Free Inspiration

On your mark. Get set. Go!
I’m always encouraging artists to JUMP. But what does that even mean? The jump is about following your heart. If you recognize your heart as the very best of yourself, and you acknowledge that this is

Do You Hear That? It’s Life Asking You A Question.
What do you want to do when you grow up? Do you think we ever stop asking ourselves that question? It seems to be one of life’s great mysteries. When I was young I yearned to

The Best Way To Make A Living From Your Art
“But Crista,” they ask, “How can I make a living from my art?” “I want to be wealthy! I want to live on a beach and be dripping in jewels! And I want my art to

When Artists Lack Motivation
An artist asked how to fill his time when he didn’t feel particularly motivated or inspired to make something? I know that many artists sometimes struggle to find inspiration. I suggested that he use this
The Artist Manifesto
Let me ask you a question, artist to artist. What kind of world do you want to live in? Me, I want to live in a world where ideas and beauty are valued, a world

The Truth About Success For Artists
Artist, you cannot fail. What if that were true? What would you do differently if you knew that artists can’t ever fail? Well, guess what? It is true. It’s a success just to be

What the Blind Artist Saw
Have you ever felt like your creativity wasn’t flowing? Maybe life wasn’t working out? Nothing was going according to plan? Have you ever struggled to keep the faith? In times of crisis I look

How Artists Create Self-Confidence
Have you ever found yourself questioning if you’re good enough? Or maybe you overthink something you did or something you said? Sometimes we get stuck in those thoughts, wondering about the judgments and opinions

Magic Words to Create Your Greatest Masterpiece
As artists, we are CREATORS. And your life is your greatest creation. In his brilliant book Negative/Positive, Bill Jay wrote that artists are people who strive to become actually who they are potentially. To become actually

Are You Choosing Through Fear? Or From Truth?
An artist recently told me that for years there was a battle inside her head as both hemispheres of her brain struggled to control her fate. The right side of her brain screamed to be an

The 8-Year Old Artist’s Message
It was Day 16 of my crowd-funding campaign and I had only cried in public once. Twice. Online crowd-funding is not for the faint of heart. This was a several years ago, when I was raising

Do You Hate Social Media?
Do you hate social media? Do you hate self-promotion? Do you hate the competitiveness? The vacuous echo? The soul-sucking amount of time it takes? I hated all those things too. Yet people were always telling me

The Best New Year’s Resolution for Artists
I don’t know about you, the last years have taught me some important lessons. These lessons marked my soul so deeply that they should be tattooed into my very flesh. They are the lessons of faith,

Does Your Art Suck?
Has anyone ever told you that your creative work sucks? If not, just wait. It’ll happen. And when it does, avoid the urge to hide in a hole. Instead, consider it a rite of passage… I’ve

Who Believes in You?
All artists have dreams, wishes and goals. It doesn’t matter whether we keep our light hidden and never share our aspirations with another soul, or we announce our plans loudly to the universe. Either way, as artists,

How Artists Achieve Breakthroughs
This picture of me is not the most glamorous, yet it’s my favorite. Let me explain. All my life I’ve been terrified of sharks. Truly terrified. My fears grew so big that I became unable to

Who’s Your Art Hero?
I like a hero as much as the next girl, maybe more. Probably more. But my heroes aren’t action stars, sports legends, nor Kardashians. They’re not even all artists. My heroes tend to be the special

The Artist Who Couldn’t Be Tamed
Artist Luis Jimenez died tragically in an accident in June of 2006. At the studio where I worked, Luis was the first artist I knew to pass away. Artists Fritz Scholder and Keith Haring had also worked