Artist, discount prices end Sunday at midnight

Dear Artist,

I've attended Realism Live three times as host. I'm busy behind the scenes and can only watch about 10% of the entire show personally, yet, I watch when I can.

Last year, I had not painted a portrait in over two years and yet when I sat down at my Fall Color Week on portrait night, I knocked out one of the best portraits of my life, in less than an hour and a half, and under horrible low-light conditions.

How did it happen?

Well, I had not been practicing. The only thing that had changed since my last portrait was attending Realism Live. Something stuck.

Will this happen to you?

It's all about the accumulation of information, where you are now plus what you've just learned. There are no guarantees it will happen to you, but I can pretty much guarantee that if you're not growing, you'll be frustrated and wishing you could do a better job drawing or painting.

The only question is whether or not you're ready and committed.

There is never a perfect time.

There was a guy I wanted to study under. For years I told myself one day I'd go be a part of his group. I also told myself I was not ready to spend the money. Then I got a call that he was in hospice and expected to die within days.

Not only did I feel awful for him, but I kicked myself for always putting it off. I told myself "someday," but then I learned someday wasn't going to come.

The good news of the story is that this artist had a miraculous recovery. So the first thing I did, after waiting till I heard he was available again, was ask him to work with me. I signed up and paid my money — and suddenly it did not seem like a lot of money.

And the best part is that my gut had told me I'd see a massive transformation from spending time learning from this top guy. Turns out, the transformation and growth I received was bigger than I could have expected.

I don't want to be morbid, but if the last four years taught us anything, it's never to assume that anything that is here today will be here tomorrow. My favorite restaurant is gone. Some of my favorite stores are gone. And, sadly, some of my favorite people are gone.

If we've learned anything from these difficult times, it's to call people when you think of it, go visit them as soon as you can, and do the things you want to do in your life.

Learn more at

RealismLive.com