Loosing your muse

Almost two years ago I lost one of my key muses, she was beautiful and full of life until she wasnt. everyday I grasp at art and try to locate the will to draw and create and most days I spend it staring at a blank page trying to will the art gods to speak to me. Some days are worse than others where a great sadness washes over me and I find myself missing her more than I ever thought I would. I think when I lost my mom a part of my artist soul went with her and I gave up....giving into the demon that is artist block. Some days I can sketch and some times even finish an ink illustration.....but I long for the beauty I used to create in color or in pencil and I just stare at the illustrations  hoping and praying they will spring to life through the magic of my pencils, pastels and inks.
Will I ever find another muse or have they abandoned me for good? These are questions I struggle with on a daily bases and perhaps one day the answer will come...just not today.

CAPTURING THE MAGIC AROUND YOU

As children we embrace magic and dreaming and the other day I started thinking about what the one thing I missed from being young and I have to say what I came up with was the wild abandon of dreaming and believing in fairies, Santa, and the Easter bunny.

 I miss that innocence of believing in innocent things that made you dream of what could be.

And then I thought about it more and came to the conclusion I really have not lost that ability to believe and am still holding onto the whimsies of childhood with my art. 

With art I think artist still have that belief that those things exist for honestly it is the only way we illustrate, write books and stories and create them from an imagination that still holds onto that magic! So for all you artist out there who think that they have lost the ability to pretend, dream, and wish I am here to tell you it is still in there you just have to allow it to come out and play.

Just have fun and spend a day chasing fairies and unicorns with a pencil and paper.

LET THE ART WORK BEGIN!

So a few weeks ago a very wise person said something to me that put fire under my bum and really got me to thinking....she said "God gave you a gift and when you turn your back on that gift it is a shame". She was talking about my artistic talent. 
Then that got me to thinking that I have been so wrapped up in the grief of first loosing all the supplies to create with (I have since replaced all of those products) and then last November I lost my mom and both my dogs with in months of each other that I did not feel inspired and sunk further into depression. After the words above I thought about it because I felt when my mom died I had lost my muse, but did I really? I dont think so I think as I sit and draw and create she is right there with me guiding my hand to create amazing works. So these last few weeks I sat down and became inspired by people and celebrations in my life and I created 7 new pieces to work on this year. For some of them they are the first in new series that I am starting like my Gem stone series, Lotus Blossom Series and the Celtic Goddess collection. 
I will say I am very happy to be out of the slump and what I will do is share the pieces as I work on them so you all can see them as they are being done.
So shine the spotlight and lets do some art and color the world beautiful!
Have a beautiful day
Lee Anne

My study for this years Christmas Card

"Merry and Bright"

Study for "The Morigan" from the Celtic Goddess Collection.

Study for "Butterfly" part of the Lotus Blossom collection.

The study for "Stardust"

The study for  "Mother Nature"

Study for "Garnet" the first in the Gem stone Series

The study for the second piece in the Gem Stone collection "Amethyst"

So keep checking back and I will be placing updates here.

ROSES OF THE RAINBOW

Sometimes simple gestures are the biggest inspirations in ones life. Recently a very good friend of mine sent me some amazing roses, they were rainbow colored.....now you may be asking why were these so much more special than any other roses the friend could have sent me? Well at the time they sent them I was going through not only a hard time (Easter was on it's way and it was my first Easter without my mom) but also some health issues that had gotten me down and when I received these amazing flowers through their beauty and artistic flair they became that ray of sunlight that my life needed at the moment. I kept thinking to myself what an amazing gift to an artist and maybe through god my friend was led to send these....I have always believed that there are angels on earth they come at times of need when we are surrounded by darkness. And one of my angels sent roses to inspire me and lift me up.
So what I propose is that we all be angels to those we care about and for no reason do something nice for one another because you never know just how it could touch someone in need.
Bright Blessings
Leanne

Spring in bloom...inspiration still hibernating

Every day I get up with the good intentions of doing art....embracing that gift that god gave me, but I just stare at the blank page waiting for something to spring forth from the inspirational well....and nothing. I love spring with it's warm days and cool nights all the world is reborn again...kind of like a phoenix rising from the ashes with death springs life. So how do I channel that idea to let my artist block die and spring forth with inspirational life? This answer eludes me on a daily basis. Thinking back to when I would eat breath and sleep art there was never any trouble with it I had a head full of ideas and not enough time to do them all. So I wander down the hall opening all the doors looking for the ideas and inspirations that lay just beyond my reach.
So I will get out side breath in the life that surrounds me and each day draw something I am greatful for....yes, I am going to sit down and do an art journal and see how this helps me. I will keep you all updated on the progress and if you have gone through an artist block and pulled your way out share what tricks you used to help.
Have a great Spring
Lee Anne

ANOTHER YEAR OLDER

So recently I had another birthday.....yes I am willing to admit even I am getting older. But this birthday I had to stop and think about my mortality and just what am I leaving as a legacy. We all want to leave a lasting impression on the pages of history and I just started wondering what is mine....what am I leaving behind that people will stop and go oh yeah that Leanne she was amazing because she.....and I could not think of a single thing. This I find sad and want to make a change to leave something, so I am racking my brain thinking...then it hit me! I have friends and family who will remember me fondly, I work a job where every day it impacts lives for the better and I have my art that speaks long past my speaking voice has been silenced. A legacy does not have to be some huge monstrous achievement but the little things that made up your life. So I will continue down the path touching lives as I go and that my friends is Legacy enough. So I am working on getting my studio together still cleaning out things then it will be time to move in and then there is no excuse to why art is not being done. Let us all go out and do what we love and in the process create our own legacy!

YULTIDE

Christmas time has always been full of magic for me , even as I got older there was still magic in it...from baking cookies to decorating the tree there is that Christmas magic. This year though I am a bit overwhelmed....I feel lost because of the loss of my mother. I have all month put on a happy face and pretended to enjoy setting up the tree, take part in get together's, lunches and everything associated with the season....a mask I guess you could say, so no one would know just how sad I am.

I am grateful for all those in my life, I am grateful for all they do.....but have you ever felt so alone while sitting with a wonderful group of people around you? This is exactly how this Christmas has felt. I find myself counting down the days until it is over....until this whole year is over. I only want  to sleep and not deal with everyone and that is sad for if you have ever met me I am very outgoing. It is so hard to pretend to be Holly Jolly, so as I sit here alone in the house all this has flooded into me and I felt I needed to release it....they say wrighting it down helps get it out. 

What I hope in 2017 is that a muse will swoop down and touch my soul and wala the art begins to flow out once more, only time will tell and for that matter heal.

I hope you have a merry Christmas and if you are a struggling artist with a major case of Artist block like myself just remember 2017 is a new year, you get to start fresh and maybe if we just give ourselves permission to play life wont seem so closed in on us.

Have a blessed year.

Leanne

LOSS

I think the hardest thing to overcome in a persons life is loss, loss of a loved one, loss of creativity or loss of possessions. This is a mountain you climb to get over this feeling and I wonder if you ever really get over it....because you may stash it into a far corner of your mind but all it takes is another loss and those items you have stored away come tumbling out of the closet to land on top of you. A few weeks ago I lost my mother, she was my biggest cheer leader when it came to my artistic expression. At an early age she put me into painting classes, bought me color books and put up with me painting on my curtains. And as I am sitting here thinking in allot of ways she was one of those muses that moved me to reach into my imagination and pluck something out and put it on canvas or paper and how do you get over the loss of a muse? I dont think you ever do but you can channel that loss and put it into your art and see what comes of it. This is what I am currently doing pouring my sorrow into melancholy art that probably no one will ever see. I am also doing a positive thing creating an artistic space for myself from her artistic space. She had this amazing sewing room that when my dad died she gave herself....so I am taking the room and creating my art space and what I hope from all this is that this space will rise from the ashes like a phoenix and new art will have life breathed into it.
So I guess what I am getting at that even though I lost the physical muse that was my mom she still lives on in this creative space that I am creating. So stay tuned to see what erupts from all this.

Leanne

First Breath of Fall

So tonight I was standing outside my house and in the distance there was a wonderful display of lightning and a soft breeze was blowing and it was one of those moments you have to just take in and savor. It is the first breath of fall for the season where you can actually feel that there is a change in store.....and though it might be a brief moment with the temperatures threatening to rise again it is that beautiful moment that inspires you.
I love fall and the crisp that fills the air so when their is the hint of it creates a rush of excitement that moves through me and makes me want to create and share the feeling with the world. So lets see where this leads me!

Lee Anne

Let Summer Inspire you

Summer....hot and humid here in Katy Texas but so much inspiration can be found all around you if you look. We live in a society where we rush around not looking at the little things that can inspire us not only creatively but soulfully. One of my Mecas is the beach and I love Galveston...one because it is only 45 minutes from me but second the life on an island town is laid back and easy so when you are there you tend to take it all in and savor the little things...like a sea shell found on the beach....a wave that crashes against a jetti....the smell of salt in the air. Now you dont have to travel to the beach to find little beauties of summer....look up notice the changing of the clouds or the color in the trees that went from that soft spring green to deep green and now because of the lack of rain are a yellow green. Go outside brave the heat and find inspiration in the small things of summer.

Keep Creating
Leanne

Through The Darkness I come

Working through an artist block is some what like peeling an onion...layer upon layer, tears upon tears. This year has been pitted with hurdles and change that has sent my creative inspirations spiraling into the nether regions never to be seen. I sit with my drawing pad and look out my window searching for the muse to fly by and tap me with some magic wand and the great masterpiece I have longed for will pop into being....this how ever never seems to happen.
So what I have thought I would do is work from the soul...tap into what ever feelings are lurking on the surface and see just what manifest from them and share them with everyone. Now this is a scary thing for me because I worry what every one thinks, the judgments on the art that I put out but I feel I must do this.
Through stress....through tears...through joy I will see what emerges on the other side of the tunnel.
I will see you all on the other side!
Leanne

JUST THE WHISPER OF WINTER LEFT

Here in Texas Winter was just a blink and in came spring, so on Sunday there was a crispness to the air and I started dreaming of an art piece that I wanted to do entitled "The Whisper of winter" a girl that is dressed all in white with tattered cloths and in her hand a blooming rose to signify winters death and springs birth. Then as I was on Pinterest the most wonderful artist playground out there I came across the most amazing picture that inspired me beyond beilief (it is below) and she became the muse for the piece. So I will be setting to work this week and getting it sketched out then I will share her with you here.....truly art works in mysterious ways and muses can be found everywhere!
So look around you today and tell me where did you find your muse today?
Bright  Blessings
Lee

CREATIVE CONNECTION IN SMITHVILLE

So recently I went to a craft retreat in Smithville Texas and I was surrounded by amazingly talented artist and breathtaking nature. what I found was how being sequestered in the surroundings I was in I began to find myself artistically. Perhaps it was the energy of the other ladies....or perhaps it was being around nature which to me has always been gods sketchbook so how can one not be inspired by things that are naturally beautiful.
What I also found out is that it was easier for me to pick up a pencil and sketch which then led to adding color and finally snowballed into finishing a piece so what ever it was I found myself for that brief moment able to break out of the bindings of artist block and actually draw, ink and paint.
Many thanks to the lovely ladies who inspired me that weekend (you know who you are) and for nature who shared her beauty with me.
Sadly the retreat venue we were at is closing at the end of this year but I feel honored to have walked the paths of her garden.
So if you are one like me who finds every day life blocking the artistic mojo I implore you to surround your self with things and people who can stir the inner working of your creative juices.
Bright Blessings
Lee Seed

WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS

When I started looking back at my life I began to see the similarities it had to a circus or even a carnival ride....not that I had a bad life in any way shape or form but it was one crazy twist to another that led me to the place I am now. I have started this blog to help me be inspired in my art, to look back at the exciting things that I discovered on my journey and to perhaps inspire someone else to live their life to the fullest.
I think our lives are gifts that we are given when we are born and what we choose to do with them is our own journey. Today I see mine as a circus, when you enter the big top it is full of magic and wonder and when the lights go down your breath catches from the anticipation of what you are going to see first. And though some acts are scary and others may leave you unsettled the day is magical and you will never forget the experience.
So each week I will throw something out to all of my followers to try to inspire and you can respond to the entry or keep it to your self because really it is about what you get out of it.
So this week think back to what is your life been like if you could say "my life is like a........" what would it be like? Mine defiantly a circus.....but what was yours? Dream on it, think on it and discover the you!

Dream On
Leanne