Stunning Expressionistic Pastel s By Laurel Casey News

A Paintless Month

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:34:01 CST

When it Feels like Slipping Away

Sometimes, in my own creating of art, fear is present. It is a bone chilling fear that whispers, "there is nothing more to paint." Let me clarify that, I have nothing more to paint. How obsured that sounds but at times it does not feel obsured but very real. In light of a large investment in a complete set Mount Vision Pastels , it terrifies me to think I am painted out.

It has been a long month plagued with a variety of illnesses and a hospital visit, which have interrupted my art process. I have dabbled in some work in a most unispired way. Each time, I walk away feeling the nothing of empty creation. I am not sure what this muse of mine is doing right now, all I am sure of is that I am frustrated. I feel distant from the inspiration that usually walks and talks to me day in and day out.Where has she gone, my muse?

I get these wonderful ideas, new ways to put pastel to a surface, new images un-yet tried. Then I approach the surface and the images fades,the ideas dim, the result of the dabbling brings me to neither wonder nor imagination. It brings me to blah! Pieces, I want to just cut up and toss away.

All at once the answer came to me I badly I need a hiatus from creativity. Since 2003, I have done nothing but create. I have drawn and painted in several mediums. I have drawn alone and with a child. I have used two hands, a left and or just a right hand. I have created with my eyes open and closed, with my heart open and closed and with my dream both open and closed. I have created with a goal in mind and a with simple mindlessness.

Now I am tired. I need a time away to rest the working eyes. So I am giving myself a hiatus. In January, I will resume the creative path. I need time to embrace myself.

06-November - 2010

Questions Asked

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 01:31:37 CDT

QUESTIONS ASKED
Once again I find myself standing before my easel. I am standing off to one side staring at an unfinished painting wondering where do I go next with this painting. The painting is an experiment with three colors, a bright yellow- green, a blue violet and a bright orange.As I cast my eyes at the colors, I notice how the canvas leans on the easel. I saw how the canvas was angled. The painting touches the crossbar and then touches the mast. Gravity holds it all in place. If it was not leaning, could the painting stand on its own? Would I paint it the same way? The leaning of this painting is impart, part of the painting. The support allows me to see. When the art is complete it no longer leans.It stands on its own merit.

The question I put to myself is, do I support myself or do I lean? The self-support I am referring to is the internal support. I think each of us lean in our lives sometime. In that leaning comes the building blocks of trust. How I get through personal problems has changed. I no longer feel the need to seek corroboration, validation or for another opinion in my life issues. There is only one source for answers, and the source is me.The days of needing a sounding board to make sure I was in the right key of life are long gone. I hear my own tune, in my own pitch, and what might be off key for you, is just perfectly fine with me. Whether or not anyone else can live with it, doesn't matter. Does that mean I live like an island? I think not. But sharing a thought and airing an issue with a friend over a cup of tea, is far different from looking for my answers in someone else’s life experience. My life; my problems; my answers; my direction; to my end.

Perhaps the leaning painting and the leaning person have something in common. Just as the supported painting allows the artist to see; the supported person learns to see herself, until she is free to see on her own and stand on her own self given merit.

.While leaning might be okay for art work in the making, long term leaning hampers the making of a human life. I rather stand and try life.

the Challenge of Commitment

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:18:57 CDT

How you spend your time.

I, like most of you, have a life in the non-artistic world. In that life, I go to the dentist and my day job, or take care of kids, do the laundry, go shopping and spend time with friends and do other liesure activities. I also spend time doing things that come up which demand my immediate attention. The question is, what should really demand immediate attention? What should be so important that I should put aside my art to persue some other end? Granted, there are events such as illness that force one to either take a child to a doctor or take yourself to bed to heal what ails you but, that is not everyday so what else am I allowing to pull me from my goal? Oh yes, it is, I who allows it. Make no mistakes about it! I am making the decision to allow the interceder to lure me from my goal. It is also my own doing when I don't say "no" to those who ask for my time. How can I get to a goal if I agree to assist people who are trying to get their own goal. Sure it is wonderful to help, but where do I draw the line?

I think it is not just the saying " no"to them. I believe it is about saying "yes" to me. What a wonderful thing to say yes to yourself and give yourself the permission to reach for what you want. At any given time, I might have four or five images in my mind that I need to put on paper and always several unfinished pieces waiting patiently for my return. If I committed myself to not giving away the precious time I have, these pieces would get accomplished

I have to pause and think of what that would feel like.

It would feel like moving forward. So the moral of this blog is, if you never have enough time for art, giving away your time, will not get you any closer. So protect your time like you would protect a finished piece of artwork. Don't be seduced by those who ask for your time. Be seduced by your art, your muse and the creative flow. Honor it and it will honor you.

Loving Life or Zen of Living with Art and Horses.

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:10:11 CDT

Loving Life or Zen of Living with Art and Horses.

Epiphanies are nothing short of God tapping on my shoulder pleading with me to pay attention to this moment. If I am willing to lend myself to such a thought, I find answers to questions that I have keep hidden inside me. In that moment or revelation, when the thought and truth meet, there is a flash of conscious light that breaks through the denial of decades, breaks through the old belief systems and hits me smack in the face and screams, “Laurel wake up your life is passing you by and you are not even in it to live it!” One might think that there might be fear in such a moment but there cannot, because fear is only cultivated in the falseness in life, truth fears nothing. Truth is sheer encouragement. It is the proof that I am part of this whole, an important part and that while here in this life I have something important to contribute and equally important l to receive

Living fearlessly, is what an artist does. When I step up to the easel to create and pull out that first pastel stick, it is like walking off a cliff! The pastel in my hand hits the paper with deliberateness and a purpose. Nothing is at question. It is the risk to ultimately expose myself to the emotions of the moment. That is that clichéd term of” Living in the Moment” I cannot say what will be revealed in the painting. I cannot tell you precisely how it will turn out. It is faith in the hand that holds the pastel that propels me forward into the art work. There is freedom in that moment with nothing to fear. Neither my inner critic nor the certified artistic judge can tamper with this freedom because it is mine, my truth alone and that is all that matters.

If any of my readers are horse enthusiasts, you are well aware of the freedom of the smooth stride, or a centered seat or the connection a rider feels when everything is in some magical synchronicity with the horse underneath the saddle. It is a beauty and honesty shared only by the two of you. In that moment, I do not ask the horse to do, nor does he wonder what should he do, it is all one language fluid, communicated and understood. There are no questions, just freedom and truth. No one observing the horse and rider can fully understand the complexity of the simplicity.

When the fear is gone, the world opens up and so does my soul. The true self is at the threshold of any dream or goal I decide to put my efforts toward. It is the realization that this is MY life. I am its director. I can achieve that which I deem as greatness. Your concept of greatness, and fulfillment might be very different from mine, but it does not mean one is less great than the other. The greatness is in the potential of the dream and in the process that brings it to realization. It is the visualization of the painting long before the pastel hits the paper that allows the painting to begin its journey to revelation.

Truth comes when it is ready to.So, tonight as I graze my daughter’s horse, I heard my truth. I have dreamt of owning my own horse since I was 8 or 9 years old; I am now 53. It has always remained an unreachable goal because I believed it was one and that I was not worthy enough to achieve it. As I walked in the cool damp grass under an August night sky filled with a spritz of dazzling stars, I heard myself tell me my truth. By next summer Laurel, you will have your own horse. I have a goal! I can attain it because I deserve it. I am worthy of it. It is my truth. It is why I am here in this world to live the life I love and love the life I was born to live.

A Painting a Day

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:51:33 CDT

You've heard it before, "Paint everyday!"

Haven't we all heard this time and time again? It is goal for me and for some it is probably achieved. But I have a problem with this goal. It is called I have a life! As a Mom and a wife, my time is often their time too. It seems that even when working at painting or at this website/blog endeavor, I am the accessible one. Or perhaps, if I wanted to take true direction in my life, I'd make myself less accessible. I guess it is a hard habit to break even when my youngest is 16 yrs old. One "hey Mom" means either physically walking away from what I am doing or at least a break in concentration/focus. ( I really have to set some limits here! I know, I know.) How about telling them this next hour is mine so let me be!

Anyway, as I was saying about painting everyday, I really want to do this but how? Well, on a recent trip to IKEA, I think I found my answer and my means. While walking through the frame department, I found a very small pine easel, maybe 12" tall and some matching 4x6 frames. I knew immediately this was my way to paint daily.

Now everyday I can paint a quick, image. These are not meant to be masterpieces just a reminder that everyday I can paint.Every morning begins with a fresh start at my daily paper emotions!

And the journey goes forward.