Is using technology to create a work of art cheating? Is how we create something really more important than what we create? Does the Medium Matter? by: Alison Huff Is how we create something more important than what we create? Throughout history, art has always reflected the culture of the period it was created […]
by: Angela Cross As an artist, you’ve probably felt unappreciated at some point in your career. Heck, even calling your art a ‘career’ might sound silly to you! It’s a common 20th-century misconception that popularity equals value. It can feel like you just can’t build a following unless you already have one, which is a […]
Where can you find free images for your website or blog without having to steal them? Here are my favorite places online to find all of the (legal) images you’ll ever need. C’mon, I just want a #@$%! picture for my website! How many times have you said something like this to yourself? You want to add […]
What’s your creative process? by: Tara Leaver Even if you’re not a painter or a writer or a musician, there are likely places in your life where you do have a creative process, even if you haven’t seen it that way before. If you think about it, bringing anything into existence, from an email […]
It’s not about having the right tools or gadgets, it’s about putting in the work. Whether you are writing a novel, painting a picture, or trying to capture the perfect photograph. We like easy Let’s face it, we all love our shortcuts and gadgets. Whether it’s about making our waistlines smaller, our creative work better, or our […]
Listening to people criticize our creative work is never easy, but it’s going to happen. So how do we take a punch in the ego and then get back to work? The creative writing teacher from hell In college, I had a creative writing teacher who told us the first week of class that his job […]
Most of us don’t need any more goals or things to add to our to-do list. What we need is a way to focus our mind and cultivate our creative soul… I was exhausted. Most days my head would hit the pillow and I would wonder, what did I really accomplish today? What was wrong with […]
Creative Inspiration to Go by: Rebekah Nemethy If you’re anything like me, you love to learn new things and may wish you had more time to do it. No matter how busy your schedule is, I bet there are plenty of times when you’re on autopilot and your brain could use a little engagement. You […]
Why I stopped talking to myself Back when we first met, we all seemed to get along okay. He was always kind of chatty but it didn’t really bother me because it was usually nice to have a familiar voice nearby when I stumbled into a new or uncomfortable situation. For whatever reason he […]
Time to create or cut bait? Have you ever been in the middle of a project only to discover that you have completely lost your enthusiasm for it and now it seems you’re just going through the motions? So how do you know when you should continue working on a project, and when you should […]
Where do I even start? Have you ever had one of those days where you felt completely overwhelmed because you had too many ideas swimming around inside your head and you just didn’t know where to begin? Perhaps you drank one too many Red Bulls that day, or maybe you went somewhere that really inspired […]
Amateur Art Amateur artists have gotten a bad rap. There seems to be a growing rift in the creative world between “professional” and “amateur” artists, writers, musicians, etc… and I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t made things any better by writing articles with ominous titles such as “The 9 Warning Signs of […]
We have an expression around our house that we tend to use on everything from solving tricky Algebra problems, to practicing instruments, to eating icky green vegetables — and that is the saying “Some is better than none”. All or nothing… Sometimes as creative artists we can get locked into this idea that if we […]
When you change one thing, one habit, your whole life changes. Patterns renew and re-chemicalize to meet the new habit Becoming an Archaeologist of Joy by: Niya Christine In November 2012, in a Seattle Starbucks, I painted a Starbucks cup as fast as I could for fun. And, it was. In fact, it was so […]
So what scares the crap out of you? People always tell me they can’t think of anything to write about on their blog. For me the problem has never been coming up with ideas, but instead it has always been about having the courage to sit down and expose myself to the world. I’m not […]
Taking Control of your Creative Life by: Michaela Cristallo You’re showing up to the studio every day, you’re making art and you feel like you’re on the right track, but do you ever wonder if you’re making the right kind of progress to get to where you want to be? It’s wonderful to create freely and […]
Practice, practice, blah, blah, blah…. Okay we get it. By now we’ve all heard the great secret of success is that you have to sit down and practice more. Then again if we did everything we are supposed to do, we probably wouldn’t have all of these infomercials trying to sell us the latest […]
How can I create more art? How do I become a better artist? How can I get more people to see my work? What the $#!@ is a “Skinny Artist”? These are the kind of questions that people ask me all the time. Unfortunately I’m stumbling around in the dark like everyone else. Occasionally I’ll […]
Art is Work Creating art is a valid career. There seems to be this perception in our culture that art is not really a profession but more of a hobby. That creativity is a pastime, not a true vocation. It’s no secret that many of us see our day jobs as monotonous, boring, and […]
How to ship your art safely without breaking the bank I was recently talking to one of our fellow community members (the always awesome Toni DeBiasi) and she was telling me about how difficult it was to find good information online on how to ship art safely to customers without having to spend a ton of […]
This is the fourth book in an ongoing series where we talk about some of our favorite books that deal with art and the creative process. These books were chosen because they have significantly changed my own perspective as a writer and as a human being I believe these books will benefit any type of […]
Tweak! Tweak! Tweak! No that’s not the sound of some deranged bird, it’s a creative perfectionist who just doesn’t know when to stop. Just one more… How many times have you said something like this to yourself? “Just one more edit.” “Just one more color.” “Just one more layer.” “Just one more ______ and I’ll […]
From fearless to fickle… Back when I was a kid, I remember experiencing that moment when you felt invincible and like nothing bad could possibly happen to you. Maybe this was a result of youthful naiveté (or general stupidity), or perhaps it simply evolved from years of swimming in a murky green rock quarry growing […]
It’s time to. . . Let go of the anger of what could have been Let go of the worry of what might become Let go of the mistakes you think you’ve made Let go of a future you cannot yet see Let go of the expectations of others, their path is not […]
Stop Thinking About It and Start Doing It! By: Dan Johnson You know that feeling when you’re dying to create some epic piece of artwork, but for some reason, it never gets done? As an artist, I get that feeling a lot. Sometimes I have a whole weekend free, and I think I’ll get a […]
Let’s be honest for a moment. . . Does your current website suck? Do you frequently suffer from website shame and embarrassment? Do you sometimes avoid telling people where to find your website because you haven’t updated in over 6 months? Does it seem like everyone else online has these really cool websites, while […]
Copyright is Not the Problem, You Are! by: Cory Huff Pinterest is upon us! For some reason, the Internet decided to throw a giant fit over copyright over the last few weeks. It started (sort’ve) with this interesting blog post by a lawyer who tearfully deleted her Pinterest inspiration boards. Her post spread like wildfire, […]
You’ve got more #$@% mail! Those of you who have been online long enough may remember when getting email was an exciting event. We all loved hearing that bossy little AOL voice telling us that we got mail. Our pulse would quicken and we would race to our email inbox to see what technological […]