On Gardening
In our backyard, the clematis has wended its way to the upper reaches of lamppost, trellis, arbor & tuteur. Hummingbirds & bumble bees are working over the lavender spikes of catmint. The local bunny has been nibbling the last of the...
More on Silverpoint
In February Tom & I spent a week on Captiva Island, a wondrous place of bountiful nature, endless beaches & tons of gorgeous seashells just begging to be collected. On our first morning there, I stepped out onto the balcony of our room &...
On Hanging In There
Throughout the creative journey, our authenticity as artists is routinely tested, but never so much as when we’re approaching the end of a difficult painting that has taken us much longer than we ever anticipated & we just want to be done! Yet...
On Being Prepared
Within the matter of a couple of weeks, my husband Tom was asked to offer for sale his beautiful handmade pens in two different shops in two different states. Along with his pens, personalized gift boxes & business cards, both venues also wanted him to send to...
On Following Your Nose
It’s a brand-new year & I have discovered a brand-new medium. Actually, it is a very old medium, but it’s brand-new to me! And the story of this “discovery” is such a classic example of how following my nose & trusting my instincts have rewarded me...
On Blogging for One Year
It was around this time last year that my web-designer & I were putting the finishing touches on LindasFineArtsStudio.com, the cyber-showcase & e-storefront for my paintings & drawings. It had been an exciting, albeit daunting, project that I’d been...
On Finding Your Muse
When I first started art school – exactly 21 years ago this month! – I remember telling my instructor, “I just want to learn how to draw.” (In fact, since childhood, I had “just” wanted to learn how to draw.) Now that the opportunity to do so was...
On Not Copying
In a couple of recent blogs, we explored the practice of copying as an integral part of the artist’s apprenticeship & we did this in two different contexts. On one hand, art students copy the drawings & paintings of the Old & Modern Masters as a...
On Copying from the Masters, Continued
In a recent blog, I described the process of copying from the Modern Masters within the context of learning how to draw. The other context in which my students copy is when they are learning a specific medium, such as colored pencil or watercolor. Here we copy...
On Creating in Three Dimensions
Last month Tom & I drove up to Milwaukee for the annual Bead & Button Show, billed as the “biggest consumer bead show in the world.” For 13 days, an astounding number of jewelry-making classes are on offer, ranging from light-hearted, 3-hour “make &...