Plant Bodies

Intuitive Drawing is a weekly newsletter about creative work and being human. As always, take what you need and leave the rest.

Dear friends,

This summer I’ve been traveling. From San Francisco to Kentucky to Hawai’i to the the Oregon coast, I am not sitting still. Some of these trips have been with my partner, some with the kids, and some with friends.

There are times I don’t know what I’m thinking or feeling until I start to see it come up in my artwork. I’ve always painted people and bodies, and it continues to be a theme for me, but they change, and I notice the changes in myself.

I made this painting in 2005 or so. I imagined I was a human under this blanket, hiding, patterned, safe. I struggled to communicate and be seen at that time in my life.

In 2008, I made a series of masks cut out of wood, with mirrors for the eyes.

At the time I wrote: This mask is particularly effective for those plagued by spirits seemingly speaking out of stones, ice, or other natural landscapes. The mask enables the wearer to pinpoint the exact location and shape of such voices. Also rumored to help communication between friends by clarifying meanings and understandings.

The last sentence feels like the reality of what I was grappling with: how to understand other people and how to make myself understood.

I’m digging through this old artwork to try to make sense of things now.

I can see where I’m still trying to make peace with what goes on inside of me. There are places where I want to hide from the world, afraid of being too weird and full of shame. Then other places inside of myself that I want to share, knowing that vulnerability connects me to others. My internal voice says: Don’t let them know that you aren’t perfect, don’t tell them you’ve made mistakes, and the part of me that has navigated vulnerability answers it’s okay to not know, it’s okay to be different.

I’m obsessed with this idea of how to communicate, how to connect with other people, and connect with myself simultaneously. I hear and feel so many voices inside myself, and have to untangle the ones that help me from the ones that hurt me.

When I look at these bodies and faces, I feel soothed by pattern and color exploration. There is pain, agony, and joy in trying to communicate, trying to understand myself and other human beings.

Thanks to all of you who weighed in on my calendar title this last week, I think I’ve decided to call 2027’s calendar Plant Bodies, that’s a link to pre-order it. Here’s my little blurb about the calendar:

In an effort to connect to my own body and its needs more deeply, I created a series of artwork depicting people and plants. I want to give myself the permission to have seasons, to drink water, to rest, and to flower.

This year’s calendar is another exploration of where my mind is connected to my body, and where I end and you begin. I’m trying to find the words that follow the images.

I’ve dropped back into my Portland life, where it’s hot and the sky is getting smoky. I’m teaching summer camp at Ulna this week, and at Menucha next week. I feel like I’m floating, but I’m staying grounded with the bunnies, my son, and deep sleep. Take care of yourselves out there.

Until next week, much love, Lettie Jane

Classes

• Intuitive Drawing (Saturday AM) Sept/Oct Saturdays, September 5th - October 3rd (5 weeks) 10:00am – 1:00pm

• Deeper Drawing (Saturday afternoons) Sept-Oct Saturdays, August 29th - October 3rd (6 classes) 1:30pm – 4:30pm

Tidbits

• I read 15 Rabbits by Felix Salten, and do not recommend it. It’s like 15 ways wild rabbits can die. The book was written in 1929 and Salten is Austrian which might explain why it was so violent. Supposedly this was some of source material /inspiration for Watership Down. There are some interesting passages about nature and animals, but I couldn’t get over that the rabbits didn’t go into burrows! Matt recommended this to me because he’s on some deeper level bunny kick right now that I’m not sure I know how to describe.

• I finished Art On My Mind by bell hooks. I liked the essays where hooks talked about her own life and relationship to art. This book was published in 1995. The initial essays felt heavy on the “art speak” and references I wasn’t familiar with, but the general message of taking Black artists seriously, not to be characterized or fetishized still feels worth sitting with, 30 years and many changes to the art world later.

• I listened to The Dry Season by Melissa Febos. I’ve read Body Work by Febos and I love the way she weaves research and reflection into personal memoir. This book chronicled one year of celibacy in Febos’s life and tackled topics like codependency, addiction, and feminist freedom. I deeply related to Febos’s codependent tendencies, going from one relationship to the next, in pursuit of taking care of other people’s needs, to somehow make herself feel okay.

Happy Birthday To… (Artist of the Week)

George Tooker was born August 5th, 1920 and died March 27, 2011.

Painting is an attempt to come to terms with life. There are as many solutions as there are human beings. – George Tooker

In the late 1940s and 1950s, Tooker's work was widely appreciated, but fell out of the spotlight when Abstract expressionism gained popularity. For several decades, Tooker painted with little recognition, completing one to three paintings each year. In the 1980s, he was rediscovered and celebrated as one of the most unique and mysterious American painters of the 20th century. (Wikipedia)

Tooker obviously loves painting humans, his insights into shapes and expressions are captivating. He feels like a resonate artist for this week’s newsletter. He was gay, I can’t help but read a yearning and isolation into his work that feels relatable.

Art Shows

• It’s your last chance to see NOSTALGIA POTLUCK, Closing Party: Friday, August 8th, 5-8pm The Purple Door, 3557 SE Division Street.

• If you missed seeing my coaster in person at Nucleus’s Coaster show, you can still buy them online here.

• Find my Enya piece at the next LP Show at Albina Press, Saturday, September 26th.

Etc.

• August book club: Walk Through Walls: A Memoir by Marina Abramović

• September book club: Art Is Life by Jerry Saltz

• LINE TIME is a tiny recorded class whenever you need it.

Ways to Bring My Work Into Your Home

• Original Artwork

• Prints & Decks from Buy Olympia

The Bun Update is behind a paywall, so I can reward you kind folks who send money my way. If you need the bun content, but can’t afford another subscription, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask.