Leaning In

It’s been a spell since my last Journal entry, which is a good thing! The summer months brought many family gatherings and outings, meaning renewed and deepening connections with loved ones - as well as much needed time recovering in between visits! Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I’ve been busy painting, framing, marketing, and organizing my life around art shows and exhibitions.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve had my share of rejections and also a few sweet wins. When it’s all said and done - the rejections and the wins help me grow as an artist, filling me with renewed determination and purpose. Because of these experiences - you could call it the “pain’ in painting - I find that I try harder, challenging and stretching myself farther than is comfortable.

Speaking of “wins”! Exceptional highlights from this year include the exhibition and sale of three of my paintings at the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. In March, two of my oil paintings were featured in the ‘Charlie’s March Roundup’ sale and exhibition:

Buckaroo, 12 inches x 12 inches, oil on linen canvas, 2023

‘Buckaroo’ sold during the Roundup silent auction event on Friday, March 17th, and my painting ‘Heading Out’ sold during the LIVE auction event - my first live auction! - on Saturday the 18th.

So exciting!! Both sales were a milestone and I was humbled and proud to be a part of it all. Truth be told, I was a bundle of nerves! Nothing like exposure and vulnerability to make a girl want to wear a paper bag over her head! (Thank Heaven for loving family, true friends and generous collectors to see me through!)

Heading Out, 16 inches x 16 inches, oil on linen canvas, 2023

And then last month my third painting, ‘True’, was welcomed into the C.M. Russell’s signature exhibition and sale event, ‘The Russell’. During the Russell’s ‘First Strike’ live auction held on August 17th, ‘True’ sold with flying colors and found a wonderful new home with an art savvy friend and collector.

True, 24 inches x 18 inches, oil on cradled panel, 2022

Thinking about the future…

There are more details and moving parts in this creative enterprise than can be imagined. With every passing day, my admiration grows for working artists who have their studio practice dialed-in and humming along with inspiration, clarity and efficiency. These are the true professionals. Slowly, though daily trial and error, I feel as if I’m joining their ranks.

One of the skills I’m developing as I lean further in to my art practice is planning ahead. There are myriad and numerous group shows and exhibitions available to artists throughout the year. Deciding which ones to submit to is an art in and of itself. Timing and preparation are everything, and there’s more than a bit of strategy involved. As an artist, you want to get your work “out there” to be seen and enjoyed, but you also need to consider that everything you turn loose into the world is a reflection of who you are - in marketing terms, this is known as your ‘brand’.

As the quality of my work improves, I find that I’m taking more thoughtful approaches with my time as well as with my associations and my community. And because the paintings I create are deeply personal and drawn from the pages of my life, the stories behind each piece are becoming more important to tell. This is a vital part of finding my “voice” as an artist. More than the skillful handling of paint, storytelling is the driver of emotion and connection. The human-ness in the experience. I’m leaning in, and committed to doing better!

Speaking of time…. I’ve gotta run!

Thanks so much for joining me here - I cherish your encouragement, friendship and support!

AND….If you have questions or ideas about topics you’d like me to explore in future posts, be sure and reach out! I’d love to know your thoughts!!

Peace & love,

Lisa

The Yoga of Art: Mindfulness in the Fine Art Studio

About a million years ago (in 2011), long before I hitched my star to Western art, I decided to join a local hot yoga studio. I was in the thick of my career and nearing burn-out, my mind was exhausted, I was physically drained and emotionally spent. Yoga was experiencing a renaissance in the Western world (thank you, Lululemon!) and I was desperate to find a way to get out of the world and back into my body. So, I took up hot yoga and the experience was transformative.

Fast forward a year and there I was, enrolling in an intensive, 12-month yoga teacher’s training program, my head full of visions of bringing my newfound passion and yogic ‘wisdom’ to others. Long workdays were followed by long nights and Saturdays spent studying and practicing yoga.

One year later: graduation! And SNAP! I had consumed so much yoga by the time the program ended, I was drowning in it…literally sick to death of it. Couldn’t see myself ever practicing it again. So, I graduated and then quit. Literally just rolled up my mat, put my shoes on and walked away.

So, what does this have to do with art?

Start where you are.

Everything in life has the potential to leave an impression, like a fingerprint on glass or a well-worn path. None of us are ever just one thing. We are, at all times, the sum total of all the things, people and places we’ve seen, tasted, and experienced. A moveable feast of complex memories, feelings, and emotions. Each and every minute of the day, whether waking or sleeping, our state-of-mind and our physical state of being carry the freight of all of our yesterdays and the list of worries for tomorrow.

Start where you are.

Like yoga, mindfulness in life is mindfulness in the art studio. Yoga is more than the practice of bending bodies, balancing on one foot, and prayerful gestures. It teaches practitioners the art of something much more basic and fundamental to life: how to breathe.

Ask yourself: When was the last time you paid attention to your breath? When was the last time you fully emptied your lungs (hard to do), paused for five seconds, and then slowly – slowly! - began filling them again. Try doing this without noticing the miraculous flow of air into (and out of) your body, or the expansion of your lungs as they move your diaphragm down toward your solar plexus.

Start where you are.

When you learn to pay attention to your breath, something amazing happens: neurons start firing and your body comes alive with sensation. The mind begins the work of checking-in with organs and limbs and thought and emotion and in that moment – in that very moment – the truth of how you’re feeling is made clear. And no two moments are ever the same. Because we are never, ever the same. As the saying goes, “if you don’t like how you’re feeling, wait for five minutes.” Which brings me to this:

Start where you are.

In yoga, each time you step onto the mat is a new beginning. You literally start where you are. Maybe you’re more tired today than yesterday. Or, you have more energy than when you last practiced two days ago. Or perhaps something wonderful happened and you’re feeling light and joyful. Or you were passed over for that promotion and you’re questioning your career choices.

Life moves at the speed of life, and we are all swept away by its momentum.

The same is true for your art practice. Each and every time you sit down to paint (or draw or write or…) you are coming to your art - stepping onto the mat - as never before. You’re another day older and even the usual thoughts and ideas are subtly changed, maybe it’s raining outside, and your mood is different, or your body’s feeling slightly – or dramatically – different.

In my art practice, paying attention to breath is how I like to begin my day in the studio. It invites me back into myself with a simple but important question: how am I today? What am I bringing to my art practice? Is it joy and optimism, or is it fatigue and quiet contemplation? If I’m exhausted or feeling low, I may decide to step away and practice self-care. But if I’m alert and energized, I may crank up the stereo and get to work!

Start where you are.

I throw my heart down into my paintings and strive to bring my best self to my art practice. Where thought goes energy flows. And energy flows from hand to brush, and from paint to canvas, which connects me to, carries and shapes the soul of each of my paintings. Because my passion is to bring feelings of hope and shared experience to my work, it’s imperative that I paint on days when my energy is flowing in the right direction.

Start where you are.

Artmaking is a practice, and successful practices need roadmaps. As the saying goes, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, all roads will get you there.’ In art, as in life, knowing where you’re going is as important as knowing where you are.

If you ‘start where you are’, allowing yourself the grace and compassion to accept the “you” who showed up to your art practice, you’ll find that your practice becomes more than an expression of an idea or an inspiration. Your practice will become the reflection of a life that is extraordinarily human, and being human is the highest, most inspired form of art in the world.

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Lisa Butters is a visual artist whose paintings are inspired by a life lived and loved in the American West. Her passion is translating the beauty of the American West into western fine art paintings. Her original western artwork reflects the world as she sees it, embodying her hopes and dreams for the future while capturing moments in time meant to be shared.

My West. My Way.™

Part I - Letting Go

When you find yourself hanging by a thread you have two choices: A) let go or B) hold on for dear life.

Faced with that particular choice - and the end of a career - six years ago, I decided to let go. Holding on would have meant holding on to the past; to relationships and behaviors that had become toxic; to aspirations and goals that, while momentarily rewarding, had led me far away from my self.

Change is never easy,. But no matter the circumstances - or from whom, where, or why they may arise - we always have the power to choose our response. And I did.

I let go.

I let go! And, thank Heaven and Hallelujah I did!

Suddenly I was free to follow my heart. Uncertainty was strange and thrilling. Fear became excitement. Obstacles turned into adventures and every moment presented me with the gift of opportunity and choice. How do I want to feel? Where do I want to go next? How do I want to spend my time? I was on the deep end, swan diving into the unknown. Whatever it was I wanted to do, I could choose to do it.

I let go.

This was the beginning of my art journey.

Part II - Exotic Birds

Writers are encouraged to write what they know. Artists are encouraged to paint what they see. I began by painting what I felt. And, despite my inner turmoil, what flowed from my brushes was pure joy. Like exotic birds in flight, a rainbow of hues flew across my canvases in abstract, energetic patterns.

Equal parts physical and visual. Brushing, scraping and moving paint across surfaces, I experimented and failed. I tried again and failed and tried again, inching my way forward in a dance of color, form and light. I was teaching myself how to paint. I was learning what it means to be an artist. My life was taking shape before my eyes.

In letting go, I was able to find a beautiful and necessary part of myself that I thought I’d lost. The part that delights in playfulness and discovery. The part that keeps our minds and our hearts young.

Part III - Coming home

I’ve lived my whole life in the American West. It’s what I know. It’s what I love.

I have intimate knowledge of her because she runs through my veins. I breathe her in and she returns to the world in sighs of thanks and prayer.

It doesn’t matter which part of the American West you experience, North or South. The fabric of this place is the same: one of strength and character, daring and fortitude.

She’s untamed beauty and rugged wilderness - rubbing up against a sea of humanity and the modern world. And yet, it’s still the Western frontier.

Time and experience have brought the world around me into focus. And in my travels, I’ve found beauty and inspiration in the history, myth, landscape and future of this miraculous place that I’ve called home my entire life.

My paintings have evolved from those first, abstract flashes of joyful liberation into works that now embody the spirit of the West and my place within it. And that’s where you’ll find me: smack-dab in the middle of it all. It’s a love affair expressed in paint. My subjects - real or imagined - are always meant to express my absolute awe and joy for this place. For this life.

Whatever the West means to you – and, I suspect it’s a bit different for each of us – my West is full of optimism and hope. In it, I see wild beauty and wild beasts. Cowboys and cowgirls. Mountains and lakes and islands and seas. Deserts and mesas and endless rolling hills and deep river valleys. Cactus and conifers. It’s a place where dreams become reality, and reality can be whatever you desire.

Everything that I paint – each original work of art – is my way of showing you a part of myself that I’m still discovering. It’s my way of giving thanks, and of shining a celebratory light on this Western life and those still wild spaces and rugged, determined individuals who call the West home.

That I get to make art is a blessing. That my paintings are finding a home in the world is a joy. That I can share it with you here is a gift.

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Lisa Butters is a visual artist whose paintings are inspired by a life lived and loved in the American West. Her passion is translating the beauty of the American West into western fine art paintings. Her original western artwork reflects the world as she sees it, embodying her hopes and dreams for the future while capturing moments in time meant to be shared.