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Finish Your Painting With Confidence: 15 Actionable Steps to Push Through The Fuglies

If you’ve ever looked at your painting mid-process and thought, “This is going nowhere,” congratulations. You’re a real artist.

Because every painting has a dip. Every single one.

It’s the fog. The fuglies. The muddy middle where the magic hasn’t arrived yet, and your confidence starts talking trash.

In this episode, I’m sharing the exact checklist I use to get unstuck. I created it years ago because I was tired of the emotional rollercoaster of trying to “think” my way out of a painting that just needed better questions, better structure, and more play. 

The checklist has 15 steps, and it lives in my studio. Artists tape it to their walls. They keep it in workshops. They pull it out when they get that “throw it away” face. 

And it all starts with the most important question of all.

The Most Important Question to Get Out of the Fuglies

Is this honest?

Not “is it good?”

Not “is it sellable?”

Honest. 

A lot of us get stuck because we’re trying to recreate a painting we loved before, or we’re chasing another artist’s style, or we’re painting from fear instead of presence.

The escape route is not replication.

The escape route is play.

From there, we move into the practical stuff that instantly shifts a painting out of the fog. All of which you can find in this free checklist I’ve created.

Finally, we end with my favorite spicy question:

Have you fucked it up?

If yes, I want you to celebrate. Because messing it up honestly means you were brave enough to try, and you can always fix a painting. You cannot fix a painting you never started.

Until next time, y’all!

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Have a question for Jodie? Ask it here: https://forms.gle/hxrVu4oL4PVCKwZm6 

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review so I can keep bringing peeps all the need-to-know about Honest Art®. We artists have to stick together, right? 

Interested in being a guest on a future episode of Honest Art®? Email me at amy@jodieking.com!

Resources Mentioned: 

• Curious about Studio Elite? Our next cohort starts late February 2026: https://www.jodiekingart.com/studioelite 
• Learn more about Upcoming Workshops: https://jodieking.com/workshop 
• Improve Your Cohesive Colors with Color Course for Rebels 102: https://www.jodiekingart.com/ccfr
• Checklist on Getting Unstuck and Out of The Fuglies: https://www.jodiekingart.com/bye-bye-fuglies 
• Posca Markers: https://amzn.to/4a1ox1Z 
• Learn More about Values in Episode 124: 7 Art Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner: https://jodieking.com/episode-124-avoid-my-mistakes-7-art-tips-i-wish-i-knew-sooner/
• You’ll Also Like: Episode 82: How to Choose Your Color Palette as an Artist: https://jodieking.com/episode-82-how-to-choose-your-color-palette-as-an-artist/
• Learn More About Adding Your Artistic Voice to Your Art in Episode 62: Elevate Your Representational Art with These Tips: https://jodieking.com/episode-62-elevate-your-representational-art-with-these-tips/

• Have a question for Jodie? Ask it here: https://forms.gle/hxrVu4oL4PVCKwZm6 
• How are you liking the Honest Art® Podcast? Leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and let us know!    
• Watch this full episode on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMquJfuMsSg0fr46BRdia1cWd-81GThzF

Want more from Jodie?

Learn from Jodie:

🎨The Color Course for Rebels: https://www.jodiekingart.com/ccfr  

🎨Honest Art® Society: https://www.jodiekingart.com/has 

🎨Studio Elite: https://www.jodiekingart.com/studioelite  

See some of Jodie’s favorite resources:

✍🏻Check out my free guide on how to hang and wire a painting: https://www.jodiekingart.com/how-to-hang-a-painting 

✍🏻Get my top 10 studio tools here: https://www.jodiekingart.com/10-studio-tools-opt-in 

✍🏻Learn 5 things they don’t teach you in art school: https://jodieking.com/work-with-me#free-rescources.0  

✍🏻See Jodie’s favorite things: https://www.amazon.com/shop/jodie_king_ 

🧘🏼‍♀️Guided Meditation for Creative Clarity: https://www.jodiekingart.com/guided-meditation

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