As artists, we go through several phases on our way to creating pieces. It all starts with this period of play and discovery that I call the exploratory phase, and to talk about it with me are Growth Studio members Sabrina Setaro, Alyssa Marquez, and Jess Fredrick.

In this roundtable episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, you’ll go on a deep dive into the first stage of artistic creation: the exploratory phase. Sabrina, Alyssa, Jess, and I will discuss what happens in this stage and what they’ve discovered about their work in the process, techniques to balance play with purpose during your exploration, how they avoid overwhelm and overthinking during this discovery phase, and more!

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And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

Money and pricing your art can feel like tricky, even uncomfortable topics, but they’re also some of the most powerful conversations we can have as artists. Why? Because our beliefs about money and pricing often run deep and show up in ways we don’t even realize. They influence how we value our art, how we show up for it, and ultimately, how we create a practice that truly supports and sustains us.

In this final roundtable episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, I’m joined by Growth Studiomembers Merrie Koehlert, Leslie Cannon, and Beverly Woodhall. We dig into how your thoughts about money and pricing impact your relationship with your art, and we get real about the hidden mindset blocks that can hold you back. Whether it’s pricing your work with confidence, valuing your time, or shifting your money beliefs, this conversation is filled with insights to help you move forward and thrive as an artist

1:23 - Quick self-introductions for Merrie, Leslie, and Beverly as artists

2:56 - Assumptions about money as it relates to art that the roundtable have had or heard from others

8:44 - How your subconscious programming can impact the lens through which you see your art

14:04 - Critical junction points in Merrie’s life that reinforced her negative assumptions about selling art

18:40 - How Leslie, Merrie, and Beverly view pricing their artwork and how their thoughts about pricing have changed

31:09 - Getting around the drama in your head so you can learn to get comfortable with your pricing 

34:55 - How each participant has internalized what “the value of the painting” means to them

43:25 - The value to the art collector and why buying a piece of art because it matches other room decor shouldn’t be considered an insult

50:12 - Painting pieces you know people buy when you need to make more money versus painting what you really want and not selling as frequently

57:11 - Thoughts around money or pricing that the participants now notice that they were oblivious to before and how Growth Studio has helped 

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And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

Welcome to another roundtable series! This time I’m joined by Growth Studio members Louisa Jornayvaz, Braighlee Rainey, Jack Wray, and Elisabeth Svendby in a discussion about finding your voice as an artist.

In this episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, you’ll learn about what it means to find your voice and ways you can connect with it. You’ll also get personal insights into how the participants’ have connected with their voice and how it brings meaning into their artistic practice.

1:37 - Braighlee, Louisa, Elisabeth, and Jack quickly introduce themselves

3:27 - How they define what the artist's voice means to them

8:46 - How to know when you’re connected to your voice

11:00 - How your background can impact your art and the journey of finding your voice

19:52 - How each roundtable participant has progressed in finding their voice

26:35 - Why this journey isn’t straightforward and how it can evolve as you continue to walk the path

33:59 - Advice if you’re really not sure where to look to help you discover your artistic voice

42:27 - The connection between finding your voice as an artist and meditation and green lights

46:46 - The importance of imperfection and challenge in bringing character and resonance to art

50:10 - The impact of being taught in curiosity and sensitivity conditioning

54:59 - What the roundtable participants learned within Growth Studio to help them find or connect with their voices 

Mentioned in How Artists Find Their Voice and Create from the Heart

Join Growth Studio

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

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And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

It’s one thing to have an interest in creating art or putting something on canvas. It’s another to see yourself as an artist and have an artistic practice.

What’s a difference-maker between those who do and those who don’t? Creative confidence, and to talk about it, I’m joined by Growth Studio members Alyssa Marquez, Merrie Koehlert, and Andrew Rea in another roundtable series.

In this episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, you’ll learn about the concept of creative confidence, its impact on artistic practice, and how it differs from self-confidence and arrogance. You’ll get personal insights into how the participants’ confidence has evolved, whether there’s such a thing as too much confidence, and how peer support can help navigate challenges and enhance artistic expression.

1:34 - Defining creative confidence and how it’s necessary for artists to create and share their work

6:46 - How you’re constantly making art (even if you haven’t always been the artistic type)

13:00 - How Alyssa’s creative confidence has evolved over time

24:42 - How an evolution in confidence has most recently affected Merrie’s and Andrew’s art

29:49 - How to distinguish between confidence, self-confidence, and arrogance

33:19 - Can you have too much confidence in your painting or art practice?

40:33 - How confidence has impacted Alyssa’s desire to take risks with art

43:03 - Impact of the Growth Studio community on the roundtable participants’ confidence

Mentioned in How Creative Confidence Impacts Your Artwork

Join Growth Studio

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

What to do when decades of work are stacked against your walls and you can't remember the last time you made a decision about any of it.

You know that feeling when you walk into your studio and see paintings leaning against every wall, flat files overflowing, canvases stacked so deep you've forgotten what's in the back?

And underneath it all, that low hum of dread: What's going to happen to all of this?

Maybe you've been making work for decades. Grad school pieces, late-night sessions after the kids went to sleep, that stretch when you were working two jobs and still carved out time to paint. It's all still there. And now you're standing in front of it thinking: Did I just waste my best work in obscurity? What was I even making it for?

This episode is about how to sort through decades of accumulated work without spiraling into paralysis, and how to turn your studio back into a place where things are happening, not just stored.

In this episode:

• The real reason you can't throw anything away. (Your brain is still waiting to find out if that painting meant something, or if it was just a phase.)
• Why every painting you haven’t decided about is costing you more than shelf space.
• A 30-minute sorting system that makes the mess feel manageable
• Two questions that actually help you decide what stays and what goes. 
• How to tell the difference between a painting that wants to be seen and one that already did its job.
• The “curate your own retrospective” game, and why pretending you have a show makes you braver, faster, more ruthless (in a good way).
• What happens when you group your work by something other than chronology, like color, texture, feeling, or that weird leaf shape you kept doodling for three years and forgot about.

This episode’s for you if:

• Your studio feels more like a storage unit than a sanctuary 
• You’ve been making work for years, but the question “What if no one ever sees this?” leaves you deflated
• You don’t want to leave your kids (or your executor) shelves full of unresolved choices
• You know there’s good work in there. You just need a way to see it clearly again — and decide what it’s still here to do

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

What to do when you catch yourself in “courtroom mode”

You named it. You know you're doing it. You can hear yourself cross-examining every brushstroke, cataloging evidence that you're not good enough, delivering a guilty verdict before the paint dries.

But what do you do when you catch yourself mid-spiral?

This one's the follow-up to Your Studio Isn't a Courtroom — the practical side. Because recognition without tools leaves you stuck watching yourself repeat the same pattern. And if you've ever thought okay, I see it now, but how do I stop? — this is for you.

In this episode:

• The simplest redirection tool (it sounds too easy, but it creates the split-second of space you need to choose differently)
• How to shift from prosecuting questions to investigating ones — and why "what's wrong with this?" keeps you trapped
• Why experiments can't fail, but verdicts always do
• The friend test: would you ever talk to another artist the way you talk to yourself in your head?
• What to do when you freeze — one concrete action that interrupts the spiral and starts the conversation with your painting again
• What your studio's actual job is (and why forgetting this turns every session into a trial)

This episode's for you if:

• You can see the pattern now, but you don't know how to interrupt it once it starts
• You stand there analyzing instead of painting, trying to figure out the move that won't get you criticized
• You're tired of the harsh voice winning every time — but kindness feels like giving up
• You want tools that work in the moment, not theory you have to remember later

—--------------------------------

LINKS: https://savvypainter.com/356-your-studio-isnt-a-courtroom-make-yours-the-safest-place-to-create/

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

You look around your studio and see them everywhere — canvases turned to the wall, paintings shoved under the bed, works-in-progress stacked in corners. Each one started with complete conviction that this time would be different. But somewhere around the messy middle, you bailed. Again.

And now you're wondering: What's wrong with me?

Nothing. You're not lazy, you're not lacking discipline, and you're not broken. You're doing something that makes complete sense when you understand what's actually happening underneath the behavior.

In this episode:

• The moment when every painting goes sideways — and why your brain mistakes that moment for failure
• What you're actually avoiding when you start a new canvas (hint: it's not the painting)
• Why "finished" doesn't mean what you think it means — and how that misunderstanding keeps you stuck
• The real cost of a studio full of unfinished work (it's more than just clutter)
• Six concrete strategies to break the pattern and actually complete something

What to expect:
A clear-eyed look at why you abandon paintings, what finishing actually requires, and how to build the muscle to stay with your work when it gets uncomfortable. No pep talks. Just the truth about what's happening — and what to do about it.

This episode's for you if:

• Your studio is filled with more unfinished work than completed pieces
• You keep telling yourself "this one will be different" — and it never is
• You're tired of starting over every time a painting hits the hard part
• You want to finish something for once, even if it's not perfect

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

What really happens when you return to your art — and how to make work again without getting stuck in what could have been.

You took time off from your art. Maybe it was a few months. Maybe it was twenty years.

You built a life, raised kids, held it together, paid the bills — and now you’re trying to come back. But instead of feeling proud of everything you carried, you feel... behind. Disconnected. Like you lost something. Like you’re supposed to apologize for the years you weren’t painting.

This episode is about that feeling — and why it’s lying to you.

This one’s for artists who made a real-life choice — and now can’t shake the feeling they’re starting all over again.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking I should’ve found a way or stared at a canvas wondering how much time you wasted... yeah. You’re in the right place.

In this episode:

• The invisible comparison that’s keeping you stuck (hint: you’re measuring yourself against someone who doesn’t exist)
• Why “I’m behind” feels so convincing — and what your brain’s actually doing when it feeds you that line
• What this costs you beyond just lost time (it’s happening right now, while you’re listening)
• The part nobody talks about: why that gap wasn’t wasted, even when it feels like it was
• One shift that’ll change how you walk into the studio tomorrow

What to expect:

No pep talk, no punishment. Just a clear-eyed look at what comes next — and how to make work again without dragging shame in with you.

This episode’s for you if:

• Coming back feels harder than stepping away ever did
• You can run a household or a business — but still feel like a beginner when you pick up a brush
• You’re proud of your choices and gutted by what you didn’t get to do — both can be true
• You’re in it right now, wondering if it’s even worth trying to paint again

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

Ever spend half your studio time staring at a painting, mentally ripping it apart, but never actually picking up the brush? Or maybe you're scrolling Instagram right now instead of being in your studio. (I see you.) You're not broken. You're just stuck in a pattern. And once you can name it, it loses its power.

In this episode, I'm walking through nine specific, observable behaviors that show up when artists are working through self-doubt. Not vague struggles. Actual patterns you can recognize in yourself.

Because here's the thing: when you go from "What's wrong with me?" to "Oh, I'm doing that serial abandoner thing again," everything shifts. It's not a personality flaw. It's just a pattern. And patterns can change.

In This Episode:

[3:09] The Serial Abandoner — Starting painting after painting, always convinced the next one will be different

[5:00] The Mental Critic — Spending half your studio time cataloging what's wrong instead of actually painting

[7:53] The Comparison Scroller — More time on Instagram than at the easel, using other artists' work as proof you're not good enough

[10:00] The Permission Seeker — Asking everyone's opinion before trusting your own eye

[14:09] The Hiding Perfectionist — Making work, then stacking it facing the wall, waiting until it's "good enough"

[15:34] The Apologizer — Can't show work without immediately explaining everything that's wrong with it first

[17:03] The Workshop Collector — Taking class after class, convinced you need one more technique before you're ready

[23:54] The Overthinking Planner — Hours planning the perfect painting in your mind, but never committing to canvas

[25:34] The Corner Repainter — Repainting the same spot seventeen times while ignoring the rest of the painting

If you recognize yourself in one or more of these? You're in good company. This is what shows up for skilled artists working through doubt. The episode walks through what's actually happening underneath each pattern and what to practice instead.

Want to work with me?  

Join Growth Studio

Private Coaching for artists 

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And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

What does it really mean to have your own back as an artist? In this episode, I share why safety isn’t just about gloves and turpentine — it’s about building trust with yourself in the studio. When you know you won’t tear yourself down for “failing,” you’re free to take risks, explore messy ideas, and grow in ways you never thought possible.

This conversation comes straight from my own sketchbook experiments and our 30-day Self-Trust Challenge inside Growth Studio. You’ll hear how awkward blind contour lines, negative space trees, and even 100 “bad” drawings can become proof that you’re on the right track.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

Episode Map

• [0:42] Why self-trust always begins with safety — and why that has nothing to do with paint fumes.
• [3:29] The awkward stage that makes most artists quit — and how to stick with it.
• [7:51] Five drawings that “failed” — or five steps closer to something new?
• [15:48] The messy middle: where ideas sprout before they make sense.
• [20:58] Could you survive 100 “bad” paintings to reach the one that works?
• [25:42] Why doubt and frustration don’t mean stop — they mean human.
• [26:34] Kindness as a creative strategy: how to meet yourself without criticism.
• [29:29] The ultimate reframe: safety, trust, and the artist you’ve always wanted to be.

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

Ever notice how one “wrong” brushstroke can send you into a spiral? You’re standing in your studio, brush in hand, and suddenly the inner courtroom opens up. The judge, jury, and executioner? All you.

This episode is about what I call self-aggression. Those tiny but brutal ways we attack ourselves for daring to experiment, for not being perfect, for being… human. And here’s the thing: it’s costing you way more than you realize.

I’ll walk you through why we confuse self-criticism with professionalism, how it’s secretly strangling your creativity, and what happens when you trade all that punishment for curiosity instead. (Hint: your studio becomes the safest, most exciting place to create.)

You’ll hear real stories from Growth Studio: Leslie catching herself in an “auction spiral,” Megan reframing her supply list, Scott protecting his energy, and Cece navigating the push-pull of play vs. control. Plus, I’ll share a micro-meltdown of my own and how I turned it around.

If you’ve ever started an apology tour before showing your work, or if you’ve ever thought “I’m such an idiot” mid-painting—this one’s for you.

Your Episode Map

0:23 – The brushstroke that ruins everything (or does it?)
1:59 – How “I’m such an idiot” sneaks into your studio
5:49 – Why being hard on yourself isn’t “professional” (it’s poison)
7:39 – Curiosity vs. criticism: the C in CREATE that changes everything
8:32 – What self-aggression is secretly costing you (spoiler: it’s huge)
13:12 – Real Growth Studio stories: auctions, supply lists, and saying no
25:00 – My own meltdown over a 2-inch drawing
36:01 – The truth bomb: self-trust is the ultimate creative flex

For Your Studio Wall

Words worth pinning next to your easel:

• “Curiosity opens possibilities. Criticism shuts them down.”
• “Failure isn’t evidence against you—it’s information for you.”
• “Your studio is not a courtroom. Make it a laboratory.”
• “Treat yourself like your favorite student.”
• “The way you talk to yourself shows up on the canvas.”

What to Bring Into the Studio With You

• A daily rep: catch one micro-aggression and reframe it with curiosity.
• Neutral share rule: present your work without the apology preface.
• Constraints as safety: same size, same tools, familiar setups = freedom to explore.
• A pre-painting intention: I’m here to explore, not to be perfect.

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️