Keep some room in your heart

Untitled Collage by Leslie Avon Miller

The Guest House


This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.


A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.


Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

Untitled Collage by Leslie Avon Miller

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
 

~ Rumi ~

texture sample by Leslie Avon Miller

I have been a guest house to a number of fluctuating emotions of late…

Sadness and feelings of loss on top of feeling adrift as I am no longer working with paints, acrylics…. I don’t know what to do. I have also felt annoyed. I don’t want to change mediums! I don’t want to go on yet another up hill learning curve. I want what I want! (See me stomping my feet?)

I also have feelings of joy and gratitude because I certainly feel much better now that I am no longer exposed to intense VOCs. Living in harmony with my physical self is delightful. There is a spring in my step. I am quick to laugh. Life is good!

Because my painting routine has been interrupted, I have found myself with more time and space, which has been freeing. I had a day of total silence this weekend to explore where I am now, with my art, my well-being, and my process as a creative individual. I simply listened to the silence. I felt at peace about it all. I don’t know where I am going; I only know where I am right this minute. 

Texture sample by Leslie Avon Miller

The painting sample above is a guide I have used in my studio for years. I think of it and the one further above as "samplers" of the textures I make with acrylic. I miss this technical knowledge, these things I know. 

Explorations with water color and collage have been engaging and enjoyable. I have no real expectations, so it’s all an interesting foray into new worlds.

Researching options for art products, techniques, and the general process of detoxing has lead to a lot of information. 

I wanted somewhere to keep this wealth of information, so I started a new blog. It’s called Detoxing My Art Practice.

As I research and try the art materials I already own I am posting my thoughts and those of the manufacturers and other artists. Today I experimented with oil pastels. I will be posting about those on the new blog soon.

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.

~ Mary Oliver

Art Studios and Divorce

Happily Ever After

24 x 24

Acrylic with mixed media

Leslie Avon Miller

As an extension of my hand, tied by an invisible wire to my thoughts, based on a library in my head with volumes of knowledge, the paint and I work together.

That’s how I feel about the water media I use. Splatter, and I know just how that will work. Slather with my gloved hand, lift and move paint around with papers of all kinds. It delights me every time. Acrylic media and I have a long standing relationship.

But now I am getting a “divorce”. Or at least a legal separation.

The media I know so well has become a sort of toxin, a source of Organic Volatile Compounds (VOCs) in the studio. They seep into my system and make me sick by causing indoor air pollution in the studio, despite two hepa filters running all the time. I know I will get a filter with carbon which will eliminate and absorb even more VOCs in the studio.

Exposure to VOCs can lead to short-term health effects including headaches, nausea, irritation of the eyes, nose and throat and skin irritation, while long-term exposure has been linked to respiratory diseases and even cancer. Symptoms like constant headaches, nausea, muscle aches, sinus infections, skin rashes, and stuffy noses can result from prolonged use of toxic materials or improper application.

Healing yourself is connected

with healing others. 

~Yoko Ono

Acrylic. I must give it up. But what will fill the void? I have several paintings that have the initial layer of acrylic but are not finished. I tried water color on top of acrylic today. I brought out my water color crayons and markers. 

Once Upon A Time

12 x 12

Acrylic, water color and mixed media

Leslie Avon Miller

I think of my studio as a vegetable garden, 

where things follow their natural course. 

They grow, they ripen. You have to graft. 

You have to water. 

~Joan Miro

I don’t have any oils. For years I thought oils were the source of a lot of studio air pollution. However, artist Shayla Perreault Newcomb has found that she can use oils and then cooking oil, not turpentine, to clean her brushes. That’s working for her.

I have just started to research the cure for indoor pollution in my studio. I highly recommend this post at  Shayla’s blog as a good place to start.

You can find many articles and blog posts about this topic by goggling Art Studio Air Quality. And here is a link to an interesting article by a certified sustainable building advisor and writer. She has interviewed a friend who grew up in a home with an art studio only separated by a sliding glass door from the family’s living space, and tells about the health challenges this caused for the artist and family members. The article has tips on Green Art.

I am looking at having a professional quality hood installed as part of my painting station, much like in a restaurant, but the airflow should go down, then out. I wish I had thought of that when we were building. And I am going to keep researching.

More experimentation. Here I come. How is the air quality in your studio? Do you feel your art practice is green and healthy?

I want to tell what the forests were like.

Story in a Forgotten Language 

14 x 14 

Leslie Avon Miller

I want to tell what the forests
were like.

I will have to speak
in a forgotten language.

~W.S. Merwin

Close some doors.

Not because of pride,

but because that no longer fits your life.

~Paolo Coelho

I keep trying to change what I do all because of too much thinking, 

instead of letting it happen. 

What I do keeps on insisting to be here the way it wants to be. 

For that I am grateful.

You can’t help but be true to who you are; 

nobody can tell you how to be a good artist. 

Your soul is going to be in there anyway, if it exists at all.

 It can’t be some programmatic, rigid, 

ideological thing that’s outside of your own experience.

~Ellen Phelan

The only way you have anything to 

offer as an artist is to please yourself. 

~Steve Aimone.

 I am still telling stories in the studio, and dancing in the process.

Story to be continued.

On the International Road to Connection

 

 Short Story 1

by Leslie Avon Miller

If you attended the book signing for The Pulse of Mixed Media in Bellevue, 

this is the finished version of the piece on which 

I demonstrated mark making with various tools.

Seth is always busy and on the go. That's why he is a blur! 

Le Marche St.George in Vancouver

The Pulse of Mixed Media.

The Pulse is strong, healthy and having a wondrous bon time.

Patricia Larsen and her daughter, photographer Klee. 

Also in attendance was Patricia's daughter Janaki Larsen. 

Janaki is a potter making extraordinary works in white.

Then it was on to Washington, 

where Seth and Donna Watson met in Donna's stunning Japanese gardens.

If you have read the book, you know that 

Seth asked a number of questions. 

One of them was "Can you share a secret?"

Well I can share 5 of them!

Here are 5 secrets you may not know about Seth:

1. Seth can accomplish a lot in a 15 minute block of time. Blog, tweet, facebook, email; did I leave anything out?

2. He can strike up a conversation with anyone…the busboy, the host, an artist, the retail clerk.  

3. He is a night owl. It’s a good thing the internet community is open 24/7.

4. Tea drinker.

5. Seth is a peach. But you probably knew that.

Alicia Caudle and Donna Watson had a chance 

to visit after the final book signing event.

image by Seth Apter

A inspiring time was had by all.

Left to right

Robert Stockton

Leslie Avon Miller

Delorse Lovelady

Lisa JonesMoore

John Arbuckle

Donna Watson

Jeane Myers

Congratulations Seth. 

I hear your book has gone to a second printing. 

Way to go!

You can see more images of the book tour here.

It’s a Party!

Seth Apter’s book launch tour is coming to the northwest, and going International to boot.

Vancouver, British Columbia is my favorite city. I take every opportunity to visit when ever I can.

The Vancouver party is happening at Le Marché St. George, 4393 St. George at the corner of 28th in Vancouver.

The event is this Thursday, May 3^rd at 7 p.m.  I look forward to meeting Seth, Patricia Larsen, Lelainia Lloyd and perhaps you! 

You are invited to bring your book and join the get together. Art, friends and good times. What more can you ask?

I know Seth is bringing his self portrait as will I, so you can see these works in person. As much as I love the internet for the expanded opportunities to see art, seeing work up close and in person is irreplaceable.

A few marks currently happening in my studio. 

Work in Progress

by Leslie Avon Miller

Then the book tour moves to Bellevue, Washington, just outside of Seattle. We will be gathering at Bellevue Art and Frame on Saturday, May 5^th from noon until 2 p.m. Bellevue Art and Frame is giving 20% off all books purchased during the signing event and Door Prizes! The location is 13131 North 20th Street.

Seth, DonnaWatson and myself will be discussing art, answering your questions and providing short demos. If you follow Donna's blog you will know her avenue to art is founded in a zen approach emphasizing personal meaning in artistic expression.  Donna is a master artist who is very knowledgeable about design and composition. I look forward to hearing what she has to tell us, and seeing what she brings to share.

Path to Harmony

by Donna Watson

Some of my mark making tools. 

The large piece of charcoal came from a forest in the high desert of Oregon.

Kurt hiked out to get some for me. Its one of my favorite tools.

I will bring a few paintings that incorporate marks to share with you. 

Serendipity is invited as a partner to my own art work. 

At the Bellevue event I will tell you some of the ways I create opportunity for marks to present themselves in my work. 

In this excerpt from the Pulse of Mixed Media, I explain a bit about how I work.

Artist Statement 

Leslie Avon Miller

Begin

Fling paint, make marks, rip and tear.

Use sticks, palette knife, brush, and tools.  

Rags, papers, and spray move paint around.

Explore, experiment, and discover.

Build layers of dark and light.

Scratch, scrub, and sand to reveal.

Contemplate, integrate, design, and adjust.

Express, connect, communicate, be content.

And begin again.

Seth Apter in his studio.

After the Q and A there will be a book signing with Seth, Donna and myself, as well as with Alicia Caudel, Robert Stockton, Lisa JonesMoore, and Delorse Lovelady -- all of whom will be in attendance and are contributors to the book.

I’ve been anticipating these artful gatherings for months, and it’s finally almost here!