Creative Musings

Yesterday, I researched software platforms to help me organize my work tasks. Normally, I simply write lists to-do on post-its. That way, I can see them all day, and since I write super-small, it feels manageable. The problem with that system is that I just ignore the lists. And so, my desk is littered with post-its full of unfinished tasks. I thought that since I use digital frameworks for so many different things—communication, meetings, scheduling, class delivery, design ideas, etc. — I...

This is what it's like to grow up with an artist mom… She drags you and your brother to art galleries and museums wherever you go, never kid-friendly places like theme parks or shopping malls. You won't appreciate it until adulthood. To keep you busy while she paints, she plunks you down in front of a vat of papier maché stuff. Or candle dipping. Or a pile of colored pencils. Anything but the television, which she can't stand the sound of. She doesn't mind when you drape sheets over the...

As I sit by the campfire, listening to music, with the gentle sounds of the Big Sur River in the background, it occurs to me that art making is an attempt to simulate what Creative Intelligence does every second of every day. To maybe feel an ounce of what it's like to be God (Nature/Evolution). Today, my partner and I hiked down to Partington Beach from the 1, making our way through rock formations laced with wildflowers, following a creek to where it poured into the bay. Everywhere was...

Those of you who have spent time with me in person know that Phoebe Rose is always by my side. She goes to meetings with me. She sleeps on my head at night. She naps on my lap while I work on my computer. While I paint in my studio, she waits on the couch behind me until I'm done, then she jumps down and follows me back into the house. "Yes? What do you want?" And yet I've never painted a portrait of her! The closest I've gotten is to include her in my St Francis Mandala Prayer painting among...

This weekend, my partner and I took the Airstream out. We went to our favorite park near Pescadero, overlooking the ocean, and spent both days doing whatever we wanted to do next. No plans, no "shoulds," no news. Just empty time, which we filled with adventures in Nature. It was exactly what I needed. And something magical came out of this, which I'll tell you about in a minute. A remote surfer's beach we found off the beaten path. Years ago, my writing teacher Adele gave us an assignment to...

A core tenet of Conceptual Art is that “the idea is the art.” From Duchamp to Warhol to Hirst, artists have been challenging the notions of art as a representational medium. What began as an intellectual challenge has taken over the art world. Nothing gains traction in today’s art “market” without having the idea as its primary driver. Concept is king. Technical skills and emotional resonance are secondary. A painting I did for TDS in 2001 I used to view this with contempt. To me, art is...

Many teachers have influenced my art, from college and graduate professors to fellow Imagineers to master painters I've studied with. I've learned from books, videos, my father, my mother. I've studied the longest with the greatest teacher of all—my own practice. But it's my students who have taught me how to share what I've learned. I think someone should learn a particular thing, and it turns out they have very different needs than what I expected. I end up seeing things a lot more clearly...

I’ve been thinking about how one becomes prolific. After all, each of us has a limited amount of hours in a week, a year, a life. Kind of like a “life budget.” If you count out how many hours it takes to finish a painting (“work budget”), then divide the life budget by the work budget, you end up with a maximum amount of paintings you can create in a lifetime. Or books, songs, or poems, or sculptures. Of course, there’s a way to create more: hire people to help! Which brings up the question...

Whenever I meet people for the first time and they ask what I do, I tell them I’m an artist. Which usually inspires them to say, “I can’t even draw stick figures.” I say, “Well that’s silly, of course you can draw stick figures. You did it as a kid, right?” Which usually brings a response like, “Well, I don’t draw good ones.” As if there’s a genius stick figure artist out there who puts everyone else to shame. My point being, we can all draw something. It’s our right as humans. But it was...