A recent visit to the Harvard Art Museums left me thinking about how artists gradually peeled away layers of representation to get closer to something essential. Our students moved through the galleries with sketchbooks in hand, studying everything from representational paintings to contemporary abstract works. Along the way, we received an unexpected stream of compliments. A museum guard remarked on how thoughtfully even our youngest students were engaging with the artwork. A visitor...

The other day an adult student shared she got to a point in the session where she didn't need to copy what was in front of her, but rather she could trust her gut to complete the painting in the way it needed to develop. She saw that she intuitively wanted a different mood, a set of imagined details, a version that differed from outer reality but felt more aligned with her inner world. That's where my struggle lies every single time. Fighting my adherence to rules and perfection versus giving...

I have a friend who takes four showers a day just to get a different perspective on whatever challenge he’s facing. I’ve always loved that idea because painting creates a very similar effect for me. When I paint, the brain becomes so occupied with color, composition, movement, and problem-solving that something else begins to loosen in the background. Thoughts shift. Problems reorganize themselves. Solutions appear from angles I couldn’t access before. I was reminded of this at a conference...