If self-doubt shows up every time you try to paint (or finish something) and you’re tired of trying to think your way out of it, this episode is for you. Artist and tapping coach Melanie Fay explains how tapping for artists works, why your nervous system might be the real obstacle in the studio, and how to use this simple, science-backed tool to move through creative blocks and actually make things again.

Whether you’ve heard of EFT (emotional freedom technique) or not, this conversation breaks down why it’s showing up more and more in artist communities—and how you can use it right away, even if you feel silly doing it.

You walk into the studio and your chest tightens. Or you finish something and immediately start picking it apart. Or that mean voice shows up the second you pick up a brush, whispering that you don’t belong here.

Sometimes the biggest block isn’t time or skill—it’s your nervous system treating creativity like a threat.

This conversation with tapping coach and artist Melanie Fay gets into what that actually looks like—and what you can do about it.

In this episode:

• How Melanie discovered that art was the doorway to feeling herself as a being instead of machinery (and the specific moment time stopped in her high school studio)
• What tapping actually is—the mechanics of how tapping on acupressure points sends a calming signal to your amygdala and why that matters when you're stuck
• The painting teacher who took viridian green and painted over Melanie's work the night before a show
• Why "I'm not good enough" shows up when you're staring at an unfinished painting, and how to trace that thought back to its actual source
• The demonstration: where the tapping points are and what happens in your body when you use them (even if you feel ridiculous doing it)
• How to use EFT for creativity—in your studio, before a show, or when that courtroom voice starts up

BONUS: Antrese and Melanie are offering monthly group tapping sessions specifically for artists—fourth Wednesday of every month at 2:30 PM Eastern.

👉 Join the tapping group here

Plus you'll find a free demonstration video you can use anytime you need to shift your inner state here.

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

If you’re feeling even a tiny bit of pressure to have this new year figured out already, I just want you to know you’re not alone.

This episode is a gentle pause before you decide what you’re aiming for. It’s about listening to your own voice first. Really listening. Especially to the quieter parts of you that tend to get rushed or talked over.

Once you get aligned with that voice, then it's time to set some goals (or intentions if you're not a goal person). Goals are helpful and I'm all for it, but let's just make sure they're the right goals for you and where you're at.

In this episode I share how I’m approaching this year, why goals sometimes start to feel heavy, and a simple question I asked my Growth Studio community that opened up way more than I expected.

You don’t need all the answers yet. You just need a little room to hear yourself so that you can start.

Episode Highlights

00:00 — That weird January pressure
You know the feeling. Everyone’s in a hurry and you’re not sure what you’re hurrying toward yet.

04:05 — The voice that keeps getting interrupted
Not the loud obnoxious ones. The quieter “eh… I don’t know about this” that usually gets ignored.

08:40 — When goals start feeling heavy
This is where things get tricky (it’s not because you’re doing anything wrong).

13:25 — A quick gut-check before you commit to anything
Something simple I use to tell if I’m stretching myself… or setting myself up to shut down.

18:35 — The permission question I can’t stop thinking about
It has nothing to do with adding more — and it might change how you approach this year.

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

As artists, we go through several phases on our way to creating pieces. It all starts with this period of play and discovery that I call the exploratory phase, and to talk about it with me are Growth Studio members Sabrina Setaro, Alyssa Marquez, and Jess Fredrick.

In this roundtable episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, you’ll go on a deep dive into the first stage of artistic creation: the exploratory phase. Sabrina, Alyssa, Jess, and I will discuss what happens in this stage and what they’ve discovered about their work in the process, techniques to balance play with purpose during your exploration, how they avoid overwhelm and overthinking during this discovery phase, and more!

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

Money and pricing your art can feel like tricky, even uncomfortable topics, but they’re also some of the most powerful conversations we can have as artists. Why? Because our beliefs about money and pricing often run deep and show up in ways we don’t even realize. They influence how we value our art, how we show up for it, and ultimately, how we create a practice that truly supports and sustains us.

In this final roundtable episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, I’m joined by Growth Studiomembers Merrie Koehlert, Leslie Cannon, and Beverly Woodhall. We dig into how your thoughts about money and pricing impact your relationship with your art, and we get real about the hidden mindset blocks that can hold you back. Whether it’s pricing your work with confidence, valuing your time, or shifting your money beliefs, this conversation is filled with insights to help you move forward and thrive as an artist

1:23 - Quick self-introductions for Merrie, Leslie, and Beverly as artists

2:56 - Assumptions about money as it relates to art that the roundtable have had or heard from others

8:44 - How your subconscious programming can impact the lens through which you see your art

14:04 - Critical junction points in Merrie’s life that reinforced her negative assumptions about selling art

18:40 - How Leslie, Merrie, and Beverly view pricing their artwork and how their thoughts about pricing have changed

31:09 - Getting around the drama in your head so you can learn to get comfortable with your pricing

34:55 - How each participant has internalized what “the value of the painting” means to them

43:25 - The value to the art collector and why buying a piece of art because it matches other room decor shouldn’t be considered an insult

50:12 - Painting pieces you know people buy when you need to make more money versus painting what you really want and not selling as frequently

57:11 - Thoughts around money or pricing that the participants now notice that they were oblivious to before and how Growth Studio has helped

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

Welcome to another roundtable series! This time I’m joined by Growth Studio members Louisa Jornayvaz, Braighlee Rainey, Jack Wray, and Elisabeth Svendby in a discussion about finding your voice as an artist.

In this episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, you’ll learn about what it means to find your voice and ways you can connect with it. You’ll also get personal insights into how the participants’ have connected with their voice and how it brings meaning into their artistic practice.

1:37 - Braighlee, Louisa, Elisabeth, and Jack quickly introduce themselves

3:27 - How they define what the artist's voice means to them

8:46 - How to know when you’re connected to your voice

11:00 - How your background can impact your art and the journey of finding your voice

19:52 - How each roundtable participant has progressed in finding their voice

26:35 - Why this journey isn’t straightforward and how it can evolve as you continue to walk the path

33:59 - Advice if you’re really not sure where to look to help you discover your artistic voice

42:27 - The connection between finding your voice as an artist and meditation and green lights

46:46 - The importance of imperfection and challenge in bringing character and resonance to art

50:10 - The impact of being taught in curiosity and sensitivity conditioning

54:59 - What the roundtable participants learned within Growth Studio to help them find or connect with their voices

Mentioned in How Artists Find Their Voice and Create from the Heart

Join Growth Studio

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

It’s one thing to have an interest in creating art or putting something on canvas. It’s another to see yourself as an artist and have an artistic practice.

What’s a difference-maker between those who do and those who don’t? Creative confidence, and to talk about it, I’m joined by Growth Studio members Alyssa Marquez, Merrie Koehlert, and Andrew Rea in another roundtable series.

In this episode of The Savvy Painter Podcast, you’ll learn about the concept of creative confidence, its impact on artistic practice, and how it differs from self-confidence and arrogance. You’ll get personal insights into how the participants’ confidence has evolved, whether there’s such a thing as too much confidence, and how peer support can help navigate challenges and enhance artistic expression.

1:34 - Defining creative confidence and how it’s necessary for artists to create and share their work

6:46 - How you’re constantly making art (even if you haven’t always been the artistic type)

13:00 - How Alyssa’s creative confidence has evolved over time

24:42 - How an evolution in confidence has most recently affected Merrie’s and Andrew’s art

29:49 - How to distinguish between confidence, self-confidence, and arrogance

33:19 - Can you have too much confidence in your painting or art practice?

40:33 - How confidence has impacted Alyssa’s desire to take risks with art

43:03 - Impact of the Growth Studio community on the roundtable participants’ confidence

Mentioned in How Creative Confidence Impacts Your Artwork

Join Growth Studio

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

What to do when decades of work are stacked against your walls and you can't remember the last time you made a decision about any of it.

You know that feeling when you walk into your studio and see paintings leaning against every wall, flat files overflowing, canvases stacked so deep you've forgotten what's in the back?

And underneath it all, that low hum of dread: What's going to happen to all of this?

Maybe you've been making work for decades. Grad school pieces, late-night sessions after the kids went to sleep, that stretch when you were working two jobs and still carved out time to paint. It's all still there. And now you're standing in front of it thinking: Did I just waste my best work in obscurity? What was I even making it for?

This episode is about how to sort through decades of accumulated work without spiraling into paralysis, and how to turn your studio back into a place where things are happening, not just stored.

In this episode:

• The real reason you can't throw anything away. (Your brain is still waiting to find out if that painting meant something, or if it was just a phase.)
• Why every painting you haven’t decided about is costing you more than shelf space.
• A 30-minute sorting system that makes the mess feel manageable
• Two questions that actually help you decide what stays and what goes.
• How to tell the difference between a painting that wants to be seen and one that already did its job.
• The “curate your own retrospective” game, and why pretending you have a show makes you braver, faster, more ruthless (in a good way).
• What happens when you group your work by something other than chronology, like color, texture, feeling, or that weird leaf shape you kept doodling for three years and forgot about.

This episode’s for you if:

• Your studio feels more like a storage unit than a sanctuary
• You’ve been making work for years, but the question “What if no one ever sees this?” leaves you deflated
• You don’t want to leave your kids (or your executor) shelves full of unresolved choices
• You know there’s good work in there. You just need a way to see it clearly again — and decide what it’s still here to do

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️

What to do when you catch yourself in “courtroom mode”

You named it. You know you're doing it. You can hear yourself cross-examining every brushstroke, cataloging evidence that you're not good enough, delivering a guilty verdict before the paint dries.

But what do you do when you catch yourself mid-spiral?

This one's the follow-up to Your Studio Isn't a Courtroom — the practical side. Because recognition without tools leaves you stuck watching yourself repeat the same pattern. And if you've ever thought okay, I see it now, but how do I stop? — this is for you.

In this episode:

• The simplest redirection tool (it sounds too easy, but it creates the split-second of space you need to choose differently)
• How to shift from prosecuting questions to investigating ones — and why "what's wrong with this?" keeps you trapped
• Why experiments can't fail, but verdicts always do
• The friend test: would you ever talk to another artist the way you talk to yourself in your head?
• What to do when you freeze — one concrete action that interrupts the spiral and starts the conversation with your painting again
• What your studio's actual job is (and why forgetting this turns every session into a trial)

This episode's for you if:

• You can see the pattern now, but you don't know how to interrupt it once it starts
• You stand there analyzing instead of painting, trying to figure out the move that won't get you criticized
• You're tired of the harsh voice winning every time — but kindness feels like giving up
• You want tools that work in the moment, not theory you have to remember later

—--------------------------------

LINKS: https://savvypainter.com/356-your-studio-isnt-a-courtroom-make-yours-the-safest-place-to-create/

Support the show

And hey - if this episode hit home, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcast or come say hi on Instagram: @savvypainterpodcast
I’d love to hear this episode resonated you. ❤️