The Lardner Report

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2026: Kicking Fear to the Curb

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A New Year’s resolution long overdue: Sketch once a week.

We all struggle with insecurities and fear. Sometimes they become blocks to achieving our goals. But when they deprive you of expressing your joy, well, we’ve really got a problem. I’ve been an artist as long as I can remember, but make work inconsistently or periodically. NOTHING lights me up more than a session at the art table, or attacking a huge canvas with fat brushes loaded with paint. But with increasing frequency, I manage to make other tasks a priority — or convince myself I don’t deserve the creative experience — leaving the exhilarating, rewarding chunks of my day in the dust. WTF?

So as 2026 rolls in, I’m committing to making art EVERY WEEK — no excuses — hoping you guys can hold me accountable. It may be a small, incomplete sketch — or it may be a series of agitated scribbles — but it will be art, and it will be consistent. I’ll share in a post, and might even encourage you to draw along with me. I know that confronting fear is the only way to grow. And I want 2026 to be my year of EXPLOSIVE GROWTH.

How Can A 5-Year-Old Be My Muse?

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Call it Inspiration. Maybe creative spark. Whatever you call it, it is the lifeblood of an artist. It’s that magical sight or sound that motivates us, animates us — even when we are at a total loss for imaginative ideas. it’s then that the message from the Muse (if we are lucky enough to receive one) feels like hitting the lottery. Most artists never know when it will come around — and each time it does, they worry it will never come back. Wouldn’t it be comforting to know that there was something you could count on to trigger your creativity? I realized this past weekend, I have something just like that — and it always delivers. 

2024 marks the 35th year we’ve have been holding art workshops for children in South Los Angeles. It started when I was a TV reporter/anchor and my news director told me I was long overdue to give something back to the community. I’ve been doing it ever since. It feeds me in a way almost nothing else does. But I didn’t completely realize until this past weekend that these kids are my creative Muse. Watching the unbridled joy they bring to painting, and the fearlessness with which they do it, always helps me reconnect to that 7-year-old with the big box of crayons who begged her Mom for just 10 more minutes to color. 

During our Halloween workshop this weekend, I stumbled upon a little girl (pictured above) who blew my mind. She had seen a pair of my scissors with a white rope tied around the handles. She asked if she could use it. She didn’t need the scissors exactly, but wanted to untie the rope, and with it, fashion a set of long braids on her pumpkin head. Then, she sculpted hair toys out of red and green pipe cleaners. In a million years, I would not have thought of those moves. Both were original. She saw something no one else saw. And like an artist, she expressed her vision in her unique way.

When I got home, I was exhausted, I had all my art supplies to put away, and about a hundred things on my to-do list. But all I really wanted to do — was paint. Why? Simple. I’d just had a profound encounter with my unexpected Muse. 

Inspiration from Chaos

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I love discovering abstract art that evolves over time. This former traffic sign on the coastal stretch of the 101 freeway is definitely my jam. It showcases layers upon layers of paint, messaging, tagging and collage. While most likely spray-painted by different crews, a really cohesive color palette emerges at the end of the improvisational project. The colors, funked out font, and erratic energy inspire me every time. It’s always worth stopping to document SoCal’s most electric urban artwork.

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