College was epic. I was a late bloomer, set free in downtown Chicago.  Columbia College was the only college I applied to, largely...

This is my favorite hashtag. It perfectly sums up the artistic journey, emphasizing that the process of painting extends far beyond our...

“I got in!”     I was accepted into my first art fair in the fall of 2021. The Lakeville Art Festival has an emerging artist’s program -...

When I first started oil painting, I painted what other people were painting. Tea cups, fruit, avocados (I think every painter has...

Today I turn 36. Another year around the sun. I spent the last few days painting a new self-portrait. Painting yourself is a strange...

Perpich Center for Arts Education - an arts high school in the Twin Cities. To get into this school, you had to apply. Legit fill out an...

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” Until recently, I was oblivious to the fact that...

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and...

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh These are...

My Great Grandma, Mary James Stark, was a painter. I never got the chance to meet her but oh how I wish I could have. She's one of those...

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." -  Vincent van Gogh  ...

"The first step towards mastering painting is to master the pencil." – Unknown   In 2019, I stumbled upon a transformative piece of...

Dilettante : a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as art, without real commitment or knowledge I used to paint purely from...

"I think every artist at some point has the sinking feeling that they're a complete fraud and utterly untalented." – Lauren Groff   In...

“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” – Vincent van Gogh.   At the heart of van Gogh’s words lies the...

"Every artist was first an amateur." – Ralph Waldo Emerson Welcome to my blog! I've been wanting to start one for a while now... My...