The Painter's Keys Content Archives
Our archive is a rich art resources of creative content and art advice. The archive contains every one of the Robert Genn Twice Weekly Letters and clickbacks since the year 2000. Our system is to carefully edit a large daily volume of incoming feedback from the letters--and to reduce it to a terse and economical amount of reading. Duplication only occurs by nuance, veracity is checked, point of view is encouraged, and a balanced, timeless collection is the result. By so doing we have formed a world-wide creative art community--a brotherhood and sisterhood where all flags fly.

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Your inherent laziness can be a key to the managerial mode. Management and self-management’s business is strategy, and when you don’t have strategy, you may be a rudderless ship. Read On

What happens when an artist starts to lose a sense of direction? How do we get the juices to come back? What sort of questions do we have to ask ourselves? Read On

Consider combining creative work with time-honoured techniques of transcendental meditation. With a new spin, a special kind of "flow" happens as you drift into "the zone." Read On

In the transition from reality to the practicalities of pictorial composition, there's the need for an effective value pattern. Pattern is the skeleton that holds work together and entrances the viewer. Read On

The term “serious artist” draws divisions between different art forms and disciplines. What if it’s all about play, and our creative muse is one great playground? Read On

Even in out-of-the-way places artists can be in touch with a worldwide support group. Mere reminders may be all we need to improve and thrive. Read On

There's one brilliant way to increase our chances of pulling winners out of the hat. In the art game, it's how we stack our deck. Read On

Photocopies of maps and charts, arranged chronologically, can be a valuable tool for the travelling artist. Properly marked, they contain information inviting further ideas and exploration. Read On

Bartering is a fun way to get your art out and around and to profit when you might not otherwise do so. There are a few pitfalls but the tactic seems to be on the rise again. Read On

What is it that makes some of us winners and others losers? What is winning anyway? Robert names some of the attitudes and actions that make the good stuff happen. Read On

The stereotype that artists are condemned to a life of poverty is widespread, causing not a few artists to have that exact expectation. There's a way to beat it. Read On

'Kissing' is a compositional weakness that can also be used as a ploy. Painters need to understand why and when they kiss, and to what purpose. Read On

Families and heirs of a recently deceased artist often face significant challenges. Here are a few ideas of what can be done with all the art. Read On

Living in small towns or remote places has its own challenges. How to let folks in the greater world know what you're up to is one of them. Read On

A letter from a juror to a rejected artist sets off an understanding of the true purpose of art and offers powerful reasons to keep on going. Read On

'The Painter's Post' debuts today. It's a daily compilation of the latest and best art-related info our informed editors can find. Read all about it here. Read On

Instead of measuring work against examples of excellence, we now honour mediocrity as well. The self-esteem industry has put the cart before the horse, and we are the lesser for it. Read On

Artists often find themselves in a state where nothing turns them on, nothing seems worthwhile. The tank is on empty. Here are some of Robert's ploys for refilling the tank. Read On

Work can sit on the easel for months, even years. The afflicted artist may be dedicated, hard-working and obsessive. In mild cases he takes a very long time to get to signing, let alone to making a delivery. Read On

Taking a successful work and resurrecting it as another has both traditional conventions and creative pitfalls. Here are a few thoughts when you want to make it happen. Read On

For creative folks, overcoming lassitude and bad attitudes are crucial to thriving and even surviving. Here are a few specific ploys to get you on your way. Read On

New research indicates that active movement may be an aid to learning, concentration and physical production, including the making of art. Read On

The current bad times are causing dissatisfaction and anger among artists. Some are pessimistic, but there are other ways of looking at the situation. Read On

Artists often have trouble re-firing their furnaces in the period right after shows and exhibitions. There are ways of understanding the condition, and there are ways of overcoming the commonplace problem. Read On

Abstraction is a poorly understood term for a wide range of art. But it holds within it a great opportunity for serious play and the exploration of the subconscious mind. Find out how. Read On

Innovation is the life blood of artists. In these troubled times the persistently curious and the inventive will thrive. Find out how to put innovation to work for you. Read On

A recent Canadian study paints a depressing picture of artists' incomes. The respondent-driven sampling gives a skewed idea of what artists can and do make. Read On

Artists are often accused of eccentricity. Robert looks at the uses and abuses of the condition, and proceeds to honour eccentricity as a valuable feature of individualism. Read On

Artists have a great many illusions available to them to control the eye movements and interest of passing viewers. Selective focus, early discovered but now often neglected, is well worth understanding. Read On

The making of art is a series of choices, some minor, some major. The choices we make determine our signature, our style and our level of personal satisfaction. Read On

Vanity galleries charge you, the artist, for space on their walls and part of their monthly overhead. Is this trend viable? Do vanity galleries work? Read On

John Collier was a significant painter at the height of the British Empire. Attitude, application and belief in the importance of it all contributed to his masterful work. Read On

John Di Lemme has written elegantly on the nature and uses of habit. Both negative and positive--you can engage any kind of habit your heart desires--but make no mistake, habits are the keys to your destiny. Read On

While some artists are asking for charity, others are following their sincere passions. Robert explains why the latter is the most effective route to joy and solvency. Read On

Recent research throws some more light on the psychological value of blue. Apparently it's not just ethereal and mind expanding, it can make you more creative. Read On

It's a remarkable experience to receive a crit from a huge cross-section of willing participants. Is it valuable, or is it a pointless exercise? Read On

Robert experiments with the idea of getting a lot of opinions on an unfinished work. Is the opinion of others worthwhile? Who do we turn to? Read On

Economist Thorstein Veblen's concept of "conspicuous consumption" has wide ranging implications for today's artists. Here are the dynamics of what's happening right now. Read On

Denis Dutton's remarkable new book "The Art Instinct" links Darwin's theory of evolution with the origins, production and appreciation of art. Prepare yourself for some surprises. Read On

Irwin Greenberg, 87, has taught thousands of artists not just technique, but the very attitudes and habits one needs to develop if one would be successful. Read On

Sitting on an art-advisory panel, giving artists encouragement and suggestions of "what to do next" clarifies some valuable mentoring truths. Read On

A connection with a famous Vietnamese portrait painter brings out some of the universal problems and solutions in that difficult art. Read On

Where does it come from? In a place like Vietnam, where the people have experienced great injustice, their art shows little anger and bitterness, but instead reveals their gentle humanism. Read On

Talent is often thought of as those sorts of gifts we are born with--blessings like beauty and brains--or as abilities to be developed, such as drawing, painting or musicianship. One thing's for sure: having talent doesn't mean you're fated to make it work for you. Read On

Andrew Wyeth got mighty good at his craft and painted not a few American icons. Yet the critics never missed a chance to dump on him. The richer he got, the more they dumped. Maybe some critics have 'painting envy.' Read On

What will happen to us creative spirits during the economic downturn? While I'm no economist, there's evidence of a hard truth... and 3 available strategies to consider. Read On

Composition is often the 'make-or-break' of a successful painting. Eleven valuable but breakable keys to successful compositions give pause and understanding to the art. Read On

A subscriber with a famous name asks what to do about the association and how he might sign his own name. As usual, individualism triumphs. Read On

The business of scheduling, self-management, controlling work-volume, goal setting and taking time for creative exploration are major concerns of professionals. Surprising variations arise in a life of application. Read On

Working in less-than-perfect conditions reveals some methodologies that give a new spin to creativity, and may actually improve it. Good things come from inconvenience. Read On

Protecting images by watermarking, small-filing, or claiming copyright may not be enough on today's Internet. But there are other things you can do and other ways of looking at the machines. Read On

Simple laziness is one of the basic, oft overlooked impediments to the creative life. Here are a few antidotes and a sure-fire method of beating the malaise when it breaks out in your studio. Read On

Passion is a commodity that some seek and never find. Others manifest it in spades and it guides their lives. This letter is a key to finding it from some who have found it. Read On