Issue #24 Palette, Poetry & Prose: My Creative Process Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone Dude-Ranch Commission, 30" x 22", gouache on paper, 2025. There is something that happens to a painter who’s been out of art school for a long time. You get to a place in your work that is like throwing on a comfy pair of jeans every morning. It’s not that you’re not working hard, or taking yourself seriously, because you are, and you do. But you don’t need to put on the painter’s uniform to know you’re...
about 1 year ago • 6 min read
Issue #23 Palette, Poetry & Prose: My Creative Process GUILTY! The Scene www.liselemeland.com PO Box 386, Williamsburg, MA 01096Unsubscribe · Preferences
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Issue #22 Palette, Poetry & Prose: My Creative Process Getting to Know My Trauma: A Humble Treatise on PTSD "Healing Brain Fog", gouache on paper, 16" x 12", 2022. Sometimes, I suffer from creative blocks (painter’s and writer’s), and this has been one of those times— hence the tardiness of my newsletter. When I was a painting professor, I assured my blocked and distressed students that this was perfectly normal. I gave them suggestions: switch mediums! Paint with your non-dominant hand!...
over 1 year ago • 10 min read
Issue #21 Palette, Poetry & Prose: My Creative Process Why Investing in Art is Like Starting a Relationship "Undermountain" by Kevin Wixted, oil on linen, 62" x 48", 2023. I have a secret to admit. Even though I’m an artist, and truly value art above almost everything, until recently I had never invested in art in any significant way. By significant, I mean what I consider to be a relatively substantial amount of money relative to my monthly income. This is kind of shocking, isn’t it?! I’ve...
over 1 year ago • 4 min read
Issue #20 Palette, Poetry & Prose: My Creative Process Hints of Spring: poetry-sketches "Fuchsia Flowers" gouache on paper, 24" x 18", 2021. Hello my friends! Is it already spring where you live, or is winter finally showing signs of flagging, like it is here in the northeast? I am so excited for the warmer weather and longer days!! In honor of Mother Nature's awe inspiring transformation, I thought I'd share a few recent poems. Some of them are about nature, often mixed with personal...
over 1 year ago • 4 min read
Issue #19 My Creative Process Polaris: Finding Your North Star "Polaris: Finding My North Star", gouache on paper, 30" x 22", 2025. Greetings from the frigid northeast! It’s sometimes hard to remember, on puppy potty-walks in the sub-zero dark of morning, that winter will soon become a distant memory! It continues to be a challenging time for me for a number of reasons. My health took a nosedive in November, and I’m still feeling awful... and searching for the reason. And then, I’ve had...
over 1 year ago • 4 min read
Issue #18 My Creative Process On Meditation and Mortality Back in 2020, when I was suffering from chronic illness, I felt hopeless, lost, and very alone. I had gone back to work after a one-year medical leave of absence, but after only six months at work, I found myself unable to function. I tried cutting back my hours, but I soon realized this wasn’t enough, and my health was rapidly declining to a point of complete dysfunction. I couldn’t sleep, was engulfed in pain at night, and plagued...
over 1 year ago • 10 min read
Issue #17 My Creative Process 2024 Review of Paintings "The Infinite Sky" gouache on paper, 30" x 22", 2024. Happy New Year! I’m happy it’s 2025, I love the start of a new year— it’s a blank canvas ready to be filled with new hopes and aspirations! The tail-end of 2024 was a particularly challenging one for me, and the reason I’ve been absent for a month from my own blog. I have been very sick with this new case of Lyme, much sicker than I ever was the first time around (back in 2018). This...
almost 2 years ago • 6 min read
Issue #16 My Creative Process When Life Gives You Lemons... Get on with it. Leo Months ago, when I started this newsletter, I decided to call it My Creative Process because I thought people who are drawn to my work might be curious about my process. I’ve always enjoyed learning what’s behind an artist’s work, because I feel it enrichens the work. But I also entitled the newsletter My Creative Process because I wanted to give myself free rein to write about a broad spectrum of topics, in a...
almost 2 years ago • 6 min read