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

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Do you spend more time thinking about making art than actually making it? Start things you never finish? Make work and then stack it against the wall, facing inward, so you don't have to look at it?

If any of that sounds familiar, I'd love to chat.

Click here: savvypainter.com/survey to tell me what's going on. If it seems like I need more info, I'll reach out to schedule a call.

Thanks so much!

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

Do you spend more time thinking about making art than actually making it? Start things you never finish? Make work and then stack it against the wall, facing inward, so you don't have to look at it?

If any of that sounds familiar, I'd love to chat.

Click here: savvypainter.com/survey to tell me what's going on. If it seems like I need more info, I'll reach out to schedule a call.

Thanks so much!

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/

Do you spend more time thinking about making art than actually making it? Start things you never finish? Make work and then stack it against the wall, facing inward, so you don't have to look at it?

If any of that sounds familiar, I'd love to chat.

Click here: savvypainter.com/survey to tell me what's going on. If it seems like I need more info, I'll reach out to schedule a call.

Thanks so much!

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. ❤️