Whee! We're having a 3 for 1 print sale!
Get all 3 of these ocean lovelies for the price of one– it's like fishing with dynamite, but without, you know...having to kill any adorable little fishies or anything.
Plus, it’s a scientifically proven fact (by someone, somewhere) that ocean-themed art increases happiness by at least 72.8%.
I'm fully aware that these prints will look great in the loo, so don't be afraid to send me pictures of where you REALLY put them. :)

Wow. Time really flies. 
Have you ever driven home from work, arrived neatly at your door, and had no memory whatsoever of the trip you had just made? I believe it's usually referred to as "being on autopilot".
To me it feels like teleportation when that happens. Like just being beamed from one place to another with nothing at all in between. 

But it's a good thing, right? After all, isn't it efficient to leave one place and magically appear at your destination? Plus, it's something our brains do to save energy. My brain NEEDS to save energy! I don't have all kinds of extra brain power hanging around to spend looking at every stupid cow I pass or whatever. 

Or maybe I do? 
I realized that my big problem with it, the reason I was so unsettled, was that time still passed on that drive home. Time that I completely missed out on.
Time I could have used to look at stupid cows or whatever!
I wanted that time back, damn-it! Those were MY precious cow-watching moments being stolen away!
Obviously there was a Time Thief lurking somewhere, and clearly that thief was my own brain. So I decided to steal back as many hours from my brain as possible.

So...instead of taking the sensible way and learning to meditate properly and "live in the moment" and everything...I decided instead to sell all of my worldly possessions (except our personal art collection, of course!) and move into an RV and travel around making art and fresh memories.
Of course, it wasn't just me! Kris was feeling pretty boring lately too, so... Surprise! We're going on tour!
We will now be traveling around Southern California in this fabulous land-ship, chasing warm weather and showing up for events at the galleries representing us.

The next event we'll roll up for is called Ephemeral, at Nanny Goat Gallery in Petaluma, CA on June 21st. We are already on the road and it feels faaaantastic.

Thanks for being so patient with us during this transition.
To show our thanks, from now through April 18th, you go ahead and take 10% off anything in our shop, including original paintings and drawings, with the coupon code ZOLTAR. 
We heart your guts!

 Here is where you can find the last email on this topic if you'd like to refresh your memory on Part One of this little art adventure. 
Now let's dive right into the next chapter!
Boy, a nap sounds SO good right now- Part Two:
I was feeling pretty uninspired in my art-job and found myself in that yucky place where pulling the blankets over my head instead of working was sounding so, so, tempting. But we can't always do what the voices tell us to do, so instead of napping I started experimenting with something new and unfamiliar to get me excited to work again.
Along with being exciting, this tactic of doing something unfamiliar to rekindle that creative spark can also be kind of scary. For me, anyway. I keep worrying that a whole week of work hours might wind up in the trash along with the project.
Yeah...I should probably meditate more often. 

 Lately, I've found myself caught in a bit of a creative quagmire. Sometimes when I'm feeling stuck and unmotivated in my art-job, instead of napping I manage it by experimenting with something new and unfamiliar to get me excited to work again.
So I had this old wood panel in my hand, and I thought, what if I add some oil paint, a sprinkle of self-doubt, and a dash of questionable decision-making? And then what if I shared that mess with all of my friends?
I was pretty sure all that sounded like a recipe for disaster, but hey, who doesn't love a good disaster when it's not happening to you?
So here we are.

  






Then I started adding thin layers of oil paint over the drawing. Because I worked WAY too small as usual, I used all kinds of weird tools to help me out, like q-tips and toothpicks and teeny bits of scrunched up paper towels.

 I got this far and panicked again. I had started to do some really thin, precise outlining of my drawing with black oil paint for a more graphic look. But then I realized that if I made a mistake and tried to fix it, the black paint would smear into the existing wet paint and ruin all the colors. So. I'm going to let this layer dry for a week so I can more easily wipe off any major mistakes and maybe avoid the crying and stuff. 
Part Two of this possibly calamitous creative detour will be in the next post.

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 In the quiet corners of her secluded life, she carried a secret deeper than the ocean. She was no ordinary woman; She had once been a graceful jellyfish.
For years, she embraced her newfound humanity, but as time passed, her strength waned, and the pull of the sea grew stronger day by day. As months turned to years, her body began to betray her, slowly losing its human form, revealing the translucent tendrils of her true nature.
One moonlit night, as the waves whispered their secrets to the sand, she knew she could no longer deny her nature. With a heavy heart, she walked to the shoreline. The sea beckoned her with a mournful song, a lament for her lost identity. At last she waded into the waters, the salty embrace so familiar and comforting. As her human form dissolved, the luminescent beauty of her jellyfish self emerged.
With a bittersweet farewell, she allowed the current to carry her away, back to her rightful home.
The sea embraced her once again, fulfilling a longing that only the moonlit waves understood.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to sign up for my bi-weekly art blab to get even more art related content, you can do that at www.MagicMirrorGallery.com/newsletter

 I have been so hungry for soup since the weather turned chilly and wet here in Northern CA! The persistent drizzle has inspired me to create some paintings of furious comfort foods. They may be a little short on comfort, but they are definitely long on baleful and judgemental stares, if you're into that sort of thing. 

I've also learned to make some really simple hand pulled noodles that are just flour, water, and salt. So a pretty good week, all in all. :)

 Ramen of Fury
The print exists HERE.

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Watercolor may feel intimidating because it can be difficult to control, but it is more flexible than you may think. It is much faster than oil for building layers, and it's a great way to do color studies for larger pieces you may have planned, so that the results will be more predictable in the final piece. You can use paper towels (quickly!) to blot up areas when you go too dark, and if you have gone too light, you can paint over the top and darken up the previous layer. I rely on Gouache (which is an opaque water soluble paint) to bring back any small white areas that may have gotten obscured during my painting process, so you can always bring back that sparkle. Some people consider this cheating, but I feel no shame about using it, haha. It doesn't necessarily pay to be a purist all the time. :)
If you enjoyed this post and would like to sign up for my weekly art blab to get even more art related content, you can do that at www.MagicMirrorGallery.com/newsletter

Artist’s block is a crippling lack of inspiration and most artists experience this problem from time to time. I know I do!
Let's look at a few things that commonly cause this creative crisis and go over some possible solutions to help us get back on track.

Are You:
Frozen by Perfectionism?
Feeling unworthy of your best art supplies?
Unable to complete anything you start?
Staring at piles of blank paper and empty sketchbooks?
Don't know what to draw?
Feel like an imposter or just don't feel like a real artist?


Solution #1 - Go Draw on Some Trash.
I know that sounds crazy. But if you warm up by drawing on recycled materials from the bin that you would never ever sell, it can relieve the pressure to produce something of value every time you put a pencil to paper. It also helps with being afraid of ruining that gorgeous new sketchbook you picked up 6 months ago and haven't even opened. I mean, how can you possibly ruin something that's already garbage? You can't.
We want every drawing we do to be perfect, and that is not only not going to happen, but it's terrible for our mental state. It's totally normal to want to succeed, but if we let perfectionism stop us from even trying, we are certain to find failure.
So go dig into that recycling pail and draw something dumb on the back of your utility bill. Then at least you are drawing and you've jumped that first hurdle.

  Solution #2 - Draw in Ink.
Can't seem to ever call an artwork finished? Try chucking that pencil and drawing in indelible ink for a day. No corrections, no safety net! 
I know that is a terrifying thought, but if you leave me alone with a pencil I will draw and redraw and correct and erase until I have made a hole in the damn paper.
When you can't erase or paint over something you have to kind of just deal with your mistakes and incorporate them into the artwork. This makes it much easier to finish something, because at some point there just isn't any more you can do to it except call it finished and move on to a new drawing.
It may be imperfect, but hey, you just finished something!

 Solution #3 - Make a DIY Sketchbook/Journal.
Ok, I'm not talking about binding some beautiful book here. I'm talking about taking some cheap sketch paper or even printer paper and stapling it together to create a place that you can plot out ideas, rough drawings and notes that are meant to be a springboard, not an art project. You don't have to show it to anyone and you can chuck it when you are finished with it if you want to, no regrets.

 Solution #4 - Pick a Theme.
Coming up with a meaningful idea to draw is hard! We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to pick the perfect subject, to make something of substance on demand.
If the assignment is to "draw anything you want", all the possibilities can be totally overwhelming. There is no problem to solve, no parameters to help narrow your focus. I find choosing a theme and then brainstorming within those constraints really helps to give me direction when I don't know what to draw.
Still stuck? There is a great book by Bert Dodson called Keys to Drawing With Imagination that is chock full of exercises you can use to find a springboard to inspiration.

  Solution #5 - Learn Something New.
Try schooling yourself. Studying new techniques or styles of expression is a great way to get out of an artistic rut. For me, reading about how something is done and looking at examples of the process gets me excited to try out a fresh approach. Thank goodness we don't live in a vacuum! There are plenty of artists to inspire awe and envy, and you can use that as a catalyst to motivate you to create.

Finally, if you are feeling like you are an imposter or that you aren't truly an artist, the only solution I have found to help tackle this fear is to just keep on drawing. I felt like a fraud because I wasn't proud of the work I was producing, and that feeling didn't let up until I practiced enough to stop being embarrassed about my art.
Try to go easy on yourself though, because we never stop learning, and that is one of the most exciting things abut being an artist.

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 There are so many artists I admire that are incredibly skilled at drawing from imagination. They may or may not have some secret method for achieving this, but I personally haven't cracked their code. The reason I don't draw from imagination is because I don't know how.
Instead, this is what I strive towards.
Mastering the skill of drawing from MEMORY.
When I draw something that doesn't exist, I am using a combination of these
3 methods for faking the skill of drawing from imagination:

  1. Drawing from observation. I typically start with a reference image, which I use as a starting point and I alter or exaggerate it to fit my needs. 

   2. Drawing from memory. I rely on my memory of all the things I have drawn and painted in the past to tell me where the shadows should be on a given shape, or even the makeup or anatomy of an object I have drawn from a reference before, like a cat or an apple or a cloud. I remember painting or drawing it and I take what I learned about rendering that object and apply it to the current project.

  3.  Draw and redraw the idea. I try to push it further each time until I achieve the look I wanted, or until we've both just had enough and I have to move on.

 Playing with the image from memory in preparation for an oil painting. I like the second cat lurking below in the first drawing, so I think I'll add that in the final version. :)


So basically, there isn't any magic trick to drawing from imagination that I am aware of, just practicing and doing the best you can with the experience you have is the method I have always used. 

For some tips on getting there, here is a video from a great teacher I know who shares his own methods and struggles with this topic. 

Kris and I have shared work space for our entire art careers. Many of you have visited our galleries and hung out with us in the areas where we created art daily. These spaces have evolved with us as our work needs and available space have shifted over time.
Let's take a little tour, shall we?
I must admit that my own studio space was never even close to this neat before I married Kris. He is excellent at organizing and he made sure my art supplies all had a place to call home. It has worked out well for me to learn from him how to put my toys away at the end of the day, especially since we've had our studios in public spaces a lot of the time. Right now our space is private, but old habits die hard so after 15 years we still work pretty clean.