Tori Starr Art

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12/09/2025

Today I participated in the online stream of Alla Prima day at . I haven’t painted Alla Prima since 2024 and I haven’t painted anything meaningful or intentional in months (I’ve been covered in graphite and focused on drawing)— but today was a great reminder of why I love to paint. You have to make many micro decisions. And at each point you have an opportunity to give into your inner critic or move forward and trust that all your choices will amount to something visibly similar to your intent.

This painting is by no means perfect. The drawing is a bit off and don’t even get me started on the background (I lost that battle). Not every decision you make can be perfect and not every product will be your best. But I’m learning and I’m sharing.

If you’re navigating your own version of this — the tension between expression and self-judgment, learning and perfectionism — I’m cohosting an in-person gathering this December that might be exactly what you need to start 2026 right (dm me or check out my bio for more details).

Lately I’ve been working with coloured pencils — I found two sets of high-quality Prismacolor Premiers on Facebook Marke...
12/06/2025

Lately I’ve been working with coloured pencils — I found two sets of high-quality Prismacolor Premiers on Facebook Marketplace (one used, one brand new). Having plenty of supplies, and not being afraid to “use them up,” has been its own lesson in softening perfectionism while learning something new.

That’s the thing about a new medium:
it asks you to be a beginner again.
It asks you to be earnest, to surrender,
to meet yourself as a perpetual learner.

I’ve been taking what I’m learning through my ARA Boston Bargue assignments — especially assessing value and understanding how value creates form — and applying those skills in more playful, exploratory ways. Most pieces never become “finished,” and that’s the point. I’m practicing staying with the process instead of rushing toward a perfect outcome.

Working this way keeps reminding me that creativity opens when I soften, stay curious, and allow myself to be imperfect — and when I have the space to use my materials without scarcity.

And that’s the exact energy I’m inviting into my next gathering—cohosting with the lovely Kyra over . Join us for:

✨ EMBODIED RITUAL: Perfectionism, Pleasure & Play
📅 Dec 19th, 2025 | 6–9PM
📍 The Archive Collective, Calgary
A guided evening of somatic dance, art making, and vocal toning — a space to release perfectionism and return to creative pleasure.

If you’ve been feeling tight around your art, your body, or your self-expression, I’d love to have you there.

Last year I took this little sketchbook with me everywhere.Over 160 pages of mostly blue and pink pencil-crayon sketches...
12/03/2025

Last year I took this little sketchbook with me everywhere.

Over 160 pages of mostly blue and pink pencil-crayon sketches — loose, messy, playful. I explored so many themes, but mostly I just let myself play and stay open to an unknown end result. And somewhere in all those pages, I fell back in love with sketching.

What I didn’t realize then was that this sketchbook was quietly teaching me how to soften perfectionism.

That every shaky line, every unfinished idea, every page that didn’t turn into anything “good” was actually a doorway back into my body — back into sensation, pleasure, and the joy of creating without pressure. I began to look forward to playing in my sketchbook and my ideas felt free to come through.

Perfectionism tightens.
But play, movement, and embodiment soften.

As I’ve been deepening my skills as an artist this year, I’ve had to keep returning to the ideas of practice and process rather than perfection and product.

And that’s the heart of what I’m inviting you into this winter:

✨ EMBODIED RITUAL: Perfectionism, Pleasure & Play
📅 Dec 19th, 2025 | 6–9PM
📍 The Archive Collective, Calgary

A guided evening of somatic dance (provided by my wonderful co-host ), art making (provided by yours truly), and vocal toning — a space to loosen the grip of self-judgment and reconnect with the creative pleasure that’s been underneath your visceral and free self-expression.

If you’ve been craving a way to return to your creativity with softness, curiosity, and embodiment… I’d love to share this ritual with you. The event link is in my bio!

Some of the art happens here. Some of it happens in bed, on walks or even out and about. I’m still learning that it is a...
02/25/2025

Some of the art happens here. Some of it happens in bed, on walks or even out and about. I’m still learning that it is an on-going process and that easel time is vital to keep the process flowing.

These images are the before and after of buying better paints. First image is my mostly student grade oil paints and the...
02/25/2025

These images are the before and after of buying better paints.

First image is my mostly student grade oil paints and then the second photo is now, after buying some high quality paint for the courses I am taking. Almost all of the student grade colours I do have, can be better reproduced with the high quality paints.

🎨 Oil Paint Tube Storage 🎨
Using a pegboard or cork board to store paints tubes cap-down is a great way to store your paints.
✨ Why store paint tubes cap-side down? ✨
 🖌️ Prevents oil separation – Oil separation can effect the quality of your paint over time and often results in squeezing out a puddle of pure oil before getting to the good stuff (pigment).
 🖌️ Stops air from creeping in – Less chance of dried-up caps and wasted paint.
💡 Do you already store your paints this way, or are you about to reorganize your whole stash?

Also FYI - the bottom row of paints are student grade oil paints that I don’t often work with because ironically it’s easier to learn certain techniques on high-quality paints.

“Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candle-stick. Jack jumped high, Jack jumped low, Jack jumped over and...
01/27/2025

“Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candle-stick. Jack jumped high, Jack jumped low, Jack jumped over and burned his toe!“

This was a fun little gouache practice piece! I love candles and have them all over my house. The lovely light cast creates an atmosphere to create from. I love using light to create a sense of ambience + function.

What do you see here?
01/20/2025

What do you see here?

The gouache abstract version of the still life painting I did last year!
01/13/2025

The gouache abstract version of the still life painting I did last year!

An early set up of the first still life I attempted in oils. I also did an abstract version in gouache. Check the next p...
01/13/2025

An early set up of the first still life I attempted in oils. I also did an abstract version in gouache. Check the next post to see the fun difference!

I’ve recently been inspired to move into working with oil. For those of you who aren’t familiar with fine art, the jump ...
01/13/2025

I’ve recently been inspired to move into working with oil. For those of you who aren’t familiar with fine art, the jump between acrylic gouache or watercolour and oil can be quite staggering. But honestly, it was a call I couldn’t ignore. It felt like the medium was calling to me.

I kept seeing paintings that felt bright, clear and somehow ethereal in their luminosity. The effect of oil paints continued to capture my interest until I caved and decided to invest some time and effort into the process. Now after doing research on the medium, I’ve learned that part of the reason oils is so luminous is due to the oil refracting the light!

Oil painting has a lot of complexities; it requires more consideration, patience, maintenance and forethought. Additionally, the price point and quality options for students can feel limiting. I plan on sharing my learning process and journey throughout and I hope that you all find it as fun and thrilling as I do.

This was the first still life oil painting I tried last year. I’ve since learned a lot about the importance of composition and also the importance of trial and error!

Title: “Witchy Wonderland: Items of Divination”This art piece is heavily inspired by the concept of the “I SPY Picture R...
01/12/2025

Title: “Witchy Wonderland: Items of Divination”

This art piece is heavily inspired by the concept of the “I SPY Picture Riddle” books. It’s filled with an array of small household items and magical objects, most with spiritual significance. Over the past two years, I’ve delved into various forms of divination and explored different tools of spirituality, which ultimately led me to conceptualize this artwork. Using my fond memories the picture riddle books, I aimed to capture the essence of the captivating miniature worlds.

This piece represents a fusion of my spiritual journey into divination and my enduring sense of curiosity and wonder from childhood. It’s a celebration of both my evolving interests and the timeless exploration of joy. Within the artwork, viewers will discover an assortment of small items, tools associated with divination, as well as everyday household items and symbolic charms that accumulate throughout one’s life. Each element can be appreciated individually for its mundane or spiritual significance, contributing to the overall richness and depth of the composition.

The artwork showcases a diverse array of objects, including items found in nature, a citrine pendulum, runes, tarot cards, a tea cup for tea leaf readings, and small bones used in Osteomancy. Additional elements such as dice, crystals, buttons, charms, currency, jewellery, keys, jacks, thumbtacks, and clips are also featured, blending the magical with the mundane and prompting viewers to contemplate the intricate connection between spirituality and physicality.

Moreover, the piece includes interconnected items that encourage closer examination, such as matching dice, an oak leaf in the tea cup corresponding to an Ogham rune nearby, and thematic pairings like a four-leaf clover beside a fortune cookie fortune about luck. With its detailed composition and modern witchy aesthetic, this artwork not only captivates visually but also evokes a sense of joy and wonder reminiscent of childhood and I hope it brings a similar sense of happiness and nostalgia to others as well.

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Calgary, AB

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