However, when people hear the phrase art history, they often imagine memorizing dates, staring at old paintings in quiet museums, or learning the names of artists they will never need to mention in everyday life. For a hobby artist, it can seem even less necessary. After all, if you make art for fun, relaxation, or personal expression, why spend time studying what other people made hundreds or even thousands of years ago?!

You do not need to become an expert. You do not need to memorize every movement from the Renaissance to Postmodernism. But even a basic understanding of art history can give you new ideas, help you understand your own taste, and make you feel more connected to the creative world. For hobby artists especially, a bit of art history knowledge can turn art-making from “I just like making things” into a richer, more exciting lifelong practice!

I’ll explain…

Art History is a Wonderful Source of Ideas

Every artist eventually runs into the same problem: not knowing what to make. You may sit down with your sketchbook or art journal or canvas and feel completely blank.

Or maybe you keep drawing the same subjects in the same way because it is comfortable. Art history can help break that pattern. You see, when you study art from different times and cultures, you expose yourself to thousands of creative solutions. You learn how artists have painted light, arranged figures, used color, distorted bodies, told stories, decorated objects, captured movement, or expressed emotion. Each artwork becomes a possible doorway into your own ideas.

Maybe you discover the dramatic lighting of Caravaggio and decide to experiment with strong shadows.

Maybe you see the soft colors of Impressionism, as in this Monet, and feel inspired to paint outside.

Maybe you notice the patterns in Islamic art…

…or the flat shapes in Japanese woodblock prints, like this one by Hiroshige…

…or the emotional intensity of German Expressionism as seen here in Erich Heckel’s work:

You do not have to copy any of it directly. The point is not to imitate, but to expand your imagination. Art history fills your creative toolbox!

Art History Helps You Understand Your Own Style

Many artists worry about “finding a style.” They wonder why their work does not look consistent yet, or why they are drawn to certain colors, subjects, or techniques. Art history can help you answer those questions.

When you look at many kinds of art, you start noticing what attracts you. Do you love clean lines or messy brushwork? Realistic detail or expressive distortion? Calm compositions or dramatic scenes? Bright colors or muted tones? Symbolic imagery or everyday subjects?

Studying art history gives you language for your preferences. Instead of saying, “I like old paintings,” you might realize you are specifically drawn to Baroque drama paintings such as this one painted by Artemisia Gentileschi:

Instead of saying, “I like weird art,” you might discover an interest in Dada, outsider art, or Surrealism, as in this lobster phone by Salvador Dali:

Instead of saying, “I like simple shapes,” you might connect with modernist design, folk art, or abstraction, such as this painting by Wendy Westlake:

Your style is not something that appears magically. It grows from what you practice, what you notice, what you love, and what you choose to return to. Art history helps you see those patterns more clearly.

Art History Reminds You That Art Does Not Have to Be Perfect

One of the best reasons to learn art history is that it can loosen the grip of perfectionism. Many people think “good art” means realistic art. They assume that if they cannot draw a perfect face, a perfect hand, or a perfect landscape, they are not a real artist. But art history proves otherwise! Across history, artists have made powerful work that is not realistic at all. Medieval artists often cared more about spiritual meaning than accurate perspective.

Expressionists exaggerated forms to show emotion, as in this wonderful painting by Egon Schiele:

Abstract artists use color, shape, and movement without recognizable subjects. I love the work of Joan Mitchell:

Folk artists, self-taught artists, and craft traditions often follow different rules than academic realism. One of my favorite self-taught artists is Jacob Lawrence:

Art history shows that there is no single correct way to make art. Realism is one path, but it is not the only path. Art can be symbolic, decorative, emotional, strange, playful, political, quiet, messy, simple, or mysterious. Once you understand that, you may feel less pressure to make your work look “right” and more permission to make it feel right to you.

Art History Makes Museums and Galleries More Enjoyable

Many people feel intimidated in museums. They walk through rooms full of paintings and sculptures without knowing what they are supposed to think. They may enjoy a few pieces, but the rest can feel distant or confusing.

A little art history changes that.

When you know even a small amount about different periods or movements, museums become more like conversations. You can recognize why a Renaissance painting looks carefully balanced, why an Impressionist painting looks loose and light-filled, why a modern artwork might reject traditional beauty, or why a portrait might communicate power, wealth, grief, or rebellion.

You do not need to know everything. Even knowing a few basics can make the experience more engaging. Instead of asking, “Why is this famous?” you start asking better questions: What was the artist trying to do? What rules were they following? What rules were they breaking? What would this artwork have meant to people at the time?

This makes looking at art feel active rather than passive. You are not just admiring art. You are learning from it.

Knowledge of Art History Gives You Confidence

When you know more about art, you start to trust your eye. You can explain why you like something. You can recognize techniques. You can understand references. You can see connections between your work and the work of others.

This does not mean you need to sound academic or use complicated language. Confidence does not come from showing off what you know. It comes from feeling less lost. For instance, you might look at your own artwork and realize, “I’m more interested in mood than accuracy.” Or, “I like decorative space more than realistic depth.” Or, “This reminds me of the way certain artists used color emotionally.” These realizations help you make choices with more intention.

For artmakers at all levels, intention matters. You do not need to make art for anyone else, but it feels good to understand what you are doing and why.

You Do Not Have to Learn Art History the “School” Way

One reason people avoid art history is that they imagine it has to be formal. They picture lectures, exams, and memorizing facts. But you can learn art history in a much more relaxed way.

• Begin with an artist (or an art movement) that you already like.
• Learn more about them/it.
  • Watch a documentary
  • Read an online article
  • Check out Wikipedia
  • Listen to a podcast
  • Read a book
  • Visit a museum to see the work in person and/or take a tour with a knowledgable guide
  • Attend a lecture
• When you come across terms you don’t know or related artists or movements, take the time to look them up.

Slowly, you’ll find that you know quite a bit about art history. Keep in mind that the goal is not to know everything. The goal is to stay curious and keep learning.

Final Thoughts

So I hope I’ve inspired you to be willing to learn a little bit of art history. For me, it really has made creating art richer. I enjoy museums more. I understand more of what I see in contemporary art. (I may not like it, but I get where it’s coming from.) Remember, you do not have to become an art historian. You do not have to memorize dates. But learning even a little art history can help you become a more curious, confident, and inspired artist!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. Get a regular dose of easy art history at My Art Practice!

The post Why Should a Hobby Artist Learn Art History? appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• The Beginner Mindset for Artists
• What Happened (July 2026) at My Art Practice
• What Happened (June 2026) at My Art Practice

 

• Painted paper? Save it.
• Gelatin print? Obviously save it.
• Tiny piece of expensive watercolor paper? SAVE IT.
• Interesting wrapping paper from a birthday present? You know I’m saving that!

The problem is that there is a very fine line between saving useful art materials and moving piles of paper around your studio for the next ten years. I feel like I can lecture on this topic because I have experience with both.

Use Scraps Right Away!

In this video, I’m sharing a very simple project that started with the wrapping paper from my son’s birthday presents. I loved all of the different patterns and colors and, predictably, I couldn’t bring myself to throw the paper away. But instead of carefully folding it up and putting it somewhere “for later,” I cut it into strips and immediately turned it into thank you cards.

I love how they turned out and so did the recipients!

It’s a project that didn’t take me long and forced me to use all that pretty paper instead of hoarding it.

Similar advice is to take the scraps you have leftover after making something (you’ve already spent time coordinating papers that work) and immediately glue them into your art journal or onto a piece of paper. Do something to take all those bits and make them usable!

Make Your Paper Stash More Usable

But what if you want to hoard your paper scraps instead of using them right away? Listen, scraps are genuinely useful in my art practice. I collage constantly. I make Art Parts. I use little pieces of paper all the time. But there is a point at which abundance becomes an obstacle. Earlier this year I spent some time making my messy collage paper more usable, and one of the things I was reminded of during that process was how often a small amount of processing can completely change my relationship with a material. (I talk a lot about this in my Art Parts class.)

Here are three quick ways to make your paper stash more immediately usable:

• Sort it. A chaotic pile of unrelated papers can feel overwhelming. Make a scrap pack and suddenly it becomes an invitation to make something. Put like papers together so you can find what you’re looking for.
• Unify it. Use a glaze or a veil or doodling to transform a scattered piece of collage paper into something you can use without thinking about it. I recently shared a simple way to unify patterned papers in collage, and the goal wasn’t to make all of the papers the same. It was simply to create enough visual connection that they felt like they belonged together.
• Process it. Take an action that makes the scrap immediately usable as it is. This could be embossing it, cutting it into a shape you use a lot – like the paper strips I cut to make the cards in the video, etc.

Just say to yourself: If I want to use my scraps, I need to make them easy to use. Also, I think it’s important to note that I don’t need to know what something is going to become in order to prepare it for use. You don’t have to save a scrap because you have a brilliant plan for it. You can simply say, “This has potential,” and then do something small that makes the potential easier to access:

• Cut it into strips.
• Punch circles out of it.
• Tear it into manageable pieces.
• Add a glaze.
• Print over it.
• Group it with other papers.
• Whatever makes sense for the way you work.

Final Thought

So perhaps the question isn’t simply: Should I save this scrap? Instead it’s: What can I do to make this scrap easy to use again? Because saving it is only the beginning!

Thanks for stopping by!

The post How to Make Your Paper Scraps Actually Useful appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• The Beginner Mindset for Artists
• How Art Parts Make Mixed Media Collage Easier
• Learning How to Improvise in Your Art

 

Very often, the missing piece is composition.

Composition is one of those art words that can sound much more intimidating than it actually is. At its most basic, composition is simply how you arrange all of the parts of your artwork. Where does your eye go first? What feels important? Is there enough contrast? Does the piece feel balanced? Is there somewhere for your eye to rest? And perhaps most importantly: why does one arrangement feel satisfying while another one doesn’t?

These are exactly the questions we’re going to dig into during my Mixed Media Collage Composition Intensive, October 10-12, 2026, here in my studio in Watertown, Massachusetts.

What Will You Learn?

Learning composition isn’t about memorizing a formula for making “good” art. It’s about developing a toolbox. When you’re staring at a blank piece of paper and wondering where to begin, you have somewhere to start. When a piece feels wrong and you can’t quite figure out why, you have some ideas about what to change. And when you find something that works, you understand it well enough to deliberately push it somewhere new.

This is a three-day, hands-on workshop devoted to understanding composition by actually making lots and lots of art. We’re going to work with several reliable compositional structures and explore why they work, how to adapt them, and how you can use the same basic composition again and again without making the same piece of art over and over.

Over the course of the three days, you’ll create approximately 6-12 small finished mixed media collage artworks, depending on your working speed. We’ll talk about contrast, color, value, layering, dominance, thumbnail sketches, adhesives, papers, and all of the practical nuts-and-bolts that go into building a successful collage. We’ll also look at how the same compositional ideas can work for both abstract and representational art. Having a few simple compositions that you can rely on, allows you to spend more of your creative energy on the fun parts like color and pattern and less on the mechanics behind the artwork.

But I also want to say that, for me, an in-person workshop is about much more than the information being taught.

The Pleasure of an In-Person Workshop

There is something wonderful about giving yourself several uninterrupted days to make art. You don’t have to squeeze it in before dinner or clean everything up because somebody needs the table. You get to settle into the work, try something, make another one, change your mind, ask a question, look at what someone else is doing, have a conversation, and then head right back into your own artwork. That sustained period of making can be incredibly valuable.

And because the workshop takes place in my home studio, it’s a very small and intimate group (just 8 students). As always, classes at my home studio include all art supplies plus breakfast, lunch, and snacks (home cooked by my dear sweet husband).

You can even stay after class and continue working in the studio until 6pm if you haven’t quite gotten enough art-making into your day!

In other words, you really can just show up and make art. People come to workshops alone, with a sister, with their mother or child, with a friend, or with a spouse who goes exploring in Boston while class is in session. All are welcome!

The class runs Saturday, October 10 through Monday, October 12, 2026. It’s a three-day holiday weekend here in Massachusetts, which makes it a particularly nice excuse for an art getaway. Watertown is only about 20-30 minutes from downtown Boston, so you could easily tack on a museum visit (or several!) before or after the workshop.

In Closing

If composition is something you’ve struggled with — or if you simply want three days to immerse yourself in collage, experimentation, conversation, and making — I would love to have you here in the studio.

The earlier October session of this workshop sold out, which is why I added this second set of dates. Space is extremely limited, so if you’ve been thinking about taking an in-person class with me, this might be the one.

Come spend three days making art, thinking deeply about composition, and building a set of tools you can take back into your own studio practice.

Read all the details and register for the Mixed Media Collage Composition Intensive.

The studio is ready for you to come and play!

The post Mixed Media Collage Composition Intensive: Come Make Art With Me This October appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• What Happened (July 2026) at My Art Practice
• How Art Parts Make Mixed Media Collage Easier
• What Happened (June 2026) at My Art Practice

 

I’m Being a Beginner with Paper Making

I have fallen down a paper making rabbit hole. I am very much at the beginning. I do not know all the terminology. I do not yet understand the personalities of the different fibers. I cannot necessarily predict how a sheet of paper will behave as it dries or how much it will shrink or whether what I am doing will produce the result I imagine. There is a lot I do not know, and it has reminded me how useful that feeling can be. You can see a bit about my journey in this video:

Being a Beginner Changes How You Pay Attention

When you have been making art for a long time, you accumulate an enormous amount of knowledge that you may not even realize you have. You reach for a particular brush because you know what kind of mark it will make. You understand how wet a piece of paper can get before it begins to buckle. You can often look at something that is not working and make a pretty good guess about how to fix it. Experience gives you a vocabulary of possible solutions.

But when you are a beginner, you do not have that vocabulary yet. Everything requires a little more attention. You notice things because you cannot take them for granted.

That has been one of my favorite parts of learning to make paper. I am suddenly intensely interested in things I barely thought about before. Fiber length. Shrinkage. Thickness. Absorbency. The difference between a sheet that feels soft and one that feels crisp. What happens when something is embedded in the pulp instead of glued on later. What happens when wet paper dries over a form and pulls itself tight. These are not necessarily sophisticated questions, but they are very alive questions because I genuinely do not know the answers yet.

I think that state of genuine curiosity is valuable for artists.

Interrupting Complacency

It is easy, once you know how to do something, to become focused on results. You know what successful work looks like for you, and you know what failure looks like too. That can make you efficient, but it can also quietly narrow the field of possibility. You begin to avoid the things you do not understand. You repeat processes that have worked before. You make decisions based on experience, which is often wise, but sometimes experience can keep you from wandering far enough to discover something unexpected.

Being a beginner interrupts that.

You are going to make things that are awkward because you do not yet know how to make them otherwise. You are going to misunderstand instructions. You are going to use too much of something or too little. You are going to make a sample that comes out badly and have no idea why. And that is so exciting! Learning and failure are opportunities to use your imagination and your creativity and ingenuity just a little bit more.

The Beginner Mindset is About Learning from Failure

One of the biggest differences I see between people who are comfortable making art and people who are struggling with it is not necessarily the number of mistakes they make. Experienced artists make mistakes all the time. The difference is often in what happens next. Instead of taking the mistake as a verdict on their ability, they treat it as information. Something did not work. Why? What changed? What could happen next?

That sounds simple, but I think it is actually a profound mental shift. The finished artwork stops being a test you can pass or fail and becomes a conversation you are having with materials, ideas, and your own decisions. This is part of why I chose “being a beginner” as the first cycle theme at My Art Practice. I am not interested in beginnerhood as a temporary stage that we should race through as quickly as possible. I am interested in the qualities that come with it: attention, curiosity, flexibility, willingness to ask obvious questions, and a certain tolerance for not knowing. Those are qualities I do not want to lose simply because I have become more experienced.

In fact, I think the longer you make art, the more deliberately you may need to seek them out.

Learn For the Sake of Learning

I have no idea whether paper making will become a significant part of my artwork. Maybe it will? Maybe not? Either way, it doesn’t make the learning less valuable.

We live in a culture that likes to make learning justify itself. We want to know what we are going to do with the skill before we have even acquired it. Will it become part of the work? Can it be monetized? Is it efficient? Is it useful?

But so much of what has mattered to me creatively has entered my art practice sideways. Something I learned in one context becomes useful years later in another. A material introduces a way of thinking. An idea from a book or a podcast sparks something in my brain. Sometimes all that happens is that I become interested again.

That is enough.

I think an art practice needs depth, repetition, and commitment. You have to stay with things long enough to get past the easy answers. But I also think an art practice needs occasional periods of genuine beginnerhood, where you allow yourself to enter a room without already knowing what is going to happen there.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. Check out my related post on how to kick yourself out of a creative rut HERE.

The post The Beginner Mindset for Artists appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• Learning How to Improvise in Your Art
• How to Fix Art Mistakes: The Overlooked Skill Every Artist Needs
• Why Should a Hobby Artist Learn Art History?

 

For context, My Art Practice operates on a 3-month cycle, rather like a semester. Each cycle is themed around an idea or concept. July was a transition month as one cycle ended and a new one began. This cycle 9 theme was “Reading and Making Landscape” and the cycle 10 theme is “Place Shapes Practice.”

Cycle Related

At the beginning and end of each cycle, there are always four cycle-related events:

• Wrap Party: MAP can be done in binge-y bursts, sporadically, or absolutely every week. Because we have all kinds of brains, different methods of interacting with the content is important. The Wrap Party is a live online event meant to summarize and bring the cycle together. For cycle 9, there were 33 lessons and events!
• What Changed This Cycle?: This is an opportunity for reflection. It’s the last part of every cycle. Did this cycle change anything in your art practice? Or not? How? Why? Or why not? I strongly believe that every time you reflect, you learn!
• Theme Launch: Each cycle begins with a lesson about the theme. In July, I shared a graphic of the place/practice circle and talked about how they continually feed each other.
• Art Challenge: Each cycle has an art challenge that you can do and submit at any time during the 3-month cycle. The challenge is designed to help you better understand the theme of the cycle. I encourage everyone to do the challenge whether or not you decide to share what you make. Doing is how we apply learning. Watching and reading is only half learning.

Much like a highway has an on-ramp and off-ramp, these four lessons are meant to ease you out of the old cycle and ease you into the new cycle.

Art Practice

It will come as no surprise that “art practice” is at the heart of an online learning platform called, “My Art Practice.” Every month we begin with a small step that keeps your art practice moving forward: Goals & Tiny Wins.

On the message board, I invite MAP members to share both their monthly goals and tiny wins.

• Monthly goals give your practice a gentle direction. When you name one small goal for the month, you give your practice something to return to.
• Tiny wins build consistency through self-trust. Most of us underestimate how much “little progress” matters. Tiny wins are the building blocks of a long-term practice!

One of the elements of an art practice is analysis — but it’s not just about analyzing your own work. It’s also about being aware of what else is out there in the zeitgeist. Each cycle I start a conversation, using a news article, about a contemporary art topic.

In July we discussed some of the ways AI is being used in art. I always appreciate MAP members thoughtful comments on whatever the topic may be!

This month I also shared a long Studio Vlog focused on cleaning & reorganizing my studio.

As always, there was a good mix of humor and practical advice — especially about how to think through what will work best for your space and your practice.

Art History

The art history lesson in July was about Robyn Kahukiwa.

Art Techniques and Materials

You may recall that I used to offer an intensive live online workshop called, “Design Boot Camp.” It was $750 for five weeks of intensive learning about the elements and principles of design in art. (As a side note, $750 is the same cost as a full year of My Art Practice membership!) As part of the “Technical and Professional Skills” portion of MAP, you will also find the elements and principles of art!

Each cycle I update one part of that section on elements and principles of art and in July, I posted three lessons focused on using value in art.

At the end of the month, I hosted the cycle’s live Q&A session. This is a one hour event, held over Zoom, where you can submit a question ahead of time and I’ll prepare a demo to answer your question. We always end up chatting about additional things, but the focus of this session was on two big questions:

• How to get over decision paralysis when making art?
• How to create abstract art based on real things?

Community

Each month there is a community-led Art Jam!

And of course, I don’t want to forget about all the chatter on the message boards, and weekly accountability group meetings. Lots of opportunities to be social if you want to.

Membership Info

There are two kinds of MAP membership. Full membership grants you access to everything on the site – all lessons and message boards and everything that has come before.

Technique Vault membership grants you access to a more limited selection, focused on art techniques and materials. But again, you get access to both new and archived lessons. (You can take a peek at the kinds of things that are available in this post.)

You can check out all the options HERE and do let me know if you have questions!

The post What Happened (July 2026) at My Art Practice appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• What Happened (June 2026) at My Art Practice
• Why Should a Hobby Artist Learn Art History?
• Mixed Media Collage Composition Intensive: Come Make Art With Me This October

 

Putting it together was quick and easy because I have a big stash of Art Parts.

What Are Art Parts?

Art Parts are individual elements that are made in advance so they can later be combined into a finished artwork. They’re different for everyone because everyone’s art process is different. They might be painted papers, gelatin prints, drawings, small stitched elements, stamped images, cut shapes, embellishments, or interesting leftovers.

They do not need to have a particular artwork destination when I make or save them. They simply need to hold some possibility and my storage of them needs to be organized enough to find them when I do need them.

The most important thing about Art Parts is not what they are. It is how they change the process of making art.

Making Art Parts: Embossing Leftover Paper Strips

I often use really nice watercolor paper and printmaking paper. But when I’m ready to frame or mat my artwork, I end up needing to cut off some of the paper. The narrow strips left behind seem too valuable to toss. But saving scraps is only useful if I eventually do something with them. Otherwise, I am simply moving little pieces of paper from one corner of the studio to another.

In the video below, I share one way that I turn those leftover strips into useful collage material by running them through embossing folders. The embossing transforms an awkward scrap into a textured element that I am genuinely excited to use.

Art Parts Reduce Decision Fatigure

People often tell me that I’m prolific — i.e. I make a lot of work in a short period of time. The secret to my success is a big stash of Art Parts! I don’t just have art supplies. I have prepared art supplies ready to go and this reduces the number of decisions I have to make at one time.

As you can see from the image above, the art supplies are scraps of paper that I need to think about how to use. The Art Parts, on the other hand, are ready to use. Here’s a quick list of the decisions/physical labor that has already happened to that bin of Art Parts:

• I located and set up my die cut machine.
• I located my embossing folders.
• I chose embossing folder designs I wanted to use.
• I cut and trimmed the paper scraps as necessary.
• I embossed the paper scraps.
• I put away my embossing folders.
• I put away my die cut machine.

It may seem silly at first, but that’s seven things I don’t have to do when I begin a mixed media collage. If every part of making mixed media collage has seven parts, you can imagine why it takes so long and feels so difficult. Whereas, when I begin with an Art Parts stash by my side, so much has already been prepared for me.

I often use cooking as a metaphor. We love bagged lettuce and already cut up veggies to speed up the process of making healthy food. Art Parts is the same concept. You’re taking ingredients (art supplies) that you know you’re going to use and preparing them ahead of time so that they’re ready to go when you need them! And unlike food, there’s no expiration date!

My mantra is “A stash is not automatically a system.” My goal is to create a collection that supports the way I work. My bin of embossed white paper is useful because I know why I made it and how I tend to use it. The pieces add texture without forcing a color decision, and they can be painted, printed, torn, cut, or used as they are. They have earned their place in my studio.

Learn the Complete Art Parts Framework

The embossed scraps in the video are one small example of Art Parts in action. In my online class, Art Parts: A Mixed Media Collage Framework, I teach the complete system.

We look at how to create and organize a useful collection of Art Parts, how to identify the elements that will work for your particular artistic style, and how to use those parts to build layered mixed media collages.

We also explore how Art Parts can help you move beyond your first idea, work more improvisationally, and make composition feel less overwhelming. The emphasis is not on copying a particular finished collage. It is on learning a flexible framework that you can continue to use with your own supplies, imagery, colors, and visual language.

The class contains 14 lessons and 13 step-by-step videos. All of the lessons are available as soon as you register, and you have indefinite access to the class. There is no required supply list because the goal is to make this system work with the materials you already enjoy using.

Learn more and register for Art Parts: A Mixed Media Collage Framework.

Thanks for stopping by!

More blog posts about Art Parts:

• How to Make Mixed Media Collage Easy: Art Parts Explained
• Making My Messy Collage Paper More Usable
• Studio Snippet #20: Black and White Collage Papers
• 100 Days of Art Parts: Days 21-41
• Studio Visit #11: Art Parts Embellishments for Mixed Media Collage
• Four Mixed Media Collages from Art Parts

The post How Art Parts Make Mixed Media Collage Easier appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

          

Comments

• […] Tiny piece of expensive watercolor paper? SAVE IT. […] by How to Make Your Paper Scraps Actually Useful - Balzer Designs Blog

Related Stories

• A Simple Way to Unify Patterned Papers in Collage
• Why Fixing Art Journal Pages Builds Creative Confidence
• The Power of Micro-Experiments: Discovery of How To Paper Marble with Just Acrylic & Water

 

For context, My Art Practice operates on a 3-month cycle, rather like a semester. Each cycle is themed around an idea or concept. This cycle’s theme was “Reading and Making Landscape.”

Art History

I shared two art history lessons this month. The first lesson was all about JMW Turner, one of the most influential landscape artists of the last century.

And then a lesson on Fauvism.

My favorite part of this lesson is that it included a great video that featured three artists trying to figure out how to make their own Fauvist artwork.

Art Techniques and Materials

I shared a lesson on how to make a single-pull gelatin printed landscape.

I shared FIVE lessons on watercolor.

Art Practice

My Art Practice has a Core Curriculum. (I know at least one of the accountability groups spent about a year working through the Core Curriculum together every week.)

Every cycle, I add a lesson to the Core Curriculum. During June I added two lessons to the Ideas section.

An important part of your art practice is evolution. Each cycle I share a lesson called, “The Re-Do,” which is about using old work in a new way. This cycle’s Re-Do was tied into the overall cycle theme.

Professional Skill

Each cycle there is a professional skill that is taught and then put into practice. Past topics have included photographing your artwork, writing an artist bio, and making short form videos for social media. This cycle we focused on titling artwork. In May I shared 3 lessons on titling artwork.

And then in June I held a live Zoom event where members could share and discuss the titles they chose after doing the exercises in the lesson. A number of things at MAP work in this two-part way: a written lesson followed by a live event to ensure questions are answered and learning really happens! Most months have 2-3 live events, included in the (at least) two new lessons every week!

Coaching and Mentoring and Community

There were two live coaching calls with me in June — each with a different flavor:

• Office Hours are just what you might imagine from a college campus. It’s an hour of time when you can drop by and ask questions about whatever you need a bit of help on. Technical, philosophical, and weird questions welcomed! Office Hours are held on Zoom and they are not recorded. It’s usually a very relaxed conversation and demo session.
• Group Coaching is a little bit more formal. Anyone in the community can submit work to be discussed during the session. We use a relaxed but formal methodology where the person who submitted the work should have a question in mind. Ex. “Does this feel cohesive?” “Do you think the stripes on the left are helping or hurting?” “Any ideas on how I can push this to be less realistic?” Etc. Then participants give feedback that is thoughtful, non-prescriptive, and focused on helping solve the problem. I also chime in! Coaching sessions are recorded and then erased after one year.

Both of these live online events are some of my favorites. They always leave me feeling inspired and excited! Whether you ask a question or submit work or not, attending these live events brings you into the community and the conversation. And of course, I don’t want to forget about all the chatter on the message boards, and weekly accountability group meetings. Lots of opportunities to be social if you want to.

Membership Info

There are two kinds of MAP membership. Full membership grants you access to everything on the site – all lessons and message boards and everything that has come before.

Technique Vault membership grants you access to a more limited selection, focused on art techniques and materials. But again, you get access to both new and archived lessons. (You can take a peek at the kinds of things that are available in this post.)

You can check out all the options HERE and do let me know if you have questions!

The post What Happened (June 2026) at My Art Practice appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• What Happened (July 2026) at My Art Practice
• Why Should a Hobby Artist Learn Art History?
• Mixed Media Collage Composition Intensive: Come Make Art With Me This October

 

The Key to Good Improvisation

Have you ever heard of the “yes and” theory of improvisation? It’s an improv comedy rule that when you’re improvising with a partner and they say something, you keep the ball rolling forward (yes and) rather than shutting it down. For instance, if I say, “Wow! That whale is huge!” You might say, “Yes, and it’s swimming this way!” This keeps the scene rolling forward. If instead you reply, “I don’t see a whale. I’m just in my car on the way to work,” it completely derails the scene.

The problem is that people who do improv comedy want to be funny. They want to be good. And so sometimes they get attached to an idea that they think will be funny or good and stop listening and paying attention to where the scene is going. Instead, they want to use their pre-thought up idea and the scene becomes not funny and not good.

Art making often follows the same trajectory. You have a pre-thought up idea and you just have to get to it no matter what. As a result, you don’t pay attention to what’s actually happening in the work and it usually ends up falling flat. Boo.

However, it is my sincere belief that if you use the “yes and” rule in your art making, you will go in interesting direction you never could have planned for!

Responding Rather Than Inventing

I prefer to work in a junque journal or a journal that I’ve taken the time to rough up. I hate a blank page waiting patiently for me to have a brilliant idea. For me, a blank page can feel like it is asking you to invent an entire world, whereas a page that already has something on it gives you a problem to solve. There is something to respond to and I love that. I need that!

In this video you’ll see that I start on a page that already has a lot of visual noise and then I make one decision, take a moment, and respond.

In my opinion, this is how to improvise in art. It’s not random. It’s thoughtful. It’s based on years of taking calculated risks. It’s saying, “yes and” to whatever happens in the process.

Ideas Worth Noting

Here are a few practical tips and ideas that I hope you take away from the video:

• You do not need to know what the finished artwork will look like before you begin. Make one decision, look at what changed, and then decide what to do next.
• An already-used surface can be easier to work on than a blank one. Existing color, collage, and marks give you something to respond to.
• Experience does not necessarily mean seeing the whole artwork in advance. It often means feeling more comfortable with uncertainty.
• Each new layer creates a new set of questions. Ask whether the work needs more contrast, depth, repetition, space, or movement.
• Repeating a shape at different sizes can create depth and help unify a composition.
• Grounding shapes can change how they read. A simple ground line or area can make floating elements feel like they belong in an environment.
• Materials should be chosen for what they do. Acrylic paint can cover and simplify, while crayon can add an immediate, physical line and move differently across the surface.
• Changing your mind is not separate from the art process. It is part of the process.
• A color does not have to be “bad” to need changing. It may simply be creating the wrong value, contrast, or emphasis.
• When something feels wrong, try to identify the actual problem instead of immediately calling it a mistake.
• Useful questions include: What is competing? What has disappeared? Where is my eye getting stuck? What needs to be repeated?
• New collage often looks disconnected at first. Repeating existing colors, marks, or materials over it can help integrate it into the rest of the work.
• Repetition is one of the simplest ways to create unity. You can repeat color, shape, line, texture, scale, or material.
• Art journals are valuable places to practice responding when things do not go as planned.
• Artistic control is not making everything happen exactly as imagined. It is being able to respond, adjust, and keep going.

Improvisation Needs to Be Practiced

As we already discussed, doing random things and hoping for the best is not improvisation. Viola Spolin put it best when she said, “Improvisation is the moment when planning and opportunity meet.”

Because the artwork is always going to do something you did not expect. The paint is going to dry darker or lighter than you thought it would. The print is going to land in a slightly strange place. The shape you thought would be subtle is suddenly going to become the loudest thing in the room. You are going to cover the part you liked best. You are going to add one tiny thing and somehow ruin the entire composition. Etc.

What has changed over time with education and experience is that I am less frightened by those moments because I have been there before. Many times. I know that an awkward stage is not necessarily the end. I know that one bad decision does not mean the entire piece is ruined. I know that there is more than one way forward. And I have confidence that, given time, I can figure it out.

That confidence is because I have practiced and practiced and practiced. I have read books, and gone to art history lectures, and visited museums and galleries, and done my best to grab every tool available to me in order to learn and practice. This is actually a big part of why I started My Art Practice. I kept meeting artists who knew how to follow a project but felt completely lost when their own artwork took an unexpected turn. They did not necessarily need one more set of instructions. They needed more ways to think, more things to try, and more confidence in their own decisions.

That is what I wanted My Art Practice to help people build. We learn techniques, of course. But we also study color, composition, materials, art history, habits, and decision-making because all of those things give you more options when you are standing in front of your own work thinking, “Well, now what?”

That ability to improvise is what I am really interested in. The more you know, the more choices you have: You are not improvising because you have no idea what you are doing. You are improvising because you have built up enough experience to respond. (I’ve written before about why improvisation in art is intentional rather than random.)

Art Journals are Awesome for Practicing Improvisation

I think art journals are particularly good places to practice improvisation. For me, because it’s a book, the stakes feel lower. I can take lots of risks and then turn the page. The important things to keep in mind are:

• A page can be visually successful and still teach me very little.
• A page can be awkward, overworked, or not quite resolved and teach me a tremendous amount.
• I learn nothing if I don’t take the time to think about both the process and product.
• Taking some notes is always a good idea, even if it feels like a pain at the time.

An Actionable Idea for You

The next time you get stuck in your artwork, try not to immediately ask, “How do I fix this?” Instead, ask: What changed?

Did the focal point disappear? Did one color become too dominant? Is the composition too heavy on one side? Does the new collage element look as though it has been dropped on top rather than integrated into the page?

“I hate it” is a real feeling, but it is not especially useful information. The more specific you can be about what is bothering you, the easier it becomes to imagine more than one response. And that, for me, is the real skill. Mistakes (otherwise known as creative opportunities) are inevitable. The skill is being willing to look at what is actually there, change your mind, and continue.

Thanks for stopping by!

The post Learning How to Improvise in Your Art appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• Why Fixing Art Journal Pages Builds Creative Confidence
• The Beginner Mindset for Artists
• How to Fix Art Mistakes: The Overlooked Skill Every Artist Needs

 

What is Intaglio Printing?

Intaglio (pronounced in-tally-o) is one of those printmaking words that can sound intimidating until you understand what it actually means. At its simplest, intaglio is a printmaking process in which the ink sits down inside lines, grooves, scratches, or textures that have been carved, etched, or otherwise incised into a plate. The paper is pushed into those recessed areas, usually with the help of a press, and pulls the ink out. This is an intaglio print I made last year:

Intaglio is the Opposite of Relief Printing

In relief printing the raised surface prints and the carved-away areas stay blank. If you have ever carved a stamp or a linoleum block, you already understand relief printing. You roll ink across the top surface, and the raised parts touch the paper.

Intaglio works differently. You force ink into the grooves, wipe the surface clean, and then use pressure to transfer the ink from the grooves onto dampened paper. This is a Tetra Pak print being pulled:

Traditional Intaglio Processes

If you’ve been to a museum, you’ve seen an intaglio print. On the info card next to the art, you’ve probably seen the work defined by a slightly more exact methodology. Intaglio is a big blanket term that encompasses many kinds of printmaking. Traditional intaglio processes include engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint, and mezzotint. Each method creates recessed marks in a different way. I’ll do a very bare bones explanation of each type:

Engraving uses a sharp tool to cut clean lines into a metal plate. Here’s an example of an engraving from Albrecht Durer (source):

Etching uses acid to bite lines into a plate that has been protected with a resist. This etching is by Käthe Kollwitz (image source):

Drypoint is made by scratching directly into the plate, leaving a burr that often creates a soft, velvety line. Here is an example from William Kentridge (image source):

Aquatint is used to create tone rather than line, which makes it possible to build areas of light and dark. Pablo Picasso was a master of the sugar-lift aquatint (image source):

In Conclusion: An Oversimplification of Intaglio

All of this is to say that when you hear the phrase “intaglio printing,” you can think: ink in the grooves. If you’d like to be notified when my online class on Tetra Pak printing is ready (I’m aiming for September 2026 and it will be a self-paced class with lifetime access), please join my email mailing list.

Thanks for stopping by!

The post Intaglio Printing Explained appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

         

Related Stories

• Mixed Media Collage Composition Intensive: Come Make Art With Me This October
• What Happened (July 2026) at My Art Practice
• What Happened (June 2026) at My Art Practice

 

Collage Papers Don’t Always Go Together

One of the things I love about collage is also one of the things that can make it so tricky: every piece of paper has its own personality and sometimes the personalities clash.

As you can see from the bins full of collage paper below, some papers are quiet. Some are loud. Some have a strong pattern. Some have a subtle texture. Some are handmade and irregular. Some are commercial and crisp. They’re all different!

When you start putting a collage together, sometimes the papers don’t quite get along.

A Solution: Pattern Connection

When patterns don’t get along or an area of the artwork is reading in a highly fragmented way, I have several tricks that I use to force the collage papers to cohere and one of them is explained in this short video:

As you saw in the video, I am working on a landscape collage. The sky was bothering me. I had used several different collage papers, and one of them had these black linear marks running across it. That one piece of paper was calling too much attention to itself. The fix was wonderfully simple. I picked up a pencil and extended the lines from that paper onto the surrounding papers.

I did not cover anything up. I did not repaint the whole sky. I did not rip it apart and start over. I simply continued what was already there.

But, you can also place a new pattern over an area to unify it. And you saw evidence of that in the leafy stenciling at the bottom of the artwork:

I worked a bit more on this piece after I finished the video and here is the final version:

You can find it for sale in my online shop.

Why Pattern Helps Connect

Pattern is powerful because it can visually stitch separate pieces together. A repeated line, dot, shape, stenciled image, brushstroke, or printed motif can help a group of papers read as one larger unit. It works because the eye starts following the repeated mark instead of getting stuck on the edges of each paper. The pattern becomes a bridge. I use this idea constantly — like on almost every single piece I make. (Click on any image to make it larger.)

Just keep in mind that the goal is not to make your papers match each other. Matching can be boring. The goal is to create enough relationship between them that they feel intentional. That is such a big part of the fun of collage for me: making the pieces feel chosen rather than random.

Final Thought

So the next time a section of your collage feels unresolved, try this. Before you cover it up or tear it off, ask yourself: Is there a pattern here that I can repeat? Is there a line I can continue? Is there a shape I can echo? Is there a mark that could travel from one paper to the next?

You might be surprised by how little it takes. A few pencil lines can change the way an entire area reads. A small repeated mark can pull a messy section together. A pattern that starts in one place can become the thing that unifies the whole composition!

I’ve got lots of great tips and tricks for mixed media collage in my upcoming class, Mixed Media Collage Composition Intensive, at my home studio here in Watertown, MA in October 2026.

This class is appropriate for ALL LEVELS — beginner to advanced. There are just 4 seats left!

Thanks for stopping by!

The post A Simple Way to Unify Patterned Papers in Collage appeared first on Balzer Designs Blog.

          

Comments

• In reply to Amy S, Craft Blogger. Yay! I'm so glad you ... by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
• I loved this post and your creative examples, Julie. I really ... by Amy S, Craft Blogger

Related Stories

• The Power of Micro-Experiments: Discovery of How To Paper Marble with Just Acrylic & Water
• Why Fixing Art Journal Pages Builds Creative Confidence
• How Art Parts Make Mixed Media Collage Easier