“We do not always create works of art, but rather, experiments.
It is not our intention to fill museums. We are gathering experience.”
Josef Albers

The path of a happy artist
What does the path of a happy artist look like? Although we're all walking the artist path, and many of us go through similar ups and downs, each of us experiences it differently. And knowing that other artists out there {*waves hands around vaguely*} feel the same in...

7 new ways to think about a ‘failed’ painting
Let's have a quick chat about something we can all relate to - the 'failed painting' conundrum.😉 Whatever words you use - disaster, crap, a mess, a waste of materials - we all know that kind of thinking leads nowhere helpful, and yet it can be so easy to slip into. I...

How to be a successful artist
How to be a successful artist. I love the title of this blog post.😊 If you've landed here for the first time and are not familiar with my work, you might be wondering what secrets I'm going to tell you that will guarantee career success as an artist. If you've been...

9 ways to make the most of studio time as an artist
How often have you finally got some precious studio time, then found that you frittered it away? Maybe you didn't know where to start... so you just kind of didn't, and then ran out of time. Or you got in there, saw all the half finished projects and different art...

10 reasons to love the Painted Postcards online workshop
“I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop. It has the perfect balance of giving a real insight into your process in 'real time' and a very practical and repeatable exercise in creating small works of art. I also think the approach can easily be extended and scaled up, by...

How to deal with the challenges of being an artist
I recently wrote a post sharing some things I've found to be essential as an artist. One of those things was something I call a Demon Management System™. {Not an actual trademark, obvs. Maybe it should be?!🤔} When I shared the post on Instagram, I got some questions...

10 things you don’t need to be an artist
I recently wrote a post exploring 10 things you need to be an artist, and then had the brainwave that it might also be helpful to talk about some of the things you don't need to be an artist. Because there are an awful lot of 'rules' and unspoken assumptions out there...

10 things you need to be an artist
What are the things you need to be an artist? And - much more importantly - what are the things ✨YOU✨ need to be an artist? Today I'm sharing a non exhaustive list of things I've found to be essential on the artist path - and they might not all be what you'd think....

How to feel confident calling yourself an artist
So let me ask you the question of the day - do you feel confident calling yourself an artist? If not, you'd probably be shocked to discover how not alone you are in that. After a very unofficial - but very telling - bit of research on Instagram, I discovered that so....

The Artnotes Collection: Letters from an artist’s life – now in paperback
I've been writing Artnotes for 10 years this year. They haven't always looked the way they look now, of course. I tried a few different approaches before I started honing them into the hilarious, wise, erudite missives they are today. {If you're new here, I do very...