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Weeks. I have been agonizing over this post for weeks, possibly even months at this point. "Abstract art" seems like such a huge concept to tackle. I have a bit of imposter syndrome about it as well--who am I to think I can define it?  But then business advice for getting sh*t done rings through my head: do it ugly. Progress not perfection. And I finally decide that this post doesn't have to be My One True Manifesto on ART Forever and Ever Amen. I can write what feels right now, and I'm free to change my mind in an...

How do you decide what to focus on? I want to do ALL THE THINGS! Lately I’ve been following a ton of printmakers on Instagram. I’d seen some beautiful prints from artists such as Kim Herringe and Sarah Matthews, so I recently asked for and got a gel printing plate for my birthday. I was hoping I could use watercolor paint with it instead of my beat up old baking sheet...but that was not to be. I tried it first with watercolor of course, but it took a ton of paint to get what was not even a smooth layer (shown...

For once I don't mean transparency as it relates to watercolor pigments. This is my brutally honest record of how things are going for me with my art business so far, about 3 months in, both for myself and for other people looking at trying to make a business from their art. Even if someday I become "successful" (right now I'm not even sure what that would look like), I don't want to forget what a struggle it was at first. And it was--is!--a struggle. I am extremely privileged to be able to do this. I can afford it. I...

I have the frugal instincts of a 90 year old grandma who grew up in the great depression and can't seem to let go of anything. My husband makes fun of me for cutting open tubes of lotion so that I can scoop out every last glop. I was using the handle of my toothbrush just the other night to flatten and push any remaining toothpaste up to the top of the tube, and he took it away from me and called me ridiculous. But I don't care, in fact I'm trying to lean into it. And I prefer to...

With my abstract art style, I tend to go through a lot of paper. It's easy to go through 6 or 8 pieces of 5x7 paper in a warm up session for me. To keep my costs down, I'm frequently buying full sheets and tearing them down to smaller sizes, because precut and blocks of paper tend to be a bit pricier per inch than full sheets. (Yes I'm that nerd and I really did the math once! Don't tell my mother or my former math teachers either.) I'm gonna harp on this again: paper is suuuuuuper important in watercolor....