Learn to Paint Podcast

Welcome to the conversation with Catherine Freshly. In the interview, you’ll learn how to give yourself permission to explore even when what you're already doing is working, what can stay consistent as your work changes, and why putting in the hours at the easel can lead you somewhere you could never have planned in advance.

Bonus Conversation [Art Club]

For landscape painter Catherine Freshley, light is a huge part of what gives a place its feeling.

In this bonus episode, Freshley talks about what she looks for when painting light, from identifying the light source to noticing how the color of light changes throughout the day. She also walks us through how she builds her skies and clouds in acrylic, and why sometimes capturing the light means moving away from what you see in your reference photo.

Learn more about Catherine Freshley:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK

 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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Over the past six months, Louise Fletcher (Ep.48) has stepped away from a successful teaching business to devote herself entirely to developing a new body of work. 

But this conversation isn't really about making a career change.

It's about something every artist faces sooner or later: what do you do when an instinct about a new direction won’t go away.

In our conversation, you'll learn why artistic clarity doesn't come from thinking—it comes from making the work, discover how to balance exploration without constantly chasing the next new thing, and explore why trusting the next step often means letting go of the certainty you wish you had.

Learn more about Fletcher here:

WEBSITE / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / YOUTUBE

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Watercolorist Steve Griggs is back on the show to talk about painting large. But not just large, super super large in what he calls grand. In the conversation you’ll learn how you might need to adjust your materials, how you'll want to rethink your space, and how to work yourself up to paint large or grand.

Past Episodes with Steve Griggs:

The Artistic Power of Sketchbooks with Steve Griggs (Ep.113, Mini)

Episode 59: Feature 

Learn more about Steve Griggs here:

WEBSITE / WORKSHOPS / YOUTUBE / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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Past guest (Ep.79) Allison Moir-Smith is back to talk about a project that encourages us all to use the time we do have, to paint. The project: 20  minute portraits from life. That’s start and finish, 20 minutes. And even if you don't paint portraits or want to work in this particular way, I think you’ll find the conversation has great ideas to pull into your own practice especially if you have limited time. 

In the conversation you'll learn why Moir-Smith believes "sets and reps" are one of the fastest ways to build your skills, discover how she designed her portrait project around her own personality instead of someone else's expectations, and explore how limitations like a 20-minute timer can actually lead to more joyful, expressive paintings.

Learn more about Moir-Smith here:

INSTAGRAM | WORKSHOPS

 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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The podcast has been on hiatus... but it's back!

Today I'm talking with artist JaFang Lu.

In the conversation you’ll learn how to adjust your paintings based on your light source, how to build up to form, and you’ll explore a process you can try immediately on any subject.

Process is such a big part of what it means to be a painter. And we spend a lot of this episode talking about both the process Lu teachers her students but then also how she changes that process for her own work. And while we’re talking about figures, you can translate this approach to any subject.

Learn more about Lu here:

WEBSITE / WORKSHOPS / INSTAGRAM

 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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Welcome to the conversation with watercolorist, Brienne M Brown.

In the conversation, you’ll discover Brown’s pigment strategy, how to use opaques even if you are primarily a transparent painter  and why sometimes the goal needs to be an ALMOST finished painting.

Podcast Art Club:

Your bonus conversation is here! In it, Brown talks composition and why you absolutely don’t need to be faithful to your reference photo.

Learn more about Brienne M Brown here:

WEBSITE / WORKSHOPS  / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

Recommended books by Brown: 

"Mastering Composition" by Ian Roberts 

"Picture This" by Molly Banks 

Here is a link to the videos about framing without glass on my 

For Brown’s videos on framing without glass and making her watercolor panels, head here. 

 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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The “I don’t have time to paint” problem is one all of us face. But in today's episode, we explore all the benefits of starting small. 

You’re going to learn how to shift your success metrics, get some ideas for what you can do in 20 minutes and how just a small amount of daily practice helps you and those you love get ready for a larger art practice. 

Today we’re going to discover the mighty power of 20 minutes. 

So if you don’t paint consistently but want to or are struggling with finding time in your schedule, this is the show for you. 

Learn more about the #20for20ArtChallenge here.

Article: 20 Ideas for 20 Minute Art Sessions

 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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Welcome to the conversation with Aida Smith!

Learn more about Aida Smith:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Many artists assume that building serious skills requires huge blocks of free time.

Aida Smith proves otherwise.

With a full-time career, a long commute, and a firmly established professional identity outside the art world, she has built a meaningful and increasingly confident painting practice over the past five years.

In this conversation, we talk about what it really takes to grow as a painter while working full-time, the color mixing breakthrough that changed everything for her, and how rethinking failure allowed her to keep showing up.

If you’ve ever said, “I just don’t have enough time,” this episode will challenge that belief in a practical way.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How Smith  structured her painting practice around a full-time job
• Why commute time and lunch breaks can meaningfully build skill
• The color mixing shift that transformed her confidence
• A simple way to adjust color using red, yellow, or blue
• How to think about failure in a way that keeps you showing up
• Why simplifying shapes strengthens a painting
• How she decides whether to keep a painting or wipe it down
• Why she paints with solvent-free oils and questions traditional rules

Building Skill in Real Life

Smith did not grow up identifying as an artist. Painting was not her childhood identity.

Her entry point was photography. Painting returned later, first as a stress reliever during a demanding job, and eventually as something she chose to take seriously.

She paints and draws at night. On weekends. During commutes. During lunch breaks.

And she is clear about something many artists resist hearing:

Skill takes longer than you hope.

Growth happened over years of sketchbooks. Years of mixing colors poorly before it clicked. Years of showing up even when the work felt frustrating.

This is not a story about finding more time. It is about using the time that already exists.

Extended Cut Bonus [Patreon]

In this bonus episode, Smith explains how shifting to a very limited palette transformed her color mixing and brought instant harmony to her work. She shares the exact colors she relies on, why she prioritizes value over perfect color matches, and how a simple “mother color” keeps everything cohesive.

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 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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Many artists quietly believe there is a deadline on creativity. If you did not start young, it can feel like you missed your chance.

In episode 121, Suzanne Allard about where that belief comes from and why it does not hold up.

Suzanne shares her story of beginning to draw and paint in her early 50s, along with the fear, pressure, and self talk that shaped her early creative experience. Allard shares what actually helps artists move forward. Gentle entry points, low pressure practice, and learning how to stay with discomfort all play a role.

This conversation is for artists who feel behind, overwhelmed, or unsure whether it is worth starting or continuing at all.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why starting late is more story than reality
• How low pressure prompts help build momentum and confidence
• The difference between fear of judgment and fear of how you feel about your own work
• How to lower pressure when your art practice starts to feel stressful
• Why creative growth requires patience, pauses, and trust

Allard also shares insights into her acrylic landscape process, how she chooses references, why she works in phases, and how she balances focused learning with play.

Whether you are picking up a brush for the first time or trying to reconnect with your practice, this episode offers a grounded and encouraging perspective on what it means to keep going.

Art Club: Find your ad free version here.

Bonus Episode (Podcast Art Club)

In the bonus conversation, Allard goes deeper into how she actually works in the studio and how looseness, confidence, and expressive color are built through intentional choices rather than talent or speed.

Allard shares why setting constraints, like limiting the number of shapes or colors in a painting, can make it easier to simplify and stop overworking. You’ll learn how she uses reference photos as a jumping-off point rather than a rulebook, and how shifting from object-based thinking to value- and shape-based thinking changes the way you approach landscapes.

The conversation also explores how color confidence develops through play and repetition, why avoiding straight-from-the-tube color helps build a personal color language, and how reducing friction in your setup makes it easier to paint more often without overthinking materials or wasting supplies.

This bonus episode is especially helpful if you are trying to loosen up, simplify complex scenes, or feel more confident making color decisions in your own work.

In this bonus, we cover:

• Why constraints are one of the fastest ways to loosen up your work
• How to think in shapes and values instead of objects
• Using reference photos as inspiration rather than instructions
• Building color confidence through experimentation and repetition
• Simplifying landscapes without losing interest or depth
• Making it easier to paint more often by reducing setup friction

Learn more about Suzanne Allard:

WEBSITE / CLASSES / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / YOUTUBE / PINTEREST 

Freebie: Color Mixing Success FREE ebook and 7 module class

 The 20for20 Art Challenge is almost here! You’ll commit to your art for 20 minutes a day for 20 days. Prep Week is underway, but there’s still time to join us, choose your project, get your materials ready, and make a plan for your 20 days. Registration is still open, so if you’ve been thinking about joining us, now’s the time! Join us here today!

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Welcome to a special Podcast Art Club segment of the show show called, The Art Habit. 

In it, I talk with artists who are creating their art journeys.

Normally this is a Podcast Art Club exclusive but for this January, enjoy the whole episode.  

Art Habit Guest: Allison Moir-Smith

If you’re on Instagram you may know her as @concussion_recovery_art. 

Moir-Smith is an acrylic painter who came to art as part of a recovery process after a brain injury. She needed something to do for Brain Breaks and she found adult coloring books. This has expanded to a robust daily(ish) art practice where she explores subjects from flowers to landscape to fruit to now people.  

Episode lives here: https://www.learntopaintpodcast.com/podcast/episode79

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