Creation

1. Put thought into what you’re painting

   1. What you include in frame

2. Basics first

   1. Atmospheric perspective: Objects farther away should be less detailed, less saturated

3. Move on

   1. Don’t get stuck on a bad painting, it happens

4. Patience

   1. Slow down!!!!

***Make a color cheat sheet w/ rows and columns - 50% of each color in each box to see how they mix***

5. Enjoy the process

6. Thumbnails

   1. Helps you decide composition + values

7. Warm up

   1. Helps with rushing, gets you in the zone

8. Artists are interpreters

   1. Put a bush where there isn’t one, move things around

9. Simplifying

   1. See the bigger picture - don’t paint every leaf + blade of grass

10. “Cheat”

    1. Mix medias, finish a plein air painting at home

    2. NO RULES NO BOXES

11. Experiment

12. Develop your eye

    1. Sharpen your observational skills, recognize the play of light and shadow, color and texture, shapes

    2. Filter out the noise and focus on what makes a scene captivating

13. Try again … and again … and again

    1. Make as many pots as possible, not one perfect pot

    2. AIM FOR PRACTICE

14. The benefits

    1. Real world, 3D

    2. Helps you be spontaneous

    3. You SEE the world around you

    4. Helps you be present, slow down, connect with the world

15. Study

    1. Make swatches

    2. Practice techniques

    3. Read books

       1. She is reading Betty Edwards*

Her Kit

Winsor + newton watercolor field box

Princeton velvetouch brushes

Blackliner pens + white gel pen

Viewfinder

Red sunglasses

Paper towel, paper, eraser, water

“Spend time with paper every day”

1. SLOTH - Depriving the Universe of it’s “U”

• Thinking about making art, but not doing it

• You are depriving art of something it literally cannot have without you

  • It’s FUCKED UP, immoral, selfish

2. GREED - Perfectionism + preciousness

• You don’t get to be a perfectionist if it is unproved up to this point that you can even make a thing

  • You must start → develop → complete → release ANYTHING

• “You’re not perfecting your craft, you’re shielding yourself from vulnerability”

3 functions of the complete → release

• Working on one project ad nauseam isn’t how you gain experience and skill. You must complete many projects.

• Uncompleted passion projects function like blockage in your creative system

  • NEW IDEAS CANNOT FORM WITHIN YOU

• Releasing builds confidence, not releasing forces you to linger in fear

• Releasing art is a radical, defiant act of self-love and bravery

  • STOP SAVING YOUR BEST IDEAS FOR LATER

• Make something beautiful and then delete it

3. PRIDE - Using the word pretentious in vain

• The word “pretentious” is banned

• The idea that art is something special people do — to do it well = genius, to do it poorly = embarrassing

  • Artificial belief, bad for the soul of society

“You don’t sing because you’re a singer, you sing because you’re a person”

• Who determines what/who is authentic?

4. WRATH - Taking back what is no longer yours

• Ex: George Lucas retroactively “fixing” Star Wars

• To whom does the art belong?

  • The author cannot tell you how to feel about the art

• Finish your art before you release it

  • The art you made has bonded to someone’s soul whether you like it or not

5. LUST - Glory without meaning

• Some people say they care about art when really they care about what art gets them

  • Ex: TikTok musicians promoting music “Did I just make the song of the summer?” vibes

• Using “brand” as art - the excitement people feel in reaction to your art should be the value, not the number of people

  • Brand is a tool to stir passion in the hearts of your audience

• Think of the ramifications of how you’re presenting yourself—do you want people experiencing you crossing your fingers, hoping you get a high enough number to make yourself feel better about yourself?

• You don’t want 1M views, you want to make something excellent

• So how do you market your art?

  • Brand marketing, which is not measurable. It is cultural. It is telling a consistent, principled story about what you are offering

  • Your goal should not be “make number go big”

• Make work you love, and see if other people like it

6. ENVY - Suffocating the suffrage

• To pass judgment, limiting the possibilities of art, smothering it

• Impedes the process of others (like pride)

  • The prideful are also envious

• To be envious is to act like you are the sole arbiter of art

  • You are the steward of art (if you’re a master/teacher) — you should be offering support + guidance but you don’t dictate what is good

• Envy = copium pride, using you experience in a field to dictate others

• Also the act of a teacher disrespecting the canon of art in their field

  • “Art is whatever do whatever you want, who cares?” NO

• FIRST - intuitive motion towards quality

• SECOND - technique, science, philosophy, etc.

7. GLUTTONY - Knowing when to stop

• Ending Breaking Bad after 5 seasons

• Ending something because it is good for the art, not continuing just because it’s popular