Inspiration Fridays! Can you make World Art Day every day?

Can you make World Art Day every day?

Who thought to set aside just one day a year for art? One day feels like a bit of a tepid start.

“Art is not about itself, but the attention we bring to it.” – Marcel Duchamp

Everyday is art. Everything is art. It’s our choice to make it so.

Art is the seed.  Our communities spring from that seed and the blossoms become our culture. Arts fallen petals tell the story of our history.

I want to spend every moment lost in my creativity. Everything else feels like a generic waste of time. The electricity generated by the discovery of a new combination of colors loads me up with endorphins. That manic thrill can be rudely uprooted (and quite regularly) by an unwelcome series of brain-numbing phone calls. Why am I drawing such a hard line between pleasure and pain? Both the colors and calls are part of the whole. It’s all part of the deal.

If life is anything, it is balance. That’s where the beauty of all of this art stuff lives. It lives in contrast. Inspiration and perspiration.  Elation and frustration. Creative chaos and iPhone updates.

Gabriel Mark Lipper - Flight or Fancy - oil on panel - 18"x18"

Gabriel Mark Lipper – Flight or Fancy – oil on panel – 18″x18″

If we find ourselves setting aside one day a year to celebrate the power and beauty of art, our equilibrium may be a bit off. We may be struggling to fully understand the potential that we have for creativity in our lives every day.

Art isn’t just about masterpieces and museums. There is an art to be found in the managing of our calendars and the careful construction of our children’s lunches. There is an art in dealing with pain. There is an art to making the bed. As artists let’s remember to celebrate the thrill of the mundane.

Happy World Art Day.

What’s your unartsy art?

How do you find art when it’s not there?

Can you make World Art Day every day?

 

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Inspiration Fridays! What is your style saying about you?

What is your style saying about you?

We’ve all heard the expression “the eyes are the windows to the soul”. Maybe…

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” – Henry Ward Beecher

I have met a lot of people who wear sunglasses or a fake smile, but I have never met a person whose art didn’t tell me the story of who they were.

Maybe it’s not the eyes themselves, but what we create with our eyes that tells our story.

People wonder if they will ever find their style. That style emerges when we act. I won’t create my style shopping online or reading magazines. I might be inspired by what I see, but I have to make it mine first. My style emerges when I put on my clothes and walk out into the world.

When I was in high school, I used to wear slacks, wingtips, button-down shirts, and a black wool overcoat. I carried around a black leather bag filled with my sketchbook and school supplies. I wanted to be taken seriously.

But not too seriously. So I threw on some hoop earrings and wore a lot of purple. I slicked my hair back and added horn-rimmed dark glasses bedazzled with rhinestones. I laughed hard, and then I would scowl.

People might describe this as a faze, or as a young man, trying to find his style, but in that moment, that style was an expression of who I was. It was a demonstration of my confidence and a reflection of my insecurities. When it no longer fit me, I left it behind.

Gabriel Mark Lipper - Minos justice - oil on panel - 24"x48"

Gabriel Mark Lipper – Minos justice – oil on panel – 24″x48″

This is true for all of us. Every action that we take in the studio, every decision that we make on the canvas is a reflection of our tastes, our fears, or desires.

When our paintings are exacting and careful, they could be a reflection of not only our need for control but our need for external approval. Perhaps we want to be seen as competent. When our paintings are unhinged and bold, they may reflect our need for freedom, escape, or our desire for play. Maybe we want to be seen as Avant-garde or sophisticated. Whether we paint to satisfy an internal need or to define ourselves for others, there is no right or wrong here. There is no “getting to” our style. We are living it.

When we look at paintings, we can see timidity, boldness, rebellion, or reserve, coming through in every brushstroke. This is hard for an artist. This is why so many of us are deeply dissatisfied with our work.  It tells the truth about us and sometimes, that’s a difficult thing for us to see.

It’s also, one of the most beautiful things that we can create. It takes bravery to put yourself out there and to ask yourself what you like. It doesn’t have to be beautiful to be you. Life has a bit of everything, and our art helps us discover who we are.

Has your style evolved?

Are you afraid to be seen?

What is your style saying about you?

 

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Inspiration Fridays! Is Your Creativity Simmering?

Is Your Creativity Simmering?

Every time I finish a new painting, I get hit from all sides. Satisfaction, excitement, and vulnerability are all part of the stew.

“Art evokes emotion. It doesn’t have to be a thing of beauty.” – Eli Broad

Sprinkle in a bit of megalomania or self-loathing, depending on the day, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what I’m cooking up in the studio. What sprouted from the early years of my imagination has ended up, nurturing, torturing, and sustaining me well into my middle age.

8paint Inspiration Fridays - Gabriel Mark Lipper - Still Life with Yams

Gabriel Mark Lipper – Still Life with Yams

We don’t need to worry too much about setting aside time to be creative. We are creativity! Sometimes we lack a clear sense of direction, but our creativity is always there. What’s not always there, is a clear way to express what’s bubbling beneath the surface.

When we’re out of practice, our creativity can feel like it’s been put on simmer. It can feel harder to access, but all of the ingredients are still there. It’s who we are. 

It can be easy to get mired in doubt when your path feels uncertain, but instead of stopping and ruminating on which is the right way, just continue to take little steps forward. Trust. Sprinkle out the seeds of potential in your garden of ideas. Whether it’s in the form of a million scribbles in your sketchbooks or half a dozen little forty-minute paintings, don’t make your art a big deal. The muse gets to choose which of your ideas will land. Just make sure that they all get watered.

Pressure may turn coal into diamonds, but the creation of diamonds also involves a lot of time. So now you have diamonds, self-loathing, and stew. Pick one.

Don’t beat yourself up for the time you may think you have wasted. The act of showing up for your art (and even powering through this email) is brave enough. Give yourself and your creativity room to wriggle through the hard resistant soil, form leaves, grow buds, and blossom. Life feeds your creativity until your creativity can stand on its own. Nothing happens all at once.

Your art isn’t you, but it comes from you. Or maybe, it comes through you. If you stay open to the process and allow your creativity with all of its gifts and flaws to show up on the canvas, your work is going to have real flavor. Stay hungry for your art. It’s Delicious.

How do you feel when you finish a painting?

What are you hungry for?

Is Your Creativity Simmering?

 

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