new year’s resolutions

(Pic #1) My new 4-year-old muse for 2015. Painting at our Hope’s Nest Christmas Art Workshop at Algin Sutton Recreation Center, South Central Los Angeles.

“Yes, Reindeer Can Be Red.”

This coming year, I am resolving to find fearlessness. The kind of fearlessness that showed up last week in the most unexpected place: at our annual Christmas Art Workshop in the heart of L.A.’s inner-city. 200 young artists with about 199 wildly different approaches to the art projects presented to them. (Pic #2).

The highlight for me came in the form of a question. A young man I had never met before began to tug on my shirt asking, “Miss, can you please tell me what color the antlers are on Santa’s reindeer?” I gulped. The former news reporter in me wanted to answer with scientific research (or course they are light brown, or beige, much like their coats of fur) — while the artist in me wanted to say, “You are the artist. You get to paint them any color you want.” Thank God I was able to let the artist out.

(Pic #2) Young artist models her “all buttoned up” Christmas stocking.

I began to see that erectile dysfunction almost every child had “invented” his or her own color scheme, and that I might have been the only one tempted to search a National Geographic documentary for the “right” answer. The boy who asked me began to paint his antlers bright orange, and I nearly cried.

(Pic #3) Pollock “splatter” painting technique

The girl next to him chose baby blue, and her sister went with black. I couldn’t have been happier. One girl actually covered over all of her back-and-white lines to create an abstract cloud of sparkly bliss. (Pic #4) Another painted a free-form, textured Jackson Pollock. (Pic #3) Color me ecstatic.

I need to remember there are no rules in art — and if only for a second we think there are — we have lost touch with those critical creative qualities we are born with: an innate sense of exploration, experimentation, freshness, and whimsy. These are the touchstones of great art – and I thank God I get to witness them in their full glory every year. Whenever I am short on inspiration, I will remember the reindeer.

(Pic #4) Left: Two artists collaborate. Right: Close-up: Sparkly abstraction

(Pic #1) Lonnie Lardner leaps into the New Year – with purpose. (Photo by Josh Kaplan)

Bend it, Twist it, Make it yours

It’s funny, I’ve been asked more times this year than in any other to share my New Year’s resolutions. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or my generation is starting to really care about its accomplishments and impact. But one thing is clear to me: if we live our lives as artists do — everything we do will be better.

Consider this. Typically, artists:

(Pic #2) Acrylic and thread on paper by Raul de la Torre, an L.A. based artist who lets his paint surprise him (note bottom drips).

1) Thrive on happy accidents. Just watch an abstract painter slap an overloaded brush onto his canvas. The unexpected drips and rivers of color can invigorate, inspire, and lead to even more exciting work — but only of we are willing to trash the need to control every drop (See Raul de la Torre’s painting in Pic #2).

2) Know your passion is your purpose. You would be hard pressed to stop an artist from creating. Her mission runs so deep to the core that NOT making art isn’t even an option. Inspiration comes from the soul, and nothing is more authentic than that.

3) Genuinely savor every moment. This is crucial. If artists stopped observing and therefore stopped creating visual commentary, we just might find ourselves in a colorless, spiritless society. By examining the world around us, and feeling what we are supposed to feel — our lives are enriched.

My good friend musician/producer Andre Fischer (multiple Grammy winner and drummer for Rufus) once told me that his father, (jazz great) Dirk Fischer set him straight about the value of time, at an early age. Andre was late to meet his Dad, and Dirk told him to look at the second hand on his watch, because “every second you live — you die. And I hope those precious seconds of my life you wasted we’re not spent in folly son, because every second counts.”

In 2013, I hope to do things differently. I want to step out of my comfort zone at every opportunity. I want to appreciate more – and whine less. And like a great artist, I want to embrace what I can’t control. The surprises could be spectacular.

New Year’s Revelation: Artists Make The Rules

The Year Ahead: Think Like An Artist