Dear Artist, A lot of stuff has been written about writer’s block, mainly because writers write. At the same time, there’s been a surprising lack of guidance in the parallel condition of painter’s block, mainly because painters paint. While many…
Dear Artist, Among the emails that came in after my letter about Low Self-Esteem, Ralph Giannattasio of Wyndmoor, PA wrote: “I don’t believe I have LSE (if you listened to my wife she’d tell you I suffer from the opposite)…
Dear Artist, About ten percent of the general population is supposed to have low self-esteem (LSE). Perhaps the percentage is higher among creative folks. Often generated in early life, the condition can interfere with artistic growth and success, to say…
Dear Artist, Almost everyone has heard about J.M.W. Turner getting himself strapped to a ship’s mast and taken out to sea in a wild storm. His rationale was the need for “authentic fear.” Evidence of painting naked and eating raw…
Dear Artist, In my chronic weakness for mobile painting stations, I bought a panel van. With the current passion for economical cars sweeping the world, plenty of these vehicles are on the market. I figured there were 200 of them…
Dear Artist, There’s a museum in San Francisco where children and adults run wild. Holding an eclectic, ever-changing variety of interactive exhibits, the Exploratorium shows visitors how to see possibilities and better understand the nature of things. This museum was…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, Raymond Kowalski of Cleveland, Ohio, wrote, “A woman in my classes refuses to take suggestions. She likes the way things are and says she doesn’t need improving. She says she doesn’t have time to learn basics –…
Dear Artist, This fall we’re producing a new book. It’s a fat, biblical-looking tome that will contain all of the twice-weekly letters so far. Since I started this venture on July 22, 1999 there have been 1,042 letters. As well…
Dear Artist, In 1947, the eclectic French author and theorist Raymond Queneau wrote a small classic called Exercises in Style. It tells a simple fictional story over and over in 99 literary styles. Introducing writers to an almost mathematical formula…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, Marjorie Ewell of Cape Coral, FL and Galloway Twp, NJ wrote, “How do you get yourself into a right brain mode? How does a right-brained person translate that into painting? I’ve experienced it in working with oils.…