Whether you call yourself an artist, musician, writer, crafter, actor or other type of creator, there is a skill that you must practice daily. A musician practices their scales, and an actor rehearses lines. A writer does a lot of reading, but what is the skill that visual artists must perfect. It isn’t how to draw or apply paint. It begins before you even pick up a brush.      It is the skill of observation. I began my artist path as a realistic painter of landscapes, people and still-life, but gradually moved to more textured and abstract work. When painting or drawing realistically [...]