Just A Weird Kindergartner!

I learned that you should feel when writing, 

not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, 

but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten 

– happy, absorbed 

and quietly putting one bead on after another.

~Brenda Ueland

Returning to the studio after a long absence,

I found all kinds of art in process. 

Some of it was well under way and I really liked it. 

Some, well not so much. 

I also found I was a tad bored with black and white 

and wanted to try something different. 

Circling around reddish tones yet again, I began. 

Colors, brush, water, paper. 

Time to get in sync with my own weirdness. 

Stringing beads. 

Thoughts accompanied me. 

So weird, I thought. 

I’m so weird.

It was a happy weird.

.

.

.

.

I simply kept on with brush, water, color. 

Stringing those happy beads.

In the end, Brenda said it so well. 

The best of times in the studio are when 

I am a happy weird kindergartner, 

absorbed in stringing my beads 

and letting it happen as it will.

What kind of beads are you stringing in your studio?

Space and Light

Thirteen Moons

by Leslie Avon Miller

14 x 11.5 mixed media on paper

I want painting to be my flashlight.

~Squeak Carnwath

On my studio wall I have written the words space and light.

Space and light are my anchor, my rock, my beacon if I become lost.

Space is the breath of art.

~Frank Lloyd Wright

I like space in a painting, space to breathe, space to wander around, space to explore.

Space to be.

Space Abstracted


by Leslie Avon Miller


10x10, mixed media collage on paper

In my pictures there are tiny forms in vast empty space, empty horizons, empty plains, everything that is stripped away has always impressed me.

~Joan Miro

I like light in a painting. It adds to the feeling of spaciousness.

The reflections of the moon on one thousand rivers are from the same moon:

the mind must be full of light.

~Hung Tzu-ch’eng

Choreographer of Space
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by Leslie Avon Miller
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22x22, mixed media collage on paper

I have always been drawn to light over dark and dark over light, with each allowing some of the other to peek through.

There is a dance that happens when light and dark are mingling together. I like to watch that dance.

Be a full bucket, pulled up the dark way of the well,

then lifted out into the light.

~Rumi

I enjoy the hints of something from before, traces left which I can just see if I look closely that other marks were first, that there are layers and layers built one upon the other.

I like empty spaces that are no longer occupied,

although you can tell that people were there once.

~Dick Cole

Before Darkness
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by Leslie Avon Miller
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15x10.5 mixed media on paper

Intimacy is important to me in my work. I enjoy looking at the work from a distance, but then finding rewards for coming closer, to see and experience the little things that enrich the experience of viewing the surface.

When you look into the abyss,

the abyss also looks into you.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Seeking My Authentic Voice

I have a new appreciation for winter, after the holidays and the rush have subsided.

It’s a personal time. It’s easy to slip home after work and live simply. I find time for reflection, time for solitude, and studio time.

I think of my thought process as mental composting in a way. I don’t have to actively reflect, just see what comes up. I have no intention of any thing like a resolution. I am experiencing more “being” now, and eschewing goal setting and time frames. I am experiencing myself a la natural. It’s exciting really. What will come of it?

From this richness of space and time (and plenty of luxurious sleep), I have been working a lot in the studio. I’m going in new directions. Ideas tumble in my mind, one after the other, waiting to be acted upon. I’m having fun!

I’m not ready to share the “new” work yet, but I can tell you I have been playing with inks, bees wax, charcoal and egg shells. Even those ingredients sound a bit like a compost pile!

I have also developed a new coaching group – Seeking Your Creative Voice. This topic is so very dear to my heart.

On January 14th you can participate in a non cost teleclass exploring the topic if you like. You can find out more here. You will also find particulars about the group there.

As this idea was developing I started down a few mental dead ends; all a part of the process I suppose. Not unlike making art, for me anyway. Then this popped up from my compost pile:

When I tap into my authentic voice that’s when the doors open, the work flows and my heart knows, just knows “this is right.” Time melts. It feels good. The struggle is replaced with a sense of work; right work, good work, the work, my work.

Voice isn’t style, voice isn’t principals and elements of design, voice isn’t content, but the language we use to express our authentic voice includes all of these. Authentic voice is something more elementary than this, it’s something closer to primal, closer to the earth, and it is uniquely yours.

The authentic voice isn’t found so much as it is invited, finally recognized and accepted for what it is and celebrated.

We don’t choose it, it claims us. What we choose is to listen and dance to the sound. You may even find yourself weeping for the joy of connection with your own creative voice.

Happy January! What is coming up from your mental compost pile?

Mark Making in the Studio

I had several ideas but the only one that felt exciting was to make marks, so marks I made! I did marks with different tools, different colors and in a different style. No goal in mind, no judgment, just experimentation with marks. I don’t know yet how I will incorporate these marks in my work, but I am excited to continue the experiment. I can’t say for sure why marks call my name so loudly, but they do. So I answer the call. I know I like the suggestion of mystery, the idea of communication and the rhythm my hand enjoys while I am marking. I work quickly and intuitively.




I have been reading about artist Fred Otnes. He is a featured artist in the book Art Revolution, by Lisa L. Cyr. He also has a book of his own, which you can preview here.
In Lisa’s book he is quoted as saying “It’s important to remain curious and try as much as you can, just to see where it can take you. The more you do, the more you learn and the better you become. I have always felt, even now, that I’m on the edge of something new.”

His work is full of small details, layers and is highly textured. You can see more of his work here. His book is on my short list of Art Books I Most Want to Receive in the upcoming holiday season. To me the holiday is best in the afternoon, when things quiet down and I can go off and spend time with my new art book…..





I don't think it's necessary for artists to have any formal training in painting or art history, but I do think it's essential to continually experiment with different subject matter, types of paint and methods of painting. Ron Parker



You will have to experiment and try things out for yourself and you will not be sure of what you are doing. That's all right, you are feeling your way into the thing. Emily Carr

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Nonobjective Art!

October Winds, 14 inches by 14 inches on birch panel. Mixed media with collage by Leslie Avon Miller.

Can we talk? So if you make non-objective or very abstracted art, or alternative art how do you talk to yourself about the innocent questions or not so innocent comments people make about your work? Generally I try to only show my work to people who “get” it on some level. I don’t feel a need to try and carry on a conversation in a language I can’t speak or understand, so why would I try to talk about nonobjective art with people who look for objective subjects? Well, maybe those people are my relatives, and they asked to see my work. Or maybe they are lovely friends who really are interested because the art is mine.

What have people seen in my work? How about a rabbit standing by a rock? Or a tree, or an alien? Or a magic fairy? Oh the list goes on. I have generally learned not to show my work to people who are kindly and mildly interested. But I did it again…comments were “What is it?” And “oh…”

It’s as if I write poems in a language long lost and not understood and the rhythm, cadence and tones are not enough to know beauty when you hear it. Or perhaps I write music with no words, and the melody and the relationships between notes are ethereal and ancient, but leave the listener wondering how she can sing a catchy phrase in the shower?

Today I can laugh about it, and just keep on painting. I keep on painting because I love layers, and partially obscured marks, and I love colors and shapes and movement and mystery. I paint because I love the language. And I paint because I must. My life feels like a good fit if I paint; I feel like I am being who I am if I create. I create because that’s who I am and because I am compelled to do so. And because life is short and life is beautiful.

That’s one of the many things about blogging I find so worth while. I see work of other artists and I am thrilled to see their vision. And I see work that has pushed even further than mine and it makes me want to go down the path and find out what is around the creative corner awaiting me. I read eager words on blogs written by members of the tribe. And even if the artist speaks French, or Portuguese, and I only speak English it doesn’t matter, because we speak the language of Art.

“The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist.” Eric Gill

Rhythm of The Day

Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture your heart.

Old Indian Saying

Rhythm of The Day, 20 inches by 20 inches, mixed media on birch panel, by Leslie Avon Miller

After a six week hiatus during which I connected with people I love, tended to things around home and had a vacation I went back to the studio today. I had completed this painting prior to my break and forgot about it, so it was a nice surprise to find it again. I decided it was done.

Nancy Natale was kind enough to send me some information she had put together on photography of art work, so I worked with that today. Thanks Nancy. I’ve spent the day making marks, adding colors and shapes and playing more than working really. It’s been relaxed and satisfying. I look forward to creative time tomorrow. I feel a little greedy about it actually. Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.

Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration. – Igor Stravinsky

Studio Time

Mixed media painting by Leslie Avon Miller, 20 by 20 inches on panel

I love long weekends – with time to create, think, write, relax, experience life at a more human pace. Lovely. I have finished the painting I wanted to make for our mantel. I’m going to share my inspiration. I saw these “woman-kins” in a book I have called Pottery Barn Living Rooms. I also saw the white and grey painting with some warm tones in the same book. I have had the page with that painting ear-marked for years. I like it a lot. So combing those two sources of inspiration I made my painting, which is 20 inches by 20 inches on birch panel. I also happen to have two woman-kins to which I added paint and ink to make them look aged and interesting. With luck, they will be displayed on the mantel as well. If I am pleased with the way my mantel make over project turns out, I’ll post a photo.
Tomorrow will afford me more studio time. The second coat of gesso is dry on the 36 inch panel, and I have started four more Bone Prayer paintings. I also made some collage papers.
Studio time is like a health tonic. My life is so much more comfortable when I get some on a regular basis. I can’t think of a better way to spend a holiday weekend. I wish everyone a great weekend. Everywhere in the world its spring or fall – the most tender of seasons.