Leanne Shawler, Artist

ok, so not one of my recent "strong women" portraits. but this post should give some reasons as to why you don't get to see them. Lately, I’ve been working in the Ever After class which, while on the subject of fairytales, is a big step for me. It’s the step beyond “learn this technique” or “follow an artist’s footsteps” to uncovering my own style, and create paintings of my own. I am loving this — learning what I like and don’t like, struggling to create expressive faces, and coming up with ideas that feel true to me. I have learned that I like to paint strong women. Women who not only survive, but thrive. And weirdly, the eyes have decided to get larger lately. Maybe because I am seeing more. But then the question hit me: Why do I want to develop my own style? What is wrong with following along with lessons? What am I going to do this style of mine? First, I want to tell my own stories. Whether they reflect what is happening to me, or whether they ...

Here are some interesting stories and thoughts found on the internets this past month. Aiming for stories of love and thanksgiving... A Blessing for a Year by Erin Ramsey-Tooher at God in All Things , a beautiful story about blessing (thanking) God for life. Look, I'm not a Mum, and I usually skip "mommy"posts but the one above and this one have deeper stories to tell: Look at the Birdies by Katie Lacz at God in All Things Iowa's Breaking Bread ministry mixes sacred with secular by Luke Blount at The Episcopal News Service It is epically long (almost two hours) but The Liturgists' podcast on Religious Art is well worth listening to ... well, until they get super-philosophical and existential at the end where they lost me, but at least they realized the rabbit hole they went down (which was kind of funny). The Gift of the Green Blob , a must read at Momastery Is God Transgender? discussing the gender fluidity of God by Mark Sameth at The New York Ti...