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Getting into galleries is a lot easier than you’d think. As an artist, sometimes the hardest part is taking that first step, but once you’re in, opportunities can snowball. Here are a few ways to get started: One effective way, especially for students, is to hang out with the A students in your art class and ask if you can show with them. Believe it or not, several artist collectives form this way, and it creates fantastic networking opportunities. Working alongside other talented students not only sharpens your skills but also exposes you to their audiences, which can lead to...

Cognitive dissonance is a strange mental battlefield, where your beliefs face off against your actions. It’s that nagging tension when you know something is wrong, yet you do it anyway. We often hear about it when beliefs are challenged by social pressures or new information, but for someone quitting smoking, it shows up every time we light up, knowing full well it’s the wrong move. For me, the challenge has been confronting what I believe about smoking and addiction. Can I truly quit? The answer I want to believe is yes. But there’s this lingering thought that addiction might be...

If you’re going to master your craft in two-dimensional illustration or even nonrepresentational abstract art, there’s one golden rule I always tell young artists: draw every day. It’s not just advice; it’s a lifeline for creativity. As an artist, I do this for my books and other projects, keeping my mind sharp and my creative juices flowing. It’s like going to the gym for your brain—each sketch, doodle, or stroke strengthens your artistic muscle, refining your skillset in ways that might not seem obvious at first but pay off over time. Practice doesn’t just make perfect, it also keeps your...

Art is, at its core, about perception. It’s not just about how you see the world, but about how you feel it, how you interpret it, and how you transform it into something tangible. Art allows us to express what we can’t always put into words, to convey emotions and ideas that go beyond the literal and venture into the abstract. Every artist, regardless of their medium, draws from their own personal perception. It’s through this lens that they create, pushing the boundaries of what we define as art. When we talk about perception, we’re talking about the unique filter...

One of the most uplifting thoughts about quitting smoking is realizing I’ll probably live much longer. It feels like I’ve been given the gift of more time, as if someone just added years to my life’s clock. Just like budgeting with extra money, I can now plan for more fruitful, fulfilling goals. There’s more art waiting to be made, more books to write, and a deeper well of creativity I hadn’t fully tapped into. My dreams seem bigger and more possible now that I’ve cut out that habit. I’ve come to understand how every cigarette was, in a way, a...