Sometimes less is more.
Do you need a stripped down, acoustic version of your life?
Figure out what is essential, and ditch the rest.
Works in art and life. :)
Je Vous Reconnais
The Second Time Around
Sometimes a painting just doesn't grab me.
So I let it sit, move it around the studio, maybe drip some paint on it accidentally. <-- bonus of being an abstract artist 🤣
Then one day, when my perspective has shifted, I see a new direction to take it.
This one is upside down and under a whole 'nother layer of paint.
Where can you go when your perspective changes?
*Shalamar, in case you were humming and wondering!
The Second Time Around ©2019
Unfinished Prisoners/Slaves
The first time I saw Michelangelo's “Unfinished Slaves” series, I was blown away.
David, in all his glory (and nothing else!) reigned over the main room. Streams of tourists hurried past the partially carved blocks of marble in the corridor to reach the feature attraction.
But the slaves were more fascinating to me. David was already realized, while these figures struggled to be free figuratively and literally.
When you see these carvings up close it is stunningly obvious that the statue *exists* already inside the block. Michelangelo was simply (not so simply) carving away anything that blocked us from seeing what he saw.
How does this relate to you and creating?
Your creative self is there, inside you, waiting for you to cut away the unnecessary *stuff* and free it.
Stuff like thoughts that your work won’t be good enough. That others will laugh. That you have too many necessary things to do - which is ironic because what is necessary is for you to create.
Maybe you are filling your days with saying yes, with people who don’t give back, with stories on a screen about people living a life that is NOT yours.
Or you don’t have room to create because your space is taken up by things that weigh you down, or people who don’t share space well, or possibly an insane amount of Legos. 😬
It’s necessary for you, as a living human being, to create.
Release the thoughts, the people, the things that are covering up your creative being.
Go. Create. Do. Make. Discover. <3
Working Ahead
So, one of the things I like to do when I paint is to sneak a little paint onto the next canvas.
This takes the pressure off of starting with a blank surface the next day.
If I have enough paint on my tool I may even add a second canvas, or three!
I think of this approach as the "Sidle Up" method. You know, I obliquely approach the next work with a swipe of color here and there, so by the time we meet officially, we've already been having a little conversation.
What sort of intimidating "blank canvases" do you have in your life that might benefit from the Sidle Up method? 😂
©2019 Lee McCraw-Leavitt
Creating Vs. Consuming
Which do you choose?
Photo © Lee McCraw-Leavitt
Extraordinary Origami, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30" ©2015
Extraordinary Origami
The setting for this painting is a perfect day in Germany, in a small village on the edge of the Black Forest. I go out for a walk with my children, passing through the lower fields beyond the community gardens. We enter the cool darkness of the forest and follow the logging trails in a loop.
When we exit a bit later, everything has changed. Before me the fields are still precisely laid out in blocks of newest green and deep gold. My immediate sky is still impossibly blue, with storybook white clouds framing the forested hill in the distance.
But the upper ranges of the sky have turned a fierce dark blue while I was not looking, with striations that indicate rain in the distance. I stand in this wild, sweet moment. The smell of hay in sunshine collides with the fresh scent of rain. The fields glow preternaturally bright in contrast to the darkness far above.
Do I run for shelter? We still have time to keep dry, to turn our backs on the storm in the safety of home and routine. And so it is with life, that I can try to outrun the next storm, to seek safety in the familiar.
Or I can pause, and drink in the wild sweetness of life suddenly so clear before the coming storm. To take this moment, and fold it like extraordinary origami that I can carry in my pocket as a talisman against the challenge ahead.
Watercolor Bouquet
Something new for me, free handing flowers with watercolor straight from the brush, no drawing beforehand, or even black ink lines. And I thought drawing straight with ink was living dangerously!
Meet My Palette Knife
What strange bird is this?
I love working with a palette knife and acrylics. When I was younger I flirted with the idea of becoming a cake "artist". After making a 4 tier wedding cake for my grandparents' fiftieth anniversary I learned that it was not for me (there was a lot of extra spackling involved!) But with paint, you get all the buttery goodness without architectural concerns. Ahem.
When creating Purest Minds I laid down some random base colors then worked the landscape sections over top, allowing layers to show through in an organic way. The edges continue all the messy fun, with more bits peeking through!
Here is the final result:
