The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

How Our Cat Unearthed My Creative Past

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(Pic #1) “Piglet” shuffles my trashed collection of art, and brings it back to life.

I had a wonderful epiphanic moment this week. A moment that was born of my insanely competitive nature, and brought into focus by my 14-year-old, deaf, asthmatic cat.

(Pic #2) Cumulus Pac Man  / Acrylic on board.

My husband recently went on one of his organization binges. The result was that his home office was spotless, everything in its place. Usually, I just get jealous that he has a pristine work environment, but this time, I got competitive. “If he can clean up his office, I can organize my art studio even better.”

So I did. I went through everything, organized and cleaned. When I finished, I had this huge pile of old paintings, collages, and drawings — some were half finished, and some had fallen victim to the inner critic, and were long ago consigned to the junk heap.  I dumped them on the living room floor, prepared to banish them once and for all.

(Pic #3) Test / Ink and dress patterns on board.

That’s when the cat came in. (Pic #1) As she often does, Piglet wanted to lie in the most inconvenient place, and that was right on top of the pile. At some xenical point, she began to play with the paintings — pawing and shuffling, shuffling and pawing. When I came back out, she had uncovered some of the artwork which had been hidden deep in the stack. (Pics #2, 3, 4, 5, 6) So I was forced to look at it again.

Suddenly I saw it all differently; maybe none was a masterpiece, but then again, some were actually okay. I had convinced myself that the time I had spent on those paintings was wasted, because I was not satisfied with the results. With the passage of time, I actually now really like some of those cast-aside pieces.

(Pic #4) Beverly Zen / Collage on board.

And more important, here is the epiphany: the time I thought I had wasted on those paintings, was actually time wonderfully well spent. Looking at that discarded art with a fresh set of eyes has inspired me. Right now I am loaded with ideas for what I want to paint next. And I have a clean studio in which to do it.

(Pic #5) Woosh / Acrylic on paper.

(Pic #6) Utility box, St. Petersburg, Russia / Photo, collage.

Grand Central: Finding A Masterpiece in the Belly Below

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(Pic #1) Left: Cement wall flanking Track 126, Grand Central Station, NYC. Right: Multi-million dollar drip painting with notes, by iconic American artist Cy Twombly (1926-2011).

Unexpected art in the bowels of the world’s most storied station.

It happens to me all the time. I find myself whining about the heat or the physical challenges of navigating the city, and WHAM — the universe tosses a stunning little visual treat my way.

Taking the Metro North up to Westport, Connecticut, I was in one of those moods. The sweltering heat was making me cranky, and my train was leaving from what seemed like the grossest, stinkiest, deepest underground level in the terminal.

Then I suddenly noticed the half-washed walls, layers of soot, and general urban decay finasteride surrounding me.  It wasn’t gross at all — it was stunning. The lack of maintenance and cleaning left patterns of black and white, drips and stains from mold and old paint. Vertical lines from moisture and wear-and-tear. Lovely marks that referenced one of my favorite abstract painters, Cy Twombly. (Pic #1 – right).

I recorded these “museum walls” with my iPhone, and suddenly realized I had one of the best days in NYC in years. So, the biggest secret about Grand Central isn’t the secret sub-basement, (that the Nazis nearly destroyed) but the surprises left on the walls —  from nothing more than neglect. Sometimes art reveals itself in the strangest ways…now if only we could be ever so slightly more aware of its playful intent.

Picasso Was Right: “Every Child Is An Artist”

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(Pic #1) My niece’s daughter, Mickey started fearlessly face painting before she was two. Photo by Josh Kaplan.

 The exact quote is: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once she grows up.”

It’s so predictable. Kids start out painting on anything, with anybody, at anytime. Pure joy. No fear, no limits, no excuses. Their art is high energy, passionate, colorful, and free. I finally figured out why: Because they don’t give a flying crap. 

(Pic #2) Mickey’s first “abstract expressionist” painting with collage, “Fire Dragon.”

They don’t care what rules you set, what suggestions you make, what instructions you give. The truth is, they’re not listening anyway. They are so far ahead of us. All they know is their job is “to express” — and that allows them to paint whatever they want– whenever they want. And the coolest thing is, they don’t judge their work, so they don’t fall into that dark abyss of self-criticism, and they certainly don’t care what the finished product looks like. It’s about self-expression. That’s it.

When I paint with 2-year-old Mickey (Pic #1) she’s just as excited about squeezing a glob of gooey acrylic paint out of the bottle as she is about making her marks on the page with her brush. I get that. When I was little, I used to mix up concoctions of mouthwash, tooth powder and food coloring; I’d shake it up, and toss it on the floor “just to see what would happen.” It was so much fun to experiment.  And honestly, that’s art-making too.

It takes some discipline on the part of adults — not to control what kids are making. But in the end, it’s their artistic journey — not ours. The more we support kids creating “without boundaries,” the more they exercise their imagination.

I recently checked out the Italian Street Painting Festival at the historic Santa Barbara Mission. Some of the most gifted artists in the region “paint the pavement” with their dense pastels. A fantastic collection of traditional and contemporary work — drawn live, and sadly, destined to be ephemeral, due to the powdery consistency of the chalk. The first thirteen images are drawn by kids….with no planning or instruction. The next eleven are by adults.

Oh yeah, Picasso was right — and if there’s any chance for our kids to retain the artistic freedom they are born with, it’s kind of up to us, to follow their lead.

Below: Kids’ Art from The Santa Barbara Italian Street Painting Festival, 2017.

Below: Adult art from The Santa Barbara Italian Street Painting Festival, 2017.