I travel over 100 days a year. In most cases I have oil paint, a small wood palette, and a few brushes packed in my carry-on bag. It would be easier in some ways to check the bag, but I prefer to take it with me. Last weekend when having my bags checked for a return flight, I was informed for the first time in months that I could not carry my small tubes of oil paint on board. In today’s climate of airport security, you hate to cause a fuss, but I knew that I could take them with me under current regulations.

I had a nice comment posted from Adrienne the other day. She specifically mentioned: “Would love to hear your comments about how you stay motivated. What do you do when you feel stale? Or do you ever?”

I do get “stale.” Tired might be more accurate. I spend a lot of time in the studio each day hard at work at my easel and managing the many other areas related to the business of being an artist. I have found several things that help if I can’t get my mind in the creative spirit. 

I just finished a wonderful book, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Dr. Meg Meeker, and I recommend it to any dad with girls. As a father of daughters, it is one of the best books I have read on parenting.

I forget who showed me this quick and easy clean up idea, but I love it!

Do you ever tire of digging out the goop from the bottom of your turp can?

I’m just finishing the first day of a weekend workshop. We have a wonderful class full of eager students from around the country ready and willing to try new things and grow as artists. I am always energized by the excitement and interest in the eyes of the students. They want to learn and develop their craft. They want more.

I just read a wonderful new book for artists entitled I’d Rather Be in the Studio, The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self Promotion by Alyson B. Stanfield.

Something I keep coming back to again and again is how important it is to balance the pursuit of “feeling” with the technical discipline necessary to create a work of art. Too much of one usually lacks discipline, too much of the other usually lacks feeling and becomes mechanical.