Located in the heart of Michigan, Saint Johns is home to Ivan Iler, an artist with a very unique set of skills. Whether it be sculpting,...
Artist Interviews Q&A sessions with professional artists
Learn how professional artists work, live, and nurture their creativity.
Plus, get a peek at their latest work and hear about their unique creative process. Our artist interviews are packed full of helpful tips, advice, and inspiration for every artist at every skill level.
Explore our artists interviews below:
Where are you located? I just moved to Santa Barbara, CA two months ago! Your full-time job and/or education? I’m a painter, and I went to...
“John Ursillo’s colored pencil pieces are absolutely brilliant. Every colored pencil piece I’ve observed is strengthened by John’s ability to capture light and texture. [He] explores what many describe as a difficult medium with apparent ease: A true master.” Brian Sherwin, Art Critic I can add nothing to Brian Sherwin’s comments about John Ursillo’s colored pencil artwork. Whether his subjects are architectural, floral, landscape, or...
Although Laly Mille has been creative since childhood, it took her many years to listen to her creative soul, and become an artist. In fact, she...
Gioi Tran studied art at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, toured professionally with ballet and modern dance companies, and currently runs Applegate Tran Interiors...
Bennett Vadnais has been creating art since the age of 14, and has been a full-time artist and art instructor for the past 12 years. Like many young artists, he originally started out drawing, but when he entered high school a local artist introduced him to classical painting and he’s been painting ever since. Today, he creates stunning, even inspiring landscapes meant to trigger emotions...
When Bert Hornbeck was in high school she entered an art competition in which she attempted to paint a soldier. When she couldn’t get the soldier...
Sarah Dowling went to the Massachusetts College of Art where she majored in Print Making, and went on to receive a Bachelors of Arts Degree. Then she continued her post-graduate education at
Eric Francis started out painting cartoon characters. He learned everything he could from books and later went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio painting from Centenary College in Louisiana. After college, painting took a backseat to earning a living. . . that is, until the day he became too ill to work. While he’s healed and healthy now, that downtime allowed...
Kevin Meredith started out as an art student, but after starting a family of his own, he put away his paints and took another career choice....
While Rebecca Beal was raising her children, she spent most of her working career in corporate sales. Then one day everything changed. . . after the...
Debbie Shirley attended a Liberal Arts college in Pennsylvania and received degrees in Fine Arts and Communication Arts. After graduation, she moved to New England and became a manager in the printing industry. . . but soon found spending her days in front of the computer unsatisfying. After the birth of her youngest child, she picked up a paintbrush and, as cliché as it sounds,...
Jenny Grant has been drawing and painting for most of her life, but she didn’t start showing her art in public until 2010. In 2012, she...
Phil Couture has been selling his oil paintings professionally for eight years, but his roots as an artist began early in childhood, when he was a...
Tara Barney started drawing her Shetland pony at the age of four and has college credits in art at the Colorado State University, but her talent as an artist is mostly self-taught. Besides drawing and painting, Tara also knits and creates beautiful handcrafted jewelry in a variety of materials—including corn—a skill she learned in 1990. Alyice: Why did you choose sketching as your medium? Tara:...
Jennie Bradley has been a professional illustrator for six years. It was through her studies, in Graphic Communications, that she developed a passion for digital illustration....
Princess Mia is a self-taught artist who uses her emotions to convey a message in each piece of art she creates. She remembers being a very...
Shelly Penko earned a degree in fine arts and went on to teach art in public schools for 16 years before she left teaching to become a full-time artist. Though she’s been painting since the age of five, she says that creating art can still be scary, frustrating, and exhausting. . . but even with all of those emotions, she finds creating a wonderful way...
When Nathalie Van was a little girl, she watched her grandmother paint furniture using a Swiss folk art technique known as Bauernmahlerei. As her curiosity grew,...
Sarah Ettinger’s father was a commercial artist who nurtured her interest in art by taking her to the Art Institute of Chicago, and by supplying her...
Kim Piotrowski is a New York City painter with a background in biology and fractal geometry - two things which extensively influence her paintings. Her work has appeared as store props in