Authentic Obsessions

Takeaways

1. Authenticity is painting what you truly want to paint. Vulnerability is sharing it with other people.
2. It’s all about the process. Freeing yourself of the obligations of the end result lets you create something unique, that is satisfying to the viewer, and enjoyable to make.
3. Advocate for anyone who has an interest in the arts, even if they’re not “gifted.”
4. Experiences and relationships have so much more value than any items.

Mentioned in this Episode

Follow Paula’s Palette on Instagram, Facebook

Follow Paula’s hand painted wearables on Instagram,

Paula DeStefanis Fine Art

Paula’s Etsy shop

The Arts Mill

North Shore Academy of the Arts

Follow John Paul Berry on Instagram

Takeaways

1. Don’t wait for confidence. You get confidence by doing.
2. Suit up and show up because you never know what's going to happen. Even if it’s a terrible day in the studio, you might just meet someone that really lifts your spirits and makes you think about your work differently.
3. Let go of all the rules that say art has to be this way or that way. Just do it because you want to.
4. The best revolution we could have for the preservation of democracy is to do it yourself.

Mentioned in this Episode

Follow Mary on Instagram

Penny McElroy at the University of Redlands

Mary’s internship in New Jersey pouring bronze casts for different artists led me to research the sculptors she worked with. Check out the trailer for this fascinating documentary “Julian Schnable: A Private Portrait.”

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Ox-Bow School of Art

American Craft Council list of schools with craft workshops and courses

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts Sculpture program

University of Wisconsin Madison Glass Lab

Women’s Caucus for Art

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Alison Watt has worked as a biologist on seabird colonies, an ecotour guide, has published a novel, a work of non-fiction and a book of poetry. She teaches painting online and in her studio on Protection Island, near Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Alison is interested in where science (especially biology) and art interface and her paintings are informed by landscape and botanical forms. As a self-taught artist who has been painting for over thirty years, Allison relates to both the dream of making the paintings we see in our minds, and the frustrations of mastering the tools, techniques, and mindset to achieving them. Alison is not interested in moral instruction but in illuminating new ways of seeing.

During our conversation, Alison talks about creative destruction, informed intuition, and how freeing it is to paint without brushes.

Takeaways

1. Paint as if neither your time nor your materials are valuable.
2. “We grow small when we try to be great.” David Hockney
3. Our job is to have an authentic relationship with what we’re making.
4. Take some time to pause and look back at what you have created.
5. Visual imagery can slide underneath language right to the heart.
6. Create a lot of opportunity for unexpected events.
7. Every layer makes it better.

Mentioned

Alison Watt

Alison Watt on Instagram

Alison Watt on YouTube

Artwork Artplay

Alison Watt on Pinterest

Dazzle Patterns, by Alison Watt

Triangle Island, Anne Vallée Triangle Island Ecological Reserve

David Hockney

Joni Mitchell

Poppy Dodge is an abstract painter and a Color Maximalist who delights in creating harmony and balance using all the colors. Her work explores her obsession with stacking color and shapes and is influenced by modern improvisational quilting and abstract collage. Poppy says: "I approach painting intuitively and am entirely process driven. I like to think of my work as color celebrations; a stacking of playful color conversations joyfully stitching my life experiences together. We talk about newsletters, tea, the “Ladies of Yet,” and why it can be discouraging to make content solely to be seen instead of for

Takeaways

1. It’s got to get ugly before it gets good.
2. Persistence and obsession keep you going forward.
3. Remind yourself that you’re on Instagram for opportunities and take your ego out of it.
4. Add the “YET.” Don’t say I haven’t done that, say I haven’t done that YET.
5. A big studio is great – but if you’re scrappy you can carve out a space anywhere.

Mentioned

Poppy Dodge

Poppy on Instagram

Poppy on Facebook

Poppy on Pinterest

Gee’s Bend quilting retreats

Hand Yoga Club on YouTube with Heidi Parkes

Frankie magazine

Oruaiti Reserve hike, aka the Kupe Trail

Lynn Giunta

Lisa Congdon

Bisa Butler

Takeaways

1. The best part of living is embracing the absurd things that happen every day.
2. You can’t put a forcefield around anyone with your worry.
3. You can always put something out in the world that is positive.
4. Take a lesson from Fred Rogers. Be nice, share, treat others the way you’d want to be treated.
5. People respond to truth.

Mentioned in this Episode

Follow Krista on Instagram, Facebook

Krista’s web site - Follow The Signs Painting

Farm Girl Antiques