Artists need not meet any standards to practice their craft... Virtually every other occupation requires some sort of license, union membership or something that says you are qualified.

The theme, or harmony, of a painting can be created by any one of its visual elements. A single colour... repetition of shapes... Light can be a theme.

Think of the centre of interest in a painting as you would read it in a novel or see it in a movie. The crisis or climax is that point when you simply can't put the book down or wouldn't dare leave the movie, for whatever reason.

That a viewer does not see what the artist intended does not make the composition a failure... In reality all artists speak first to themselves and then to an audience.

By merely increasing or decreasing the amount of contrast in any area we can move the observer through the painting.

The wide open nature of any truly creative artistic endeavor is one of its most important virtues, and one of its harshest realities. Only the most determined, hardest working, capable and creative will make their way to earning a good living by their art.

All paintings are abstract ideas, not representations of a true reality.