Recently, a student of mine shared a photo of her painting and asked: “Where did I go wrong? And how do I fix it?” Questions like these mean I get to play art detective. I spot what’s working, what’s not, and then map out a solution. In this case, my answer to her was actually the same answer I give to most painting problems I hear about. Her painting was off to a fabulous start. All she needed were a few finishing touches: More contrast to help the highlights and shadows pop

What do Andy Warhol, Johannes Vermeer, and Norman Rockwell have in common? If you’re familiar with their artwork, you’re probably thinking, “Um, not much…” 😂 Believe it or not, these master artists all used forms of technology to trace or project their drawings before starting their painting process. Surprising, right? I often hear from students who feel like tracing is some kind of cheating and they can’t consider themselves “real artists” if they trace. If you’ve been feel

I read an interesting question from one of my students recently. She asked, “What makes someone an artist?” There were a lot of comments on that post, and the question clearly struck a nerve. Some people were hesitant to call themselves an artist, while others were confident. Some asked thoughtful questions. Is it a certain level of skill? A certain number of paintings? Do you have to put on a show or sell your work? Do you need to spend a certain length of time learning? Doe

Every watercolor artist has been there. You spend hours on a painting, step back to admire it… and something just feels off. Maybe the colors didn’t blend how you wanted, or that one leaf looks a little wonky, or the whole piece just doesn’t match the image you had in your head. It can be really disheartening, especially when you’ve put a lot of time and effort into a piece. But guess what? Every artist (no matter how experienced) has paintings they don’t love. It’s all part

I think there is a lot of false guilt in the art world. We feel guilty for buying art supplies, and then guilty for not using them. We...

As an art teacher, there are certain questions I hear repeatedly from artists struggling with perfectionism and self-doubt. "How can I...