I happened upon an interview on the Learn to Paint podcast recently that offered a real light bulb moment. William A. Schneider is a painter who is also a musician. Having gone to both art and music schools, he realized a major difference between the two. Unlike art school, music school taught Schneider how to practice — knowledge that has ultimately benefitted his painting as well.

Different paints, different grounds, different approaches — over and over and over…

Here’s what I brought away from his discussion:

First, in terms of longterm growth, musicians are taught that practicing for a big chunk of time a couple of times a week doesn’t hold a candle to working for shorter time periods every single day.
Nothing beats daily practice.

This week is the “OneWeek100People2026” challenge. Practice personified!

Secondly, Schneider talked about the importance of isolating skills while learning. Unlike visual artists, who tend to create a complete piece while trying to keep a specific skill that needs attention in mind (guilty!), musicians don’t work to perfect a full piece all at once. They accomplish much more by concentrating on exercises geared specifically toward refining a particular skill found within a piece, repeating the exercise over and over until it becomes second nature.
Work to become proficient in one skill, then move on to the next, and the next, ultimately building toward the whole.

So simple, yet so impactful. I’m headed, literally and figuratively, back to the drawing board.

✷

MARKED opened yesterday at Studio Place Arts. I have two pieces in the show and, while unfortunately I can’t make the Art Social this Saturday, March 14th due to a previous commitment, I could see when I dropped off my work that it promises to be a beautiful and thought-provoking exhibition. Follow the link above for a preview.
Plus, don’t miss the other shows on the upper floors.
All are view through April 18th.