Rewind to 2011. I thought, “what if there were a South American Gryphon?” I created this painting: Jump to 2018. Magic the Gathering’s Rivals of Ixalan 2018 release looks like it’s pulling heavily from South American imagery. There’s a beautifully painted Resplendent Griffin by Sam Rowan. Magic the Gathering...
Jun202018
South American Gryphon Repaint
Oct122017
Is it Done?
How do you know when something is done? The deadline can be a big help but what if there’s no real deadline? My most recent personal painting seemed to drag on. Part of the reason why was life events taking priority, part of it was perfectionism, part of it...
Apr142017
Foundlings: Strengthening Artistic Intuition
In my efforts to loosen up and trust my imagination more, I decided I need to strengthen my creative intuition, trusting my gut and follow where my imagination takes me instead of putting on the brakes too soon and following the “rules”. I think it’s important for me to...
Feb242017
Book Review: “Hawthorne on Painting”
I read art books in the hope that I’ll learn something new, or find a new-to-me way of looking at an old tool or idea. I seek out information in an effort to grow as an artist and try to be a more effective instructor. I consider a book...
Jan122017
Lesson Plans – Organizing Thoughts
I run a color theory class at The Atelier. I’ve been wanting to create a Color 2 class for a while so I created some lessons and took myself though them to see if the takeaway for each one met my expectations of if I needed to make adjustments....
Dec212016
Book Review – “A Technique for Producing Ideas”, by James Webb Young
In continuing to follow my curiosity about creativity, I read “A Technique for Producing Ideas” by James Webb Young, published by The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003. It’s a very thin book but he gets to the point rather quickly: how to create ideas. His thoughts on the process of creating seems...
Nov102016
What Color is Your Spaceship?
In my exploration of creativity I decided to read “Orbiting the Giant Hairball, A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace”, by Gordon MacKenzie. He describes the hairball as the rules, procedures, and methods that get developed in organizations. Something worked well once so it gets used as a...
Nov22016
Convention Packing
When at a convention, there’s a lot of standing, walking, and carrying of heavy things followed by achy muscles. One bit of gear I wish I had remembered to bring to the last convention was this a tennis ball. I find it to be a great portable back massage...
Sep292016
Studying a Masterwork
Doing a study of a masterwork can be a great way to learn. I have been in awe of the handling of color and value of many of the paintings on display at The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, MN so was thrilled to receive permission to do...
Sep212016
Prioritizing
Do you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list? I came up against this again recently and my usual skills weren’t helping me much this time around. Through a class, someone introduced me to a time management tool. They attributed it to Stephen Covey and his Time Management Matrix (just...