Drawing by Kai Patrick
Make Art Like Noone is Watching
To practice art, you need to believe in yourself. It has nothing to do with whether you are talented or not. It does, however, require that you think that you…
365 Days is my personal practice of putting out words and images. My goal is to do a post a day for a year. In that time, I hope to transform myself and my art.
A Search for Style Goes Sideways
My intention for this blog was to become better at seeing images and to settle comfortably into an artistic style. Instead, my focus has shifted to making posts about things…
Creativity is a Left Turn
Creativity pushes boundaries of the norm. It forces us to open our minds and accept a way of thinking that did not exist before. It is like taking left turns…
Learning to See
Photographer and educator Bryan Peterson suggested an exercise to learn how to look at a subject like a tree.Using a single lens with fixed settings, approach the tree from a…
Color Bias
People make associations with color. For example, Red gets associated with fire. White, with purity. Black, with darkness, and so on. Through our associations, we tend to make generalizations. For…
The First Rule of Art
The first rule of art is to have fun. Understanding composition, design, harmony, perspective is important.Also, you need to learn the rules to break them. That is true. But if…
Wabi-Sabi
In his books, Leonard Koren points to qualities that embody Wabi-Sabi - An aesthetic, philosophy, description of beauty, originating in Japan. In my photograph, I am attempting to capture:“Beauty at…
Keep Your Ferrari Geared to Drive
A couple of years ago, my husband, Richard, and I test drove Ferraris in Maranello, Italy. It is an experience offered by a company of race car drivers, one of…
Horror Vacui
In visual art, 'Horror Vacui' refers to filling an entire space with detail. It also means 'fear of empty space'.The Italian critic Mario Praz used this term to describe the…
The Perfect Nautilus
I saw this Nautilus shell on the table of a vendor at the Wednesday Market in Cascias. The man had several crystals and agates and shells. Having recently written about…
Taping the Creative Flame
A musical colleague told me something his teacher would say to him. 'Music is readily available to everyone, but we are seldom readily available to it'. Music = Creativity. Be it photography,…
Squaring Up The Square
When I studied electronics, I would listen to Bach’s Air on G String, written in 4/4 time on repeat. It was part of a memorizing technique I used to recall…
To Tidy or Not To Tidy?
Austin Kleon says, “When in Doubt, tidy up.” But what he has to say about tidying up is quite different from what Marie Kondo would teach. Austin says productivity does…
Get Started Already!
There is a saying out there in the world of motivational speak that directs us to ‘Get Started Before You Are Ready’. This is something I am really good at.I’ve…
Sizing Up the Picture
We associate shapes, colors, sizes, placement of objects in images with our life experiences. Red is associated with blood and fire. Sharp edges are seen as threatening, like the edge…
Lydia Knox Instagram Capture
Pay Attention to Lydia Knox
I want to tell you about Lydia Knox - an artist who is talented, resilient, and has put in the time and effort to become the person she is today.…
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Advice from the Bhagavad Gita
In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna, the warrior, stands at the forefront of a fearsome battle. He is riddled with fear and doubt. Luckily, his charioteer is the God Krishna, who teaches…
The studio of artist Lydia Knox.
What Gets In Your Way?
Art is the expression of a life lived. It holds the thoughts and actions of the artist. Whether the viewer sees it or not, art holds the artist's hidden truths.…
It Takes Longer to Build a Habit than You Thought it Did
There is a popular thought that it takes 21 days to turn an action into a habit. Actually, the average time is 66 days. Philippa Lally discovered this in a…
The Larvae of Marine Snails teaches us about Finding Style
My creative scientist friend Jenn Page, introduced me to the Veliger Larvae of a Marine Snail. These creatures are to marine snails that caterpillars are to butterflies. They are tiny,…
Give ‘Creative’ an Identity
You would say, 'I have hunger' instead of 'I am hungry' in the Spanish language. If you apply the same rule to the word 'CREATIVE,' you can look at it…
Feeling Fatigued?
I read in one of those top 10 lists that are so successful at getting traffic to a page that a good way to deal with fatigue is to exercise! …
Life of a Wave – Wabi Sabi
Wabi-Sabi speaks of the impermanence of things. It points to the natural world in the purest of forms. In his book 'Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers', Leonard Karen…
Symbolize This
I am fond of using symbols in my art. I’ve use birds a lot. In fact, people who know my work assume the birds they see in my photographs are…