I started reading Eric Maisel’s books over thirty years ago, beginning with his 1995 classic Fearless Creating, and I’ve shared his lessons with countless workshop groups ever since. So when I sat down to speak with him recently, I’ll admit to being a little starstruck.
Eric is a retired family therapist, creativity coach, and the author of more than 50 books, including Coaching the Artist Within and The Van Gogh Blues. He’s widely regarded as America’s foremost creativity coach, and his work has helped writers, visual artists, and musicians navigate the challenges of a creative life for decades.
In this conversation, we talk about the things that trip up nearly every artist I know: why daily practice matters so much more than talent, how to move past perfectionism by treating it as the anxiety it really is, learning to accept your ordinary work (even Bach wrote ordinary cantatas!), how to handle criticism without letting it stop you, why meaning comes and goes at the easel and why that’s okay, and his advice for anyone returning to creativity later in life.
There are ideas in here I’ll be carrying into the studio for a long time, and I think you will too.
Highlights from our conversation also appear as my feature article, “Cultivating Creativity,” in the September/October 2026 issue of Artists Magazine, on newsstands now.
Enjoy!
Marla
