You know what the best thing I learned in art school was? It wasn’t the months struggling with perfect perspective drawing or how to get to your dorm room without getting stoned from the heavy fumes in the hallway (this was Seattle in the 90’s, mind you).

It was when the oldest teacher we had - Barry - taught us how to clean our brushes. He took his sweet old time showing us the essence of getting the soap aaaall the way into the bristles. We were bored to the limits around that sink and couldn’t get out of there fast enough to do more exciting art schooly things. But old Barry pops up in my mind on a daily basis now and is responsible for saving me more money than I dare to count. Brushes are expensive and acrylic paint is the kind of friend that refuses to leave after the party’s over.

Something I do wish art schools would prepare artists for though is imposter syndrome. The inevitable moments of feeling like your last painting was the last you had in you, crawling under that rock once and for all and making plans for an alternate career where your heart is not on the line all the damn time. (Snow shoveling comes to mind frequently over here)

We all go through it, regardless of where on our journey we are.

My art course ”Creating Boldly with Watercolors” is open for enrollment for the last time this year. It’s a course for anyone wanting to learn how to PLAY with watercolors without the constant fear of destroying expensive, handmade paper. Never held a brush in your life? Perfect. I wish I had started my own journey learning from a place of curiosity and experimentation rather than constant performance anxiety.