Hey Reader!

Whether you're an artist or not, I'm sure you've heard it before.

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It's a classic.

But I want to talk about this a little bit with you.

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Firstly, I've taught A LOT of kids over the years and no, your kid can't do that.

But secondly, and more important, art is about more than just what you see in the moment.

Did you know the average amount of time a person looks at a painting in an art gallery is 17 seconds. That's not even long enough to heat up a cup of cold coffee in the microwave.

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Now imagine spending your working life, let's say 30 years (a dream!), studying art, the in-depth meanings of the most famous paintings on the planet, and then creating and developing your own drawing and painting and colour-mixing skills, and learning how to use the principles of art to the point where you understand HOW they can impact a viewer and then...

they look at it for 17 seconds!!!!!

Then they walk away. They might as well be screaming "NEXT!" while shoving popcorn into their mouths.

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If we aren't even willing to spend more than 20 seconds looking at a piece of artwork, how can we expect to feel or understand anything about it? How can anyone expect to "get" it?!

As I'm sure you've noticed, I am very passionate about helping people appreciate and understand art better.

That's why I've created this free guide to help you explore ways to connect and interpret abstract art the next time you're in a gallery.

Get it here

To give you a preview of what you'll find in the guide, I'll keep this rant going.

The MAIN difference between a professional artist's abstract art and the art of a small child is the PLANNING. The child does not plan. The child scribbles impulsively, choosing colours based on arbitrary conditions without any real logic around it (i.e. my mom wore a red shirt today so I'll use the blue crayon).

Professional artists learn and plan and test and try. We create artworks that fail, and we figure out why they fail. And trust me, a failure of an artwork has nothing to do with how it looks and everything to do with how it is experienced.

For more, just go look at the guide! I am much more eloquent in the guide. I think.

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Don't worry, there is no catch! Except that I'd love if you could forward this email to someone you know who you think might be interested in my free guide. It's even good for kids! I speak kid most of the time. MOST of the time.

I am really excited for you to read my advice on looking at art, so please feel free to hit reply and let me know what you think! If you try any of these tactics too, I'd love to hear about your experience!

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Also, if you haven't already noticed, I've been sending my emails via a new platform, so please add me to your contacts to make sure these emails land in your inbox properly!

Thanks for reading, and as always, talk soon! :-*

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