Mark Making With Natural Materials

Mark Making With Natural Materials

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: Making marks with natural brushes is one of the most fun and inventive ways to create. I’m excited to share some of what I’ve made and how it has supercharged my art practice. It’s been such an adventure to see how...
What To Do After An Art Challenge

What To Do After An Art Challenge

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: Art challenges provide a wonderful burst of inspiration, accountability, and community. But they all end eventually, and to really dig into your own art practice, you can’t always be responding to a challenge. So what do you do when...
How to Organize Your Art Studio

How to Organize Your Art Studio

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: I have always had a space dedicated to my art making. For years while living with roommates it was tiny – a container under my bed, or a small desk in my bedroom. Now I’m lucky enough to have an entire room in my house....
More Art Play Makes Better Art Work

More Art Play Makes Better Art Work

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: I spend a lot of time urging you to repeat yourself, to focus on exploration, and to luxuriate in the joy of the process. Today I’d like to illustrate what that looks like for me in the hope of inspiring you to push further in your...
The Power of Starting Simple

The Power of Starting Simple

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: What is the simplest thing I could do artistically right now? I’ve found this is such a powerful question for my art practice. I don’t ask: What masterpiece could I make? We need to build our skills over time. You’re not...
Creating Slow Drawing Patterns

Creating Slow Drawing Patterns

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: One of the questions I get a lot is how I come up with my slow drawing patterns. In December, I come up with the batch of patterns that we will explore in the first six months of the year, and in May, I generate the second batch. Since I...
The Mindful Art Studio Book List 2022

The Mindful Art Studio Book List 2022

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: Each year I compile a list of books that have been important to me and my creative life during the year. I hope you find a few that speak to you here, and that you comment at the bottom to add to the list. Art + Drawing Books: Life is...
Clear The Clutter and Make More Art

Clear The Clutter and Make More Art

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: For some of us, it can be hard to make time and space for art making. It’s easier to buy art supplies than to create with them. It’s easier to put the things that need to be dealt with in your art space, than to deal with...
Our Longing For Retreat

Our Longing For Retreat

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: It’s been two years since I’ve been able to return to one of my most beloved places on earth – to Squam Lake for an art retreat. When I arrived, the lake was a sight for sore eyes, and I felt myself sink into its...
Finding a Sense of Wonder in Your Art

Finding a Sense of Wonder in Your Art

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: I’ve been hosting Slow Drawing Parties since the beginning of the pandemic, and so many folks have told me how important the practice is to their lives. But when folks first start, especially if they are new to art, it can be hard...
The Best Gifts for Artists 2021

The Best Gifts for Artists 2021

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: This year, in the spirit of reducing the amount of stuff that might end up in our oceans or landfills, I’m suggesting some less tangible, but highly valuable gifts. Some of them are completely free, and others are an investment....
The Best Gifts for Artists 2022

The Best Gifts for Artists 2022

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: While I tend towards minimalism, I enjoy a new art supply from time to time as much as the next person. But for me this is the key: I buy just a few, high quality supplies so that they work well and keep me having fun. Here are a few of...
Is it Art Talent Or Art Work?

Is it Art Talent Or Art Work?

Dear Wonderful, Creative You:  Over the last two weeks, we engaged in a simple art challenge. The idea was to create for a short period of time, on a small square, every day for 12 days. You were invited to let go of perfectionism and embrace play and...
The Inchie Challenge 2021

The Inchie Challenge 2021

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: Each summer I host an art challenge that focuses on getting you to meet your top art goals – make more fun, meaningful art. There is so much that can get in the way of your creative life. I want to help you make art making so...
The Simplest Things

The Simplest Things

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: At the Nature Spells Book Retreat last week, one of the things we discussed was the power of making space for the simplest things. We think our ideas need to be grand, or complicated, in order to be good enough. But it’s not true. I...
Do Less, Make More.

Do Less, Make More.

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: One of the things that has fascinated me most about art over the last few years is how powerful it is when we create space. I find the less I do, the more I make. For me, and my students, it’s about creating space: Physical space in...
How to Sew Your Own Journal

How to Sew Your Own Journal

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: I have been making my own journals for some time – some sewn simply, some rolled or loose, and some folded accordion style. I love the playfulness of these techniques. But I have longed to sew a more traditional book – a...
To Get Creative, Get Curious

To Get Creative, Get Curious

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: What is sparking your creativity these days? For me, it’s been the tiny, itty bitty interior spaces of natural objects. I’m fascinated by the abstract shapes made by the gills of a fungus, or the holes and crevices in a piece...
5 Minute Art Journaling Prompts

5 Minute Art Journaling Prompts

Dear Wonderful, Creative You: Finding the time to do the things we love can be hard – especially when so many things compete for our attention, and especially during a pandemic. I’ve been hearing from students for years about how hard it is to find the...