The Importance of Practice and How to Do It

"It's a beautiful day, just perfect for plein air painting!  I think I'll grab my easel and—oh, I think I forgot to scrape the palette last time.  And I didn't clean my brushes, either, so I'll have to do that first, too.  And I really did mean to change the turps...."

Excuses like these for not painting are plentiful.  It's so easy to accept the difficulties in getting started and instead to search for old friends on Facebook.

I have the occasional student who claims the only time she finds time to paint is at workshops—which she takes only once a year.  This is like picking up the tennis racket once a year and hoping to play a good game.