The journey of a thousand paintings begins with a single painting. And a single painting is a journey of a thousand brushstrokes. So often we get ahead of ourselves. We focus on the outcome- the end result. When we do that we can miss out on so much right in front of us at the moment. It’s hard to focus on every single brushstroke one at a time when our mind is also trying to focus on securing a successful painting. We’d have a much better chance of success if we gave every brushstroke our focus and presence. But success...Read More

Are you ready to find your artistic voice? You might be wondering what the heck is an artistic voice anyways, Kelli? Is it my style, is it what I paint, why I paint, the process I enjoy creating with? Yes. It’s all of those things rolled into one and so much more! All of these elements combine to create your personal artistic voice. You might be like I was back in the day. You’re working hard at your craft, improving your skillset, and you keep taking art lessons... but there’s still some confusion about where you’re headed with your art....Read More

There’s a quote by Paulo Coelho (Author of The Alchemist) that I absolutely love. It goes: “When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.” If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading The Alchemist. This idea usually comes with images from stories and movies of someone who finally hits rock bottom. Their life is a dumpster fire and they finally turn it around. For most of us, the truth is that we are not going to totally wreck our lives to find ourselves. Why would we? Why all the...Read More

I've discovered that studying art online is the BEST way to develop the exact customized painting skills you want, and you can do just that starting TODAY!The pandemic in 2020 was awful and horrendous to say the least. One very small upside to it was seeing how artists and students pivoted to keep their art education going.When I started teaching online in 2018, I wondered if online teaching could be as good as in-person teaching for the student. After three years of teaching online, I found that it could actually be better for the student!Here’s my top 10 reasons why studying online is better...Read More

Let’s talk courage. Do you have it? One thing I’ve learned for sure over the last 10 years of trying to make a living as an artist is that it takes courage. Every day. Courage to bet on yourself every day. And every time you do that it’s like depositing money in the bank of your future self. When you show up courageously, when you stop hiding, you begin to see your art dreams become a reality. Yes, that’s right, your art dreams become reality. We start with baby steps of courage. By the way, can we talk about baby...Read More