Hope began studying with Dana Jester in 2019, and his influence reaches far beyond any one painting technique. Dana helped Hope expand from wet-on-wet landscapes into wildlife, portraits, glazing, layered color, and a much broader way of thinking about painting.

Just as important, Dana helped Hope discover the larger painting community. Through the workshops he organized with Steve Ross, Hope met many of the artists and friends who now make up a major part of her creative world. Those relationships have shaped how she paints, what she paints, and how she teaches.

One of the biggest lessons Hope took from Dana was simply to relax a little—to stop worrying about being the first one finished and allow more time for the painting to develop. His oft-repeated reminder, “You’ve got to have paint to paint,” still comes back to her whenever a student is trying to make a big brush do something with almost no paint on it.