of the year, but it […]

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Artspiration

It’s basically just work

Well-being is realized by small steps but is truly no small thing. ~ Zeno I recently watched this video of Tischler working on a painting. It’s a beautiful painting… it took over 60 hours. It’s easy to look at the end results of a process (work, creative, whatever) and think that it just arrived that way. […]

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Artspiration

Endure the Rough Draft

Talent is a pursued interest. Anything that you’re willing to practice, you can do. ~ Bob Ross I was recently listening to a podcast about the importance of putting in the work to really learn a new skill. (This is the concept of “brush miles”.) The message was basically that it’s unreasonable to be good […]

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Artspiration

Creative Thanks

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche I always try to take Thanksgiving as a set-aside time for reflecting on the many blessings in my life. A lot of those focus around work and the joy and fulfillment that come from the opportunity to work with you. We […]

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Artspiration

The Art of Loving Art

Every artist was first an amateur. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson The term ‘amateur’ often gets a bad rap, but it’s rooted in something quite beautiful. Derived from the Latin word ‘amare’, which means to love. To do things for the love of it. This origin means that an amateur is someone who engages in a […]

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Artspiration

“I draw to make a good world”

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. ~ Pablo Picasso Last week I was chatting with my daughter while she was drawing. (She’ll be 4 in December.) She said, “I am an artist.”I agreed, “Yes, you are.”She said, “I am drawing and painting, so I am an […]

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Artspiration

Has life on earth gotten better or worse from 1990-2020?

Every moment there are a million miracles happening around you:a flower blossoming, a bird tweeting,a bee humming, a raindrop falling,a snowflake wafting alongthe clear evening air.There is magic everywhere.If you learn how to live it,life is nothing short of a daily miracle. ~ Sadhguru There are some who say things are getting worse.  What do you […]

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Artspiration

You don’t know until you do

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn. ~ C.S. Lewis Have you ever read the instructions, watched the videos, and still had to fumble your way through a project? Happens to me all the time. No matter how much research I’ve done before tackling a project, the first […]