Stephanie and Adam recap the 2026 Portrait Society of America conference in Atlanta — Stephanie's 10th year attending and her first year painting in the Face Off. They cover what it felt like to fulfill a goal set a decade earlier, a mid-session lighting crisis rescued by Michelle Dunaway, and how Broadcasting Brushers' three-hour format unknowingly prepared her for the moment. The episode's centerpiece is a sold-out breakout session on mentorship with Michelle, where they trace how one dinner conversation at the 2016 conference cascaded into wonderful opportunities and a friendship that has shaped Stephanie's entire career.

In the very first guest episode of The Confident Brushstrokes™ Podcast, Stephanie sits down with representational oil painter Kyle Ma for a conversation seven years in the making.

Kyle shares how a book on Monet at age three in Taiwan sparked a lifelong pursuit of painting, his early mentorship with Elizabeth Locke in Texas, selling work through galleries by age 15, and how he balanced a geology degree with a growing art career. They talk about the realities of being a full-time professional artist: managing gallery relationships, reserving work for major shows, the loneliness of being a young painter, and the discipline of separating the business side from the creative side.

Kyle's upcoming projects include workshops in Italy and Michigan, the Briscoe Museum Night of Artists, and a solo show at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville.

Follow Kyle on Instagram: @kylecma

Follow Stephanie: @Stephaniepaigethompson

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Stephanie and Adam share personal updates before diving into community questions on learning from the masters. They cover how to approach a master copy with intention (brushwork vs. color vs. composition), what it really means to see a painting in a museum rather than just admire it, practical takeaways from the Munsell color system, the real cost of absorbing too much information without enough easel time, and why the principles of painting are never something an artist graduates from.

Fueled by questions from the Broadcasting Brushers community on Patreon.

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