Practice, Paint, & Possibility
Between the Pages: A five-minute conversation with Debbie Gualco
On a recent trip to The Sea Ranch with my boyfriend Bob and a group of friends, we were just beginning our hike for the day when I noticed an artist painting. Naturally, I had to stop. A little curiosity turned into a Pen & Path “Between the Pages” conversation with Sacramento architect and artist Debbie Gualco.
Debbie’s creative life spans designing homes and painting landscapes, portraits, figures, and still lifes. A UC Berkeley architecture graduate, she founded Reynolds Gualco Architecture & Interior Design in Sacramento.
But her advice for someone who wants to start painting was wonderfully simple:
“Just pick it up and draw. Keep trying.”
Debbie learned through workshops, college art classes, and the drawing involved in architecture. When I asked what she would tell a beginner, she emphasized:
“Practice, practice, practice.”
“I don’t really believe in talent per se,” she said. “I believe in perseverance.”
As a writer and teacher, I loved that. I tell people that if you write, you’re a writer. You don’t need a bestseller to begin. Debbie offered the painting equivalent: make “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them.”
Some attempts won’t work. Others will surprise you. “Every now and then, we’ll have a happy accident,” she said. The rest offer opportunities to learn from “the ones that didn’t work.”
Making time, though, can be challenging. Debbie described thinking about architecture projects while painting, then wishing she could paint while working.
“It’s hard to switch hats.”
Both pursuits involve problem-solving, but painting also gives her space for “self-expression”—working with “light and shadow and texture and movement.”
When she said, “I’m trying to retire,” I smiled. As a teacher imagining my own next chapter, I understood the wish for more time to create. For Debbie, that includes travel and painting.
Our conversation reminded me that we don’t have to wait for retirement—or permission—to begin. A pencil, a page, a paintbrush, a few imperfect attempts. There’s possibility in all of it.
We started the morning heading out for a hike. I came away with a little creative encouragement, too.
What creative pursuit would you love to make a little more room for?
Pen & Path
curious • grateful • growing
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