Let Go, and Reach for the Light(bulb)

Title: I Can't Hold My Own Hand And Reach For The Light At The Same TIme

Medium: Prismacolor pencils and pen, 2017.

Size: A1, unframed.

Artist Statement:

This is a bigger size that I usually work on, so it was a drawn out (ha, punny) process of coming back to add bits and pieces at night for about 1 week, after my other commitments. This really made me pay attention to the process, and it truly felt like an act of love to make this piece. It really pulled out from me what was buried deepest in my heart. It was an emotional and satisfying process.

This drawing began as my defiant, independent response to not getting my own way in life: "Fine, I'll hold my own hand then, if no one else will"

As I drew this, I felt that this was not the end of the little story I was telling. I had drawn a lightbulb growing out of the ground, and lights in my art are always about God, and also truth, health or innocence. It was too late to erase the figure holding her own hand so I added in an extra arm to reach for the light (most logical solution).

Our own stubbornness sometimes prevents us from living boldly, and honestly, and instead we settle for our own way: We lock ourselves into a defiant prison of independence. Don't get me wrong, being independent is great and important but personally, I go too far and when I know it's God's place to call the shots sometimes I try and do it for him. Sometimes I get bitter, sometimes stubborn (Am i joking?! It's a daily battle) and want to do things my way, all the time, thinking of me first. 

But instead, I realise that putting my story in the hands of Jesus is where the truth gets exposed and light can exist in my life. He is good and he can also handle all my selfish feelings and independence. He changes me for good. So I will continue to reach for him. Our defiance is not the end of our story. 

Let go, and reach for the light (bulb). 

Imagine....No wait, don't imagine, just have a look.

There is an amazing app to turn your imagined art on a wall into a real art piece on a wall. 

It's called @iartview. You should check it out. Here are some of my artworks (most of these are smaller in real life than they appear here, but I do make custom large prints to order)

Imagine a quirky, surreal piece on your living room wall. Something that starts conversations, something that intrigues your guests.

I'd love to hear from you if you're interested in taking a peek at my available originals, or enquiring about a custom piece.

Have a lovely day! 

Lani x

The Self Confidence Machine 3000

Ahhhhhhh, the ever elusive self-confidence.

Just me?

It's so easy to be positive and encouraging towards others, but when it comes to ourselves it can be soooo much harder to be kind. 

It could be my fairly perfectionistic nature regarding my abilities (Thanks for that family trait, Dad), or that i tend towards melancholy because I'm an artist, and well, that seems to just be the way my mind works. But lately I have been really coming up against self doubt in a stronger way than I ever have before. Last week I sat wallowing for a while and decided that somehow, I needed to creatively express this. Good can come from terrible feelings.

So, I built a Self Confidence Machine 3000. Here are the logistics: A machine that starts with 'You Have All You Need' as the central ingredient. (See how I did that? I know I have all I need. But I put it in there as a dose of truth in the machine). There are little workers that for some reason, look an awful lot like little council workers. One of them at the top is clearly an OHS worker ticking off a checklist of safety. 

The machine has my heart, surrounded by cogs and wheels- my mind. I wanted to highlight that while it might take a team of little brain workers to help change my self-belief, it is possible to rewire the thought processes. (Neuroplasticity is a beautiful thing).

At the very end of the process, at the very top of the machine the small words "I can do it" make their way out. This is to symbolise that I know this truth, but I am still hesitant to back myself and really shout true self confidence. It's a journey, and I mean, I only just built this machine so it needs time. 

If you face the same struggle, I want you to know there is a huge chance you are actually more equipped and capable than you let yourself believe you are. Seriously. 

x

February in Alanaland

Friends! Some rad things happening right now!

Hum Drum Saturday Sessions @ Anzac Square Arcade

 Firstly, am feature artist over at TonicArtistry for February. I did a little interview about art practice and inspiration. Click to read my interview

Secondly!!!!! COOL NEW VENTURE FOR YOU! If you sing/ perform/ play music/ write poetry/ create visual art!

Here's the deal: A lovely business owner called Georgiana saw a lovely little space inside Anzac Square Arcade in the city being unused. So every single Saturday, it is now decked out with cushions and fairy lights and a microphone. All creatives are invited to take part. Bring all your original visual art or homewares, etc. Cute little market space to use with an open mic platform! (It is free, and as an artist if you sell, it's an honesty based 20% commission to cover insurances for the space). Georgiana has called this "HUM DRUM" and here is a link to the facebook to read more. 

2017 Resolution: Create a Ton of Mediocre Art

My goal for the year that lies ahead is to be a maker. A maker of maybe some nice pictures, but also a maker of very average, possibly even classifiably mediocre pictures, too.

Here’s the thing: I have been through intense phases in which I heaped massive amounts of pressure on myself to create. I have been my own  mean taskmaster and never saw myself as good enough… I never quite hit the mark, never quite achieved what I was expected myself to achieve in an artistic sense. And so I carried a huge sense of frustration and disappointment.

Even now, some days are full to the brim of my own personal frustrations because I know I can do more, do better. However, I have recently been so liberated from this way of thinking.

Two words for you: Big Magic. (The title of a book by Elizabeth Gilbert. But also, it feels like Elizabeth Gilbert has just given a different name to what I already felt, knew and experienced about the creative process and where inspiration comes from…so thanks to her, I now have a name to call that….’Big Magic.’).

This book is Elizabeth Gilbert’s take on creativity, design, and how and when ‘inspiration’ hits (hint: we as creatives are doomed if we sit around and wait for that!).

The title of this blog post is a stubborn, deliberate refusal to not reach for the highest goal of creating amazing art that can somehow support my life. Here’s why: I believe it is more important to make something, every day, even if it’s something small or seemingly insignificant, than it is to aim to make great things only. I mean sure, if my art turns out 'good' (also, what even is that? Everyone has different tastes.) I will be pleased, but if not, that is 100% great. I was part of the artistic process. I was in the game. I made. I loved.

““Through the mere act of creating something-anything-you might inadvertently produce work that is magnificent, eternal, or important. You might not, on the other hand. But if your calling is to make things, then you still have to make things in order to live out your highest creative potential-and also in order to remain sane.””

— Elizabeth Gilbert

The process of creating is what liberates us from the mundane parts of life, what gives us a sense of wonder, and what fulfils the desire we have to be makers. The final outcome of that process? Eh, an afterthought.

Too many people I know exclude themselves from the joyful process of making because in their own opinion, they aren’t talented enough, or can ‘only draw stick people’ (I get sad when people say that. Even if it were the case, there is a multitude of other ways to express your creativity. Baking! Sewing! Dancing! Writing! Stop telling yourself you aren’t one of the creative ones…in our own ways, we all are creative).

So as we go forth into the year that is to come, I for one am only placing upon myself the expectation to engage in the creative process. I would be happy within myself if I make a year’s supply of fairly un-sellable pieces, so that I can really get back to the love of the art itself and why I do what I do. If it’s about anything other than the process, I don’t think I can call myself an artist.

Here’s to a ton of mediocre art that has been created from a place of liberation and joy.

This ted talk doesn't directly relate to this blog post but is another perspective of creativity  by Elizabeth Gilbert which is also explored in Big Magic. She muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius.