Creative Zone - The Lardner Report

Breaking Through The Box: The Way Was There All Along

June 6, 2013 by Lonnie Lardner

Finding clarity: abandon what you think you know.

Maybe the main reason I love my husband is that he knows me so well, he always seems to know the perfect thing to say to get me out of whatever creative/mental trap I have put myself in. For the record, he would probably prefer I name a different main reason I love him – at least publicly – but life is full of dissapointments.

Here was my problem. I had a wall space to fill, I really wanted 16 small paintings, but I only had a corporate budget for 12. Using pieces of paper the same size as the paintings (5 x 7-inch acrylics by Father Bill Moore) I started arranging them on my wall at home. Didn’t work. Hated it. No flow. No way to arrange the pieces to make the wall work as one cohesive unit.

Small acrylic paintings by Father Bill Moore, Los Angeles.

So I said to Josh, “I really need 4 more pieces, but it’s not in my budget at this tramadol point. I just can’t make it work with 12.” He knows me well enough to know that I would now obsess on having 16 pieces, and no other solution would crack that obsession. So he said, “Well, if you can’t add 4 more — take 4 away. Do it with 8. Maybe a more sparse design – with less clutter – will work better.”

Suddenly, trying to imagine the space with fewer pieces, opened up the possibilities that I had closed off by my obsessing about the “magical 16.” Within 2 minutes, I found the elusive 12 painting layout. It was there all along, but I couldn’t break through the mental block formed by my preconception that this was a project that needed 16 pieces.

So often the phrase “think outside the box” is interpreted to mean “do something that has never been done before.” The more useful definition for me is literally “think outside the box you have created for yourself.” When I remember that, good things always happen.

Find Your Moment – Improve Your Day

May 27, 2013 by Lonnie Lardner

It’s as easy as stepping outside. (Photo by Josh Kaplan)

I have a confession to make. I was wrong. Totally wrong. When I launched this blog 2 years ago, one of the first posts I wrote was about carving out 10 minutes a day to feed your creative soul.

I got up on my high horse and said that anyone – everyone — could find ten minutes a day to do the thing he or she loved most. I was wrong. I am in the middle of a corporate consulting project that is requiring all my waking hours, and I haven’t painted in weeks.

The work is creative, exciting and satisfying. But I face many hours of pure paperwork, detailed budgets, cost analysis, and insane deadlines. The stuff I hate. And because of those hours hunched over my laptop – inside and alone — I was beginning to go a little ultram nutty.

Then it hit me, I may not have 10 minutes to drag out the paints and create something interesting — but that doesn’t mean I can’t create a little oasis within the confines of the tasks I’m facing.

I grabbed my laptop, my chai tea, my folders, and my cats, and simply moved my headquarters — out to the patio. Suddenly, with the sun shining down, the bougainvillea in bloom, and the cats pitching in, the assignment I was dreading morphed into a little moment of bliss.

I’ve written a lot of posts about the need for artists to change their perspective: turn up into down, whole into parts, black into white. But this little exercise taught me it is just as important to do that with my attitude. By turning my life’s canvas upside down I found underneath it the one thing that always helps: gratitude.

Done preaching – my spreadsheets await.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall….

April 30, 2013 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) Household Mirrors: Reflective teachers. (Photo by Josh Kaplan)

Creatively stuck? Let the mirror do the work.

I swear, every time I work on a painting, there’s that point where I just don’t know if it’s a hit or miss. I’m on track for a while, and then suddenly I think, “this really sucks.”

Next stop: The bathroom. Not for the reason you think – but for the aid of a 6000 year-old invention first discovered by the Turks. The typical household “looking glass” has become my most sobering art critic – and as a result, best friend. Many a night I seek her frank advice, and she always pulls through. All I have to do is hold up my work (painting, drawing, or sculpture) right in front of her – and look. You barely have to ask her a question – because her reflection tells you the story.

Mirrors give us a set of fresh eyes.

Reversing the image is almost like seeing a brand new painting because your brain sees it differently. This new view gives you some space and perspective. In fact, facing the mirror, you are doubling the viewing distance you’d normally have between you and the work. It is remarkable how that changes everything. You suddenly see problems with composition, a weak focal point, and flaws in technique.

Mirrors are also there to see if we are looking at the work the right way. I can’t tell you how many times I have flipped the painting upside down and discovered it is way better that way. I usually start right side up, and turn it to see all four angles. You may be surprised to see more than one painting emerge – and ideas for additional works or series.

Bottom line: this is a really effective method of kickstarting your mojo in the middle of your creative hell. Watch how motivated you feel after seeing your “new” work. It’s a jolt right back to the drawing table where you can immediately act on the visual cues shared by your intuitive new best friend. It’s a simple, inexpensive way to keep the flow going and benefit from the direction of a pro — you.