Terri Thompson Art

08/03/2026

Got back to our cottage in the woods of northwestern Connecticut last week. And I’m happy to see that my tiny loft studio is just as I left it nine months ago.

It’s a cheerful little place. Although I have not yet picked up a paintbrush or pencil, I’m looking forward to getting back to a daily practice of creating something . . . even if it’s just ideas for now.

Let’s see how the Spirit leads me.

07/27/2026

A 60” x 45” canvas print of Kandinsky’s “Im Blau” (“In the Blue”) hangs on the living room wall above my baby grand piano and just below my Las Vegas office/studio. We will be leaving both this week as we return to Connecticut for the rest of the summer.

Although I’m not a fan of most abstract art, I do appreciate Kandinsky’s use of color. He once said, “Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” I like the way Kandinsky describes art-making as a combination of color, music and emotion.

It turns out, there is a thing called “the emotional frequency of color,” which links physical light wavelengths to psychological moods, dividing roughly into high-arousal warm tones (red, yellow and orange) and low-arousal cool tones (green, blue and purple).

This week, I read a New York Times article that cited favorite-color polls indicating that the world’s favorite color is blue. So, I did a little research to determine what emotions the color blue tends to arouse.

According to AI, the emotions associated with BLUE are relief, calmness, relaxation, trust and clarity. Furthermore, the color BLUE lowers blood pressure and quietens mental tension. Perhaps it’s no wonder that in color polls, people pick blue around a third of the time.

The next preferred color is usually RED which elicits feelings of excitement, passion, love, anger and urgency. It tends to raise physical heart rate and alertness.

Coming in third in the polls is the color GREEN which brings contentment, balance, harmony, growth and rest. Green reduces stress and mimics nature’s safety cues.

Of course, my favorite color is YELLOW which represents joy, optimism and warmth. It boosts mental clarity but can trigger fatigue or anxiety if overused.

People fond of ORANGE are often full of energy, fun and high spirits, stimulated by social interaction and excitement. While the color PURPLE bridges introspection with imaginative stimulation and holds an air of mystery, royalty and depth.

Not sure how I’ll use this information in the future, but it’s a rather interesting perspective on color preferences.

07/20/2026

As a signature member of the Nevada Watercolor Society, I have an opportunity to enter the organization’s fall online show. So, in preparation, I painted two versions of a scene: one is a dramatic sunrise and the other an equally dramatic sunset.

But then I couldn’t decide which of the two I should enter.

So I asked my friends on Facebook to select their favorite.

With 60% of the votes, the winner is . . . . Tequila Sunrise

Many thanks to the three dozen folks who took the time to cast a vote. I appreciate everyone who participated, and I promise this election was not rigged!

07/13/2026

Over the last three years or so, I’ve taken a few online workshops with Louise Fletcher. Called “Find Your Joy,” these courses were all about challenging artists to break free of rigorous rules of painting and just have fun. I found inspiration in the exploration, and was intrigued by the invitation to join Louise’s “Art Tribe” for an additional monthly fee.

So I joined Art Tribe.

Honestly, there was so much content, I quickly became overwhelmed. I was already too busy with my local art galleries and clubs. Plus, I was teaching a painting basics course myself, which took up a lot of my time.

So I quit Art Tribe.

But now, as I’m starting to pack up for our three-month sojourn in the mountains of northwest Connecticut, I’ve realized I will be leaving behind my IRL art communities and will have no place to commune with fellow artists.

So I rejoined Art Tribe.

As one of Louise Fletcher’s former students, I was offered a discounted membership fee of just $35 a month. So starting this month I signed up once again. I look forward to the ONLINE education, inspiration and community Art Tribe provides, especially during these three months away from IRL activities. There’s still just as much content as there was before (EVEN MORE actually), including classes on painting and drawing techniques, developing your unique voice, collage and mixed media, and much more.

But now I can peruse these classes at a leisurely pace and not feel overwhelmed. This isn’t a course where everything has to be completed. As Louise describes it, “It is much more like Netflix for art, where you dip in and out according to your interests.”

In other words, Art Tribe is doing for art courses what Netflix has done for movies. I like this idea!

07/06/2026

Many years ago, back when I was still working at Columbia University and long before I began my art journey, I took a class in watercolor at the Penn Club in Times Square. The instructor was a lovely petite woman named Joan Iaconetti, an accomplished watercolorist who lives in Manhattan. And that’s when I fell in love with watercolor.

That was probably more than eight or nine years ago, and a few years before I started calling myself a “visual artist.” Since then, I’ve navigated more toward acrylics, which frankly are so much easier to paint with and to teach.

But every once in a while I get the urge to go back to my first love–watercolor. And that’s when I call on my original mentor for some inspiration.

Of course, now that I live in Las Vegas and Joan is still in New York City, it’s impossible for me to have an IRL lesson with her, so we do it the way everyone teaches since COVID: via the internet.

Last week, we ZOOMED a class and once again Joan came through with some new tips and advanced techniques for painting everything from a white Matilija Poppy to several versions of skies and landscapes.

It’s so much fun to be on the learning side of teaching. Thanks, Joan, for keeping me inspired!

06/29/2026

Last Wednesday, I taught the fourth session of my June Painting Basics class at City Lights Art Gallery in Hederson. That was also the last class I’ll be teaching this year.

At the beginning of this year, I made it a goal to teach three classes during 2026. And so I did! I taught three classes, each four weeks long, in February, April and June. That every-other- month schedule worked ideally for me, but I’m done teaching for the year.

For the remaining six months of 2026, I plan to focus on MY continuing education. That could be by taking classes from artists far more experienced than myself or simply by experimenting on my own. It could entail everything from drawing and sketching to painting with watercolors or acrylics. Maybe I’ll even do a little collaging.

Whatever the whim fancies, I will use my time learning and creating, rather than spending hours and hours preparing for and teaching classes.

Of course, by the start of next year, I’m sure I’ll be ready to teach again. So, I’m already scheduled to teach again next February, April and June. Not exactly sure what the curriculum will be, but I’m hopeful that the next six months will give me some ideas for a more advanced class in 2027.

06/25/2026

06/25/2026

THE BIG REVEAL: Students in my latest class unveil their final project