Painting beyond the postcard
In a recent interview on the Aart Podcast, artist Maria Josenhans highlighted the difference between painting a "postcard" and painting a...
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Christina Kent
Jun 17, 20231 min
Art and ambiguity
Artist Shirazeh Houshiary remarked that there is a difference between art and advertising. Advertising, she says, tells us what to see....
Christina Kent
Feb 7, 20232 min
A world without beauty
I used to live in a world without beauty. It wasn't exactly an ugly world - of course there were flowers, nice houses, pink sunsets - but...
Christina Kent
Jan 31, 20233 min
Begin again
Last December I wrote about the importance of starting an art practice. I talked about my own practice at the time, in which I would wake...
Christina Kent
Jan 25, 20234 min
The artist and the scientist
My life has been defined by two polarities. On one side, there is the artist: the sensitive, intuitive creator who thinks in visual...
Christina Kent
Jan 12, 20232 min
Back to painting after a break
My winter holidays were filled with rest and time with family. It was a lot of fun, but it also meant that I ended up not painting for...
Christina Kent
Jan 6, 20233 min
Reflecting on 2022 and goals for 2023
2022 was a productive year in my art practice. My proudest accomplishment of the year was completing 50 paintings in 50 days for a local...
Christina Kent
Dec 12, 20223 min
The Next Small Step
A few years ago, my partner, Behrad, and I decided to summit Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous US. Although tall, it is...
Christina Kent
Dec 5, 20222 min
Don't make art - make a practice instead
Every weekday at 6am, I get up and paint for an hour and a half. In these morning sessions, my goal is not to make "art" - my goal is...
Christina Kent
Nov 22, 20222 min
Pieces of the divine
The creation myth of the Kabbalah states that at the beginning of time, God constructed several divine vessels filled with holy light and...
Christina Kent
Nov 9, 20222 min
What it takes to be a "real" artist
A few years ago, my friend introduced me to their friend who they said was an artist. I went to one of her shows, and I was really...
Christina Kent
Nov 3, 20222 min
Breaking the rules
Lately I've been thinking a lot about rules. The rules other people people impose on us, but more importantly, the rules we impose on...
Christina Kent
Oct 17, 20222 min
Fearless creativity
You know the feeling. You have an idea for a new creative project. You're excited, electrified by it. You dream about how it will turn...
Christina Kent
Sep 29, 20224 min
50 Paintings in 50 Days
In July I embarked on a new art challenge - to paint 50 paintings in 50 days. All the paintings would follow a theme, creating a cohesive...
Christina Kent
Aug 20, 20223 min
Flatland, or Life in Two Dimensions
There's an old story called Flatland about a society that exists in two dimensions. Its inhabitants are polygons and lines, and they move...
Christina Kent
Jul 25, 20223 min
A Visual Journal of San Francisco
It's been over a year now since I moved to San Francisco, and in that time I've become transfixed by the city's unique beauty. As soon as...
Christina Kent
Jun 5, 20222 min
Letting Art Come Through
For almost my entire art career, I thought of art as work. Art came from my own initiative, and I had to do everything to make it happen....
Christina Kent
Apr 23, 20226 min
Walking and Painting the Camino de Santiago
On March 29, I left Oviedo, a small city in northern Spain, and embarked upon the Camino Primitivo. It's a 200-mile stretch of paths,...
Christina Kent
Feb 11, 20222 min
Overcoming Art Block
I experienced art block recently. Not an extreme case, but an unnerving one nonetheless. It started out with one bad painting - normal...
Christina Kent
Jan 15, 20223 min
Painting Past Perfectionism
I used to be a serious perfectionist. This applied to all aspects of my life, including my art. At first I drew from my imagination, but...
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