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Establishing a Daily Practice - A Daily Dose

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I frequently tell my students that to practice singing for 5 minutes everyday is more effective than to practice for 3 hours once a week. First of all, the voice is a muscle - it is prone to over-training and damage if not warmed up, used appropriately, and strengthened. Similar to this, Kateri Ewig recommends using her short watercolor exercises in "Watercolor is for Everyone" to help establish a daily practice. With a time consuming job, husband and three young children at home that need a lot of love and attention, I was nervous about whether or not doing something like this would be too selfish. Would to pros outweigh the cons? Would I have to wait until right before bed to do anything for myself? As it turned out, the exercises are perfect for "lightning" sessions of painting. My kids love to do arts and crafts as well, so I figured if I just set them up to do a little painting, we would all be together and could focus on our own individual art while still feel...
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Artful Adulthood - A Journey to Healing

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 artful adulthood I have always envied those who can take what they see, or what they create in their mind's eye, and put it on paper. Walking by high school art galleries and classes, seeing the creative ideas of family and friends online, and enjoying the visual splendor of art in museums stirs a creative need in my heart.  My background is in music. I studied vocal performance and music education and now teach choir and general music at the high school level. As such, I value the artistic process. Though I didn't have much piano skill in high school, I remember sitting at the piano and playing whatever sounds were appealing to my ear. Eventually, I had a few little tunes that were nothing special - but very special to me. One I called "Grief" as I created sounds that felt like each stage of grief to me (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). This piece of music was cathartic to play and process the feelings I had experienced many times throughout my li...
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