Watercolor painting-in-progress: Robin-Shapeshifter

No, none of us were instant rock stars. Our success is an ongoing journey where evidence of our wayfaring hopefully runs deep into the roots of lasting impressions. The successful people I most admire are those that keep on trekking without looking over their shoulder; those who elevate others in the process and who see “competition” as inspiration rather than a source of contention or an aberration. I’ve always thought and said, (especially while I was a teacher) “Be who YOU are and don’t worry about what you think you have to be!”. Make your own mark and people will notice by default.

Lisa in the early 1990's

Lauren Mills, award winning author/illustrator of children’s books, sculptor, painter, and instructor

Jeffrey Zurawin, A.P., D.O.M, Acupuncture Physician and Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Owner, Lifegate Acupuncture

Tara Larsen Chang, Children’s book illustrator,  Event Organizer for TLC Workshops/Professional Art Series

Gary Lippincott, Gary A. Lippincott, Artist & Illustrator specializing in fantasy and historical Illustration and children’s books

Joanna Powell Colbert, Artist ~ Writer ~ Teacher

"Stroll into a Fairy Tale" by Kort Kramer

Sell sheet for Ghosts and Spirits Tarot. To be published in April 2012

Connor created a cool 3-D Animal Cell Project for Science class. It was a good review for us rusty-brained parents too. I almost forgot what Mitochondria was! Thanks Connor.

Kyra did a timeline report on one of her favorite Jazz singers, Billie Holiday. I highly recommend you search "Fine and Mellow" on YouTube to get a taste of live Cool Blues/Jazz of the 1950s at its finest.

She was also chosen "Super Star Student" and was allowed to take home the class mascot "Coconut" home for the weekend. Part of her selection required that she/we create a poster of her achievements and snapshots from her life and family. Coconut approved.

~ Lisa

Final pencil drawing of Loon-Shapeshifter

I was and still am a daydreamer. What does that oft misunderstood term mean? For me, it’s about letting my foot dangle in the cool waters of dream imagery—where the slightest, most unassuming thing can initiate a fit of reverie, active imagination, and fantasizing. Basically, when I’m not drawing, painting or writing, I’m thinking about drawing, painting and writing, at least on a subconscious level. I would fathom to guess that most artists have similar pangs and whims as they go about their days.

6h grader Lisa (1979) with "her head in the clouds" (cloud photo/montage by Kort Kramer)

Art is part of a daily response to my environment, my life, my being. As a child, this posed Calvin and Hobbes-style issues as I suffered through long days as a hopelessly bored sixth grader. Those fits of ennui were relieved by an escape to a mental window of imagination; inhabited by the fantastical that made their conscious markings as doodles in my notebook. During a conference my teacher told my father “Lisa has her head in the clouds”, something my father and I now chuckle about. Though at the time, I felt like a misunderstood outsider who just didn’t connect with the ramblings transpiring in the classroom. Thank goodness for those yonder clouds that offered me refuge–they have given me a lifetime of artistic outpouring. Like the loon half in the water, I too feel between worlds where my conscious reality helps to paint the pictures situated in the unconscious mind and vice versa!

Doodling ideas for Loon-Shapeshifter (from my sketchbook)

Feeling the mysterious through sketches and notes

This is the passage that inspired the sketches, written by avid bird watcher/wildlife rescuer and author Lesley Morrison. Lesley is composing the beautiful descriptions that are accompanying my bird paintings.

Final pencil tracing for watercolor paper (the old fashioned way). My husband Kort as inspiration for Loon-Shapeshifter. He too is a daydreamer.

And here are a couple of more Daydream Believers residing in Hunt-Kramerville.

Keep on daydreaming on!

~ Lisa

Poltergeist: Drawing and final watercolor painting

2011 is turning into the year of the unexpected. Instead of fearing the chaos of what seems like truncated routines, I’m learning how to accept the unexpected and to be flexible. Part of this has entailed taking on projects and creating images that I never thought I’d do: new subject matter, new methods, bold creative assertions and a sense of the spontaneous along the way. I’m also studying piano compositions that I never thought I’d learn–a structural pursuit in one way, but one must make time to practice! In between, there’s unpredictable life stuff to tend to. And you know what? It’s exciting to be in a bubble of this sort of chaos–where I’m sitting at the edge of my seat wondering what the day will bring.

I worked on Poltergeist while my husband, who had just turned 40 (Oh, the irony!), threw out his back and was bedridden for nearly a week. It was a tough time full of anxiety. It’s hard to see a loved one suffer—so I took my turmoils to the paper and cranked out this piece. An update: Kort is doing much, much better. Thanks to all of you who sent healing wishes during his recovery!

Painting in progress

As the ghosts paintings are drawing to a close, I’m starting to mentally prep for my bird project. What a nice surprise it was to get a parakeet for my birthday. Meet Kippy or Butterball (no reference to the turkey product please!), as I’m calling him more and more. He’s another studio buddy who chooses to perch and poop (doh!) on my lamp and watch me draw—no worries, art is out of poop range. He’s a sweet bird with impeccable taste and has adopted Timmy’s (studio buddy kitty) preference for classical or jazz music. Kippy is more than willing to let me sketch his beautiful plumage.

Kippy "Butterball" hanging out near my desk

I also have a new hamster. Meet “Evil Creature” (real name Pumpkiny-Pooh). Just look at those red eyes and you can see why this name just rolled off the tongue, with utmost affection of course. EC’s particular idiosyncrasy is that she loves tissue and toilet paper, as she aptly demonstrates in the following photo.

"Evil Creature"

Are you wondering how bird, hamster and cat get along? Well, the critters love the very chaos I just spoke of and are too sanguine to bother each other. There is a good energy in my studio that is conducive for happy creatures.

As for the “boogie woogie”:
I officially started piano lessons at Bravo Academy, where my daughter studies music as well, under the tutelage of an outstanding professional. I haven’t had a formal lesson in 25 years, but that didn’t stop me. I went in holding my beloved Chopin book, with every intention of focusing on Nocturnes. Instead, Sivabruntha hands me Winifred Atwell’s Five Finger Boogie and tells me to play it. Um, I’ve never played anything but strict classical fare and here I was looking at a piece that, from my perspective, is a routine breaker! But despite my initial hesitation, it turns out, I love to boogie on the keys! It’s exhausting music but also invigorating for the mind, body and spirit. So in addition to a Chopin Nocturne, I am working on perfecting Five Finger Boogie for an upcoming late spring recital. I’m the first student of Sivabruntha’s to work on this, so I’m honored to be studying such an outstanding piece. I’m also glad that I’m being exposed to some incredible musicians that somehow fell under the mainstream radar, unfortunately.

Here’s Winifred playing her composition back in the 1950′s (I’m guessing) during the height of her fame.

Oh, and just a reminder–I’m smack in the middle of my forties and yet I’m far from being stuck in a malaise of middle age doldrums. It’s never too late to paint, play piano, or do things that you wish you can do. I find that it’s okay to break routines. Just go do it! I don’t mind being the oldest student of anything–as long as I keep learning and growing, I’ll never get truly old.

~ Lisa

Left: the initial sketch * Right: the final drawing

The next morning I sketched him out as I remembered him. In the days ahead, I would experience sharp pains on my right side that stretched from my right hip to my quadriceps. I attribute the acute physical discomfort to a combination of sleep deprivation, middle age and jogging/biking/walking. What did I do with the pain? I did not take aspirin, nor did I stop the aforementioned activities — I channeled the pain into my artwork. This is what emerged through twinges of agony.

Watercolor painting-in-progress

Here’s the finished painting…

The final Ghost of Banquo

Friends and fans have been enjoying finding all the faces/creatures that I hide in my paintings. These sideline observers are rarely planned. They just happen.

***

Meanwhile, we have a new addition to our family. Meet Sally the Studio Hamster!

Sweet lil' Sally

Sally loves to rummage through the Calico Critter fridge

I’m learning so much from Sally and have grown to adore the cute little creature that she is. She has a sweet personality and loves to be cuddled. She also loves to explore and sleep in the Calico Critter house!

As you all must know by now, animals are a huge inspiration to me.

Cards from The Fairy Tale Tarot and Animals Divine Tarot

~Lisa

Connor with his conceptual drawings

As the summer vacation winds down, so will Connor’s long drawing sessions in the studio. I don’t teach Connor how to draw–he just sits at his desk and lets bustling creative ideas flood onto paper. He is insatiable with paper and pencil. Once in a blue moon he’ll ask me a question such as “Mom, how do you draw a woman (cyborg influence, of course)?” or “Mom, how do you show a spaceship from the underside as it stretches into a blackhole?”. I don’t know how much help I can be aside from an impromptu perspective and/or anatomy lesson. But he does ask me my opinion with each passing drawing.

"Robot City Ship" (Don't mind the typos!)

Given that I don’t draw or even think like Connor, pretty much everything he sketches seems complicated to me. As an artist, I don’t tackle subject matter that entails the contemplation of blasters, the cockpit, the shields, the exhaust system etc….as much as I love sci-fi movies et al, I don’t draw with a mechanical perspicacity the way Connor does. It’s fun to see him flourish in ways that are alien to me, literally.

And what does Connor want to be when he grows up?

“I want to be a robotic engineer, a graphic novelist and be the next George Lucas”. I wonder if there is a way for him to bundle his interests up into one creative vocation. If anyone knows, please tell me how I can steer Connor in the right direction.  For now, all I can offer him is my enthusiasm and support, something that he offers me in return and together, the energy in the studio is off the charts.

Stay tuned! ~Lisa

Connor at his desk while his sister admires his work

Here I am with a foolish young heart (and thin figure!). This is 1995 while working on my first tarot deck: the Shapeshifter Tarot

This is the painting that determined my artistic path. The Sorceress was the sample I painted before landing my first tarot contract with Llewellyn Publications.

Here's a Shapeshifter portrait I did for 60's rock icon, Donovan. I flew to San Francisco and presented the framed painting to him in person at a 1997 Whole Life Expo (my apologies for the poor photo quality--I know I have more somewhere).

Here I am in 1998 at an Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale graduation. At the time I was working on Celtic Dragon Tarot, I was also earning a degree in Computer Animation (very new at the time). I face-mapped the Shapeshifter Tarot images on 3D runes and had them spin around in space. No one ever saw anything like that before and it earned me the top prize in my graduating class (and a subsequent job as a conceptual designer and later, college teacher).

Here's my studio. On the wall is a framed Celtic Dragon Tarot press sheet. As my biggest seller, it holds a place of honor in my workspace.

After Celtic Dragon Tarot, my book Celestial Goddesses was published. I met fabulous people along the way, including my dear friend Pam (professional singer/art educator extraordinaire). This was taken during the Spring of 2002.

I also met my future husband at the one and only Celestial Goddesses book signing. It was destiny!

During the past 15 years, I've nurtured an extraordinary friendship with the brilliant and soulful Kris Waldherr.

While I was earning my Masters Degree in Interdisplinary Studies, Animals Divine Tarot was published. It earned a COVR award the following year (2006).

After Animals Divine Tarot, there was Fantastical Creatures Tarot published by US Games. Here I am at a 2007 INATS East signing/reading. I was busy!

While working on tarot decks and books, I had kids! Here I am with my artistic son Connor in 2009.

Here's Kyra in the studio in (early 2009?). My kids love to draw too!

Here's a bookcover-in-progress I did last year.

I also had a 10 year stint as a Collectible Card Game artist, but after over 100 images I retired from the industry.

I also studied martial arts and earned my Black Belt in TKD as a means of getting healthy and feeling more balanced while in the studio. It's easy to neglect oneself when one is so consumed by one's artistic passions! (2008)

I loved writing this book!

Here's a framed press sheet of The Fairy Tale Tarot that hung at a local gallery in 2009.

Here I am at work in the studio. I use the TP for painting--just in case you were confused. (2010)

Here's what I'm working on now...

and here's what I'll be working on next.

It has been a wonderful journey so far. I can honestly say that I feel a deep sense of gratitude for my life. Yes, I did make things happen, but I also feel I’m a blessed person to be able to live my passion and know who I am. Who knows what will be? But for now, I’m perfectly content with the here and now. But sometimes it’s good to reflect back and take pause. I don’t take anything for granted!

~ Lisa

What can I say? He’s got the art bug and his current goals include an application to a special Middle School of the Arts program in West Palm Beach. It would be an arduous journey via car, rail and bus, but it is his “dream” to go to art school and engage himself in drawing intensives.  He has a list of portfolio requirements he has to meet before the big interview day and it’s serving as a powerful force of optimism. I hope to chronicle is portfolio journey in subsequent postings. So stay tuned!

*And yes, he still has his padawan braid. It is something that will be ceremonially cut when he takes (and hopefully passes) his Tae Kwon Do black belt test in December 2010. His school classmates tease him incessantly about it, but he doesn’t care! He knows who he is and what he wants and I’m proud of him for that.

Where I grew up (1971)

Lions, tigers and bears oh my! The mysterious forest is full of unknowns and teeming with mysterious life.  As a symbol of the unconscious, it is a place inhabited by wild things, often obscured by the shadows of tree branches and layered with the remnants of seasons gone by. When we walk into a forest, we step into a world full of adventure and trepidation. We leave the comfort of paths familiar and cross the threshold into a realm  full of challenges and unpredictability. Who knows what monsters lie in wait and who knows where the wayward path will lead. Myths and fairy tales often use the woods as a stage for the evolving protagonist. The character leaves the safety of home and wanders into the realm of the psyche, where growth is inevitable.

Drawing from the 80's

When I was in high school, I often sketched the forest using the wells of my imagination as reference. These forests were alive with spirits and elusive beings, there to provide me with messages. They dwelled  in a place that offered  temporary refuge from the province of a chaotic reality . I loved exploring the twisting tree limbs and fortifying roots that helped me to feel grounded in a world of teenage confusion.  I was wandering into the path of the unknown and these fantasy tree drawings helped me to manifest the deep-seated worries I was experiencing as I approached adulthood.

Pencil drawing done in my teenage years

My Mom as the Hermit (Fantastical Creatures Tarot)

Lisa as a teenager

Lisa in the snowy woods of northern New England, 1990s

Fairy tales often employ these settings as metaphors of the shadow. They are the wild, untamed symbols of our own inner landscapes, where creative thinking and intrinsic energies reside and beg to be released. It is here where we meet frog princes, wise old men, a golden goose, a ravenous wolf, imposing giants, spirit messengers and all manner of creatures that help us shed the constraints of a rational mind. It is here where we let go and become more self-aware. It is under the dappling light that we recognize our full potentials and find our way through the tangle of brush.  Through the darkness of paths unknown, we have the possibility of seeing the light.

Forest images from The Fairy Tale Tarot

Here is a neat “forest” video from friend and fellow artist Carisa Swenson:

The Forest

~ Lisa

I have grown accustomed to working alone in my studio (thus the name “Studio Hermit”), with only the company of NPR, music, and Timmy the cat aka “Studio Buddy” being the potential distractions to an otherwise intense environment. It never dawned on me to ask my 9 year-old artistically inclined son to join me in my sanctuary of creative outpourings.

After receiving a fateful call from Connor’s writing teacher, I began to see the light. Despite Connor’s history of scholastic underachievement, his writing teacher expressed interest in Connor’s creative aptitudes and offered him the chance to have his own writing corner in her classroom. In Connor’s own words, “My teacher told me that I have permission to draw on my narrative writing papers… I like making up my own stories!”. Having long since been designated a child with “attention issues”, this veteran teacher recognized that Connor thrives when given personal space. And from Connor’s point of view, he feels he’s finally being rewarded for being a storyteller—with most of his papers reflecting fantastical exploration, dark and light and human drama. Connor is not afraid to express himself as an artist/writer, and he actually impresses all those around him with his innate ability to retrieve dynamic visions from a world that only he understands. A place that has his full obeisance and where no “attention issues” persist.

I never dismissed or tried to suppress these inclinations (though I was worried about his tendency to either get As or Fs—depending on the day), but I never thought that art/writing may actually be his calling. I know, this warrants a big “duh” from my audience given his genetic predisposition, but having experienced firsthand the stigmas and challenges associated with being an artist, I was somewhat loathe to promote his gifts. I of all people should know that if you are born an artist and/or writer, you are an artist and/or writer—and there really is no stopping the impulse for creative expression.

I have to admit, Connor reminds me so much of myself in so many ways. No one could stop me either.

Ace of Wands: The Fairy Tale Tarot

So I asked him: “Would you like to move your desk into Mommy’s studio?”. Connor must have done double flips—it was as if he had been waiting for this invitation all of his young life. And then he rapturously declared “I’ll be your apprentice and you’ll be Mommy Master!”.  In some ways he already has been, having posed for a few of my fairy tale paintings and having witnessed me at work for as long as he can remember.

Connor posing for Goldilocks. Connor at age 4 watching his tired mom paint.

We moved his desk from downstairs to my hideaway on the second floor and around the corner. It’s official — he is now a resident artist! Since the move, something has happened to Connor. He is eagerly taking drawing lessons from me (having grasped the basics of perspective with amazing acuity) and is the quietest, most concentrated studio companion an artist can have. He has embraced the studio zone.

Connor was always happiest drawing

His material is taking on a new dimension, fostered by his newly found confidence and pride with a title like “studio artist”. His work is vastly different than my own, as he gravitates to robotic design and graphic narratives—filling page after page with storytelling panels complete with blurbs, onomatopoeias and dynamic visuals. His graphic novels are somewhat crude but full of action and moral-driving raconteur. No one taught him how to do this—he just does them.

a montage of some of Connor's creations (before drawing lessons)

Connor is intent on bringing a new level of technical facility to his work and wants to make his worlds appear more real and tangible as he sees them in his own mind. He has an insatiable desire to learn and get better. He has declared more than once that it is his dream to go to art school. Is it my dream for him? No, I was hoping he would pursue engineering or medicine or anything that I perceive might be the easier “conventional” path. But then again, what does that really mean? Nothing is easy if you don’t have your heart in it. I pursued the arts because I HAD to—and weathered all kinds of challenges to remain true to myself. I think Connor should to be true to himself too.

“Listening to your dreams can provide you with the motivation needed to open yourself up to new experiences. If you track your inner voice and follow your instincts, you can prevail against the inevitable challenges that will test your spirit.” ~ From The Fairy Tale Tarot companion book, Once Upon a Time.

And what has ensued? Connor is happier. Connor is more confident. A girl in his class told him “Connor, you’re really smart” (he was all smiles when I picked him up from school after that), and he has already become more focused on homework and intent on achieving those elusive straight As. He needed this boost and now he’s on a mission. Homework must be completed before he can indulge in his creative exploits and it DOES get done because he has an art goal. Though his expository writing assignments do carry over into studio time, there is no need to completely separate academics from play. Maybe he can learn to merge the two and excel at both (the way I did later on). A mom can be hopeful. For now, I will trust my heart and nurture the artist that is my son. Stay tuned!

~ Lisa

Shapeshifter paintings in progress

final drawing for Crow-Shapeshifter on watercolor board

As some of you may know, after 20 years of publishing intensity, I’ve taken a break from contracted assignments to work on my own material, unhindered by deadlines, dimensions, or other technical considerations. This doesn’t mean I’m abandoning my identity as an illustrator/writer — I still have plenty more to do/explore in print publishing. I simply needed to refresh myself and flex some creative muscle that has been lying languid since the completion of the monumental Fairy Tale Tarot project. It’s like taking a dive into the ocean after counting grains of sand by the shoreline. I needed to pull away from the details of my daily repertoire and just let loose. This also came about after befriending a bird enthusiast from Canada (who is about to have her first book published) and watching some PBS Art 21 episodes, where varied fine artists discussed their fascinating and individual journeys.

Sketches

With this break I’m flying free through the mountainous terrain of self discovery and am enjoying every minute of this much needed recess. I haven’t felt this unfettered since my early youthful days, when I freely dabbled in the surrealistic vicissitude of the imagination; when swooping brush strokes and splattered paint were par for the course. I want to paint big, bold and textural, and get really physical with the process.

Early exploratory work as a teenager (1984-5)

I had recently read “Pictures Telling Stories: The Art of Robert Ingpen” and inside was this passage:

“When asked about the difference between a painter and an illustrator he often observes that a painter stands to work and an illustrator always sits.”

I wanted to debunk this idea for myself! Why abandon a sense of illustrative narrative when standing? Why label myself and settle in a seat of expectation? I was determined to break my own convention: I stretched a whole sheet of paper on the one oversized  board that I’ve had in storage for years and set out to work.  And yes, moving the board around was no easy task — nor was it easy to paint a large scale watercolor. What I thought might be a brief interlude turned out to be an obsession!  The spirit of the paintings took over — not only consuming my psyche and soul but assuming my full attention in the studio, with creative chaos being a mess inducing bi-product. Oh, my normally orderly surroundings now took on a life of their own as the desire to paint supplanted the necessity to maintain order.

But this is good, isn’t it? Sometimes as artists, we need to shake things up, deconstruct and build anew. For me being an artist is more than just interpreting story or conveying expression, it’s about diving deeper past barriers and depths that we may have ignored for way too long. I suppose this is my way of dismantling potential artist’s block and it has worked to great effect!

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Final Shapeshifter Paintings - click to visit Lisa's online store

~ Lisa