From the Inside Out

Lauren Mantecon’s Studio, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2021

Every time I start a new painting or body of work I feel a sense of exhilaration and potential!

Then the “voice” chimes in, “How can I touch these magnificent panels of beautiful wood? What if they are the worst paintings ever?”

I rationalize that maybe I should stick to the moves and techniques I have accumulated over the years and make …well that painting I know how to make. The one I did last time.

Yep, it’s an uphill battle.

Back in graduate school I had a painting instructor that would often say the separation between a good painting and a great painting can be found in just five strokes. The only way to move from good to great is boldness and risk.

Easier said than done when we have a perfectly good painting right in front of us… done, instead of ruined.

The art we make is most often directly proportional to how we live our lives.

A perfect example of this can be found in one of my painting students: a lawyer from Texas who always wanted to pursue her art.

While vacationing in New Mexico last year she saw a house she loved in Taos, bought it and thought, “One day, I will retire and paint there.”

Long story short, she decided to do five bold moves/marks.

She sold her practice, moved to New Mexico full time, and I am now witnessing her emerge from a budding artist to a full-blown, risk-taking one that expresses the deepest realms of her being- an authentic self.

This act of holding space to what the deeper parts of our selves might want just might be the most important risk-taking tasks of our lives.

It’s perhaps the best way and only authentic way in which to create.

I believe our most brilliant work comes from a curiosity about life and the universe. The more curious you are about yourself, the more creative you can be. When we hold on to fixed notions of identity, we kill our capacity for what could be.

Be willing to ask the deeper questions in your life and your art. The place where “good enough” goes to a whole new level.

What five bold marks in your life/art would you like to do? The ones you don’t, because, well, you know… it’s good enough.

Please leave your comments below; we would love to hear from you!