The Lardner Report

Unleash your creative superpowers!

Choosing Gratitude. But for a paintbrush?

by

(Pic #1) The art table

While this past week inspired us to express gratitude for the important things, appreciate close friends and family, and savor the genuine moments of joy — I decided to give thanks for the stupid little things that no one else cares about. (There might be a pattern.) They are:

Handmade Mulberry Pulp Fiber Paper

Caran D’Ache Neocolor pastels

Montana 94 Spray Cans

Sakura Solid Paint Markers

Princeton Catalyst Polytip Paint Brushes

Black Wing Matte Soft Graphite pencils

Golden Super Loaded Matte Medium

Prismacolor Magic Rub Eraser

Golden Heavy Body Phthalo Blue Acrylic

Koh-I-moor Rapidograph Technical Pen

Natural Bristle Fat Chip Brushes

Smooth Glide White Correction Tape

Jacquard Dye-na-flow fabric color

Blick Cobalt Teal Acrylic tube

Posca Pens

Embracing Chaos: My Happy Place

by

Honestly, I’ve been super stressed lately — working on multiple projects — navigating Covid angst, and examining that need to re-define what we do and who we are. My sanctuary is my little art studio — no matter what threat level of chaos I’m handling. On this day, I was cranking out “scribble sketches” (more on that another time) and got lost in the Byzantine patterns of marks and scratches.

My husband walks in and says, “Why are you stressing?” (He can usually feel it in the next county.) I say, “I’m a bit overwhelmed.” Josh says, “I see. But from where I stand, the artist-at-work and the artist-at-play look very much the same.”

I just got grateful. It struck me that I am one of the lucky ones. No matter how many tasks I face, or how much pressure I feel, I get to bathe in creative expression. It’s something I never appreciate enough, and pray I’ll always have.

 

Find Your Moment – Improve Your Day

by

LL keke and fidge patio for TLR

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.