Gwarlingo is a place where creative people can connect, explore, and share challenges, ideas, and resources. Gwarlingo is different because of its personal perspective, accessibility, and unique curation. Our articles offer you quality over quantity, clarity over clutter, and stories over sound bytes. At Gwarlingo, we share real conversations with real artists about ideas and process, as well as some of our own exciting discoveries. Our goal is to bring you the best work, period—regardless of its genre or popularity, while also having some fun along the way. Browse articles by category or just pull up the most recent in the list below.
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Inspiration
I Spy With My Little Eye…
Maybe as a child you played the game “I spy with my little eye…“? Or on road trips, the license plate game? Or the letter game (things always get stuck on Q and Z)? I have fond memories of childhood trips driving across America whiling away the hours with things like these. I still love to wander, whether in the car or by foot, and am always on the lookout for new visual information...
Cleveland’s Trapped Tree
Walking through Cleveland this week, I stumbled on "Trapped Tree" in a quiet corner of the city. This unusual moment, until recently hidden by brush deep in the Ohio City neighborhood, became uncovered as a new greenway opened alongside it.
How to Draw America
Drawing by Joseph Kosuth Although I am not a teacher by trade, I have been fortunate enough to adjunct or lead a special projects class here and there. My favorite part of teaching has always been lesson planning. (This is one of many wonderful [...]
The Sunday Poem: “The Ever-Given” by Diana Whitney
Our culture, and the people in our lives who don’t always understand depression, can often imply that it is a made-up or fleeting thing—“a wraith or a demon.” Yet Diana Whitney’s moving and precise poem tells the truth about the psychological and emotional weight of something that bears down on us like a “huge container ship,” blocking all movement.
The Power of the Empty Page
For a very long time, I was obsessed with beautiful little notebooks and sketchbooks—Moleskins, Field Guides, Composition Books, you name it. The potential of an empty book is enormously satisfying. It sits waiting to be filled with art, ideas, to-do lists, poetry, particular projects, or anything else you can come up with.
Find a Rock and Make a Wish
Strolling up the chilly Maine coast (and into Canada), you might start looking for seashells just as you would on many other beaches—but then you quickly notice an unusual proliferation of stripes. Stripes… on rocks. Big rocks, small rocks, in-between rocks… all decorated by a stunning variety of zips.
9-Note Register: Reimagining Velázquez’s Las Meninas
Described as the "theology of painting," it has been said about the painting Las Meninas that "if ever a painter wrought a miracle of illusion with brush and pigment that painter was Velazquez in his Las Meninas." In today's 9-Note Register, enjoy nine pieces that pay homage to Velasquez's master painting in this week's Nine Note Register.
The Sunday Poem: Let This Day by Annie Lighthart
In “Let This Day,” Annie Lighthart makes the case for not trying to force some immediate alteration in outlook, and for not resisting it either. Instead, she says, “Let it change, rearrange.” Her words here remind me of what Rilke once wrote: “No feeling is final.”
An Invitation to Dinner, from Roswell with Love
Tucked away on the outskirts of Roswell, NM, far away from the daily bustle of the alien museum, lies the Roswell Artist in Residence Program. The residency hosts six artists a year and each, near the end of their residency, has a solo exhibition. Each exhibition is followed by a dinner, which is prefaced by a handmade invitation from the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art's Director Nancy Fleming. She has been making these special invitations since 2004, and here is a peek into these small treasures.
The Sunday Poem: A Journey through Japan with Judy Halebsky
I have breathed into too many balloons / put my fingers in so many cakes / had my body scanned with fingerprints / written out my dreams in lines of the night / traced words into storm clouds / mixed water with mint and bourbon...