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Artspiration

Creativity can be hard

Creativity takes courage. ~ Henri Matisse I recently read something that basically said – creating is hard no matter what tools you use. I’m under no illusions that were a mystical device to materialize in front of me that it would remove any of the fundamental barriers to creating that we all deal with every […]

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Artspiration

What you pay attention to – expands

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. ~ Marcus Aurelius As an un-planned follow-up to last week’s email about praising children for what they’ve done in a literal manner, here’s a bit more parenting advice. “Don’t constantly point out when a child is behaving badly,” the advice goes. “Instead, try […]

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Artspiration

The importance of playing with art supplies

Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else. ~ Sydney Gurewitz Clemens Some parenting advice I heard talked about praising a child for something they’ve done. In both examples, they kiddo has just finished their latest painting. The first example has you saying, “Oh, what […]

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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 […]