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…
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 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…
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…
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 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…
Marcelle Quao is an educator in Ontario and a new friend of mine. We know each other through Seth Godin’s Creative Workshop, in which the idea of ‘generosity’ as a…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
Here is a tool to make your abstracts more meaningful.Particularly in abstracts, the distribution of elements in the frame facilitates the viewer’s eye across the image. The eye is drawn…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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.…
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 Golden Ratio is a design ratio that structures the nature of form. It is a mathematical sequence that frequently appears in nature and is found in art and design.…
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,…
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…
