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Recent Posts
New video about lustre painting and magazine articleThe other week I posted a video explaining the techniques and… »
Porcelain painting and other arts in ThailandThe second post in a series about my trip to Thailand last year.… »
My porcelain feature in Swiss magazine Art and PorcelaineI'm sharing another magazine feature of my award winning porcelain… »
My porcelain feature in DECOR-magasinet from NorwayLast month I was interviewed by Editor Margrete Tennfjord for a four… »
Floating in my freedom, Abstract expressionism on porcelainFinally finished this new painting on porcelain this week, "Floating… »
Expressionist landscapes on canvas and updatesI've been really productive over the past few weeks, I've been… »
We are Soldiers of Love, Ingrid Lee, 2013 porcelain vaseI started this porcelain painting We are Soldiers of Love, late last… »
Challenge of abstract expressionist lustre on porcelainThe challenge of abstract expressionist lustre on porcelain is where… »
Finishing and starting new projects on porcelainIt's been busy few weeks, so I haven't had much chance to paint… »
Demo via skype in St PetersburgIt was 4.30 am in Melbourne and I presented a ribbon embroidery… »
Abstract expressionism on porcelain
Progress of lustre painting on porcelain
What’s on my mind
Taking a break
I don’t know if you do this, but I use music to stimulate artworks, help me think about things, represent my thinking at the time, take me away, or simply chill and take 5….I find most genres of music do this for me….Ta Dave Brubeck 
The big C word…and it’s not creativity
While I’m always espousing creativity and being creative, the only way I got here was by the commitment to my cause, which is being creative *lol* That’s today’s big C word
Lot’s of things can spark and stimulate your creativity…happens to me all the time and sometimes too much 
. But it’s harnessing it, and making it productive, and making the commitment among all the other responsibilities you have that makes it work, so that you can find your true authentic and creative self…a no brainer really. Drop the crap that’s constraining and holding you back, commit to the process of creating and let it flow……..
“Commitment unlocks the doors of imagination, allows vision, and gives us the “right stuff” to turn our dreams into reality.”
James Womack
Note to self…..Sometimes easier said than done
Landscape painting is not my “thing”
Landscape painting is really not my “thing.” I am more inspired by the enviromental context of a landscape for re interpretation, rather than to paint one Don’t get me wrong I appreciate and love other artist’s landscapes, and I have friends whose landscapes simply awaken my spirit and take my breath away…but it’s not from my own work, I guarantee you!! So here are two ladscapes I’ve done on porcelain, years ago…again reinforcing to me the “it’s not my thing”. I have taught Australian Landscape painting and other landscape art for years in oils and acrylics, but it’s not my passion at all.
Moored boats, porcelain plate, Ingrid Lee 1999.
Esperance Beach, Porcelain Tile 29cm x 15cm, Ingrid Lee 1999.
Smile when you are sad
‘‘Never frown, even when you are sad, Because you never know who is Falling in love with your smile.”
One of my girlfriends shared this quote with me on facebook a while back, I don’t know who created the quote, but I like it
So here is my smile for when I am sad…I try not to frown, cos it gives you wrinkles
I haven’t done much art on smiles or mouths…I love drawing and painting eyes and hands as subject matter…something I’ll write about here later on…
Inspired by “My Funny Valentine”
This is an exciting time for me!!!! Post-children-stuff-life painting! (maybe I could start a movement?! ;p)
I’ve been ruminating on a series of canvas pieces in acrylics for a few months now. They were inspired by this version of My Funny Valentine…while I’m not a fan of Sting …this song had a massive emotional impact on me at the time…and still does, and stimulated a big process for change in my own mind set, strangely enough .
It automatically conjured colours, shapes and forms, here are some preliminary sketches and ideas. From this version of Funny Valentine, I have in my mind two paintings.
I’ve also been thinking of listening to Miles Davis’ version… And I want to see what response I make to it, maybe I’ll use my reponse to this version as a comparison. I’ll see.
Painting for myself
OMG!! Lots of things are happening at the moment, travel is on the cards and exhibiting is the next step.
So what am I going to paint?
It’s been a long while since I’ve painted for myself…apart from doing things for the family (like Easter or celebration items) and kids (See my Youtube Channel for their wall murals), I’m starting to get back to my other life, but in a new way.
I’ve kept a paper journal of thoughts and sketches and poems and things I’ve thought about over the years, I might share them here, I haven’t decided how open I”m going to be here on this blog yet.
Many of the sketches and poems over the past few years reflected entering the world of pregnancy and motherhood, but I don’t know if I really need to communicate those now, I think that time for me has passed. This was the last piece I did, of myself in early pregnancy. I was about 3 months pregnant here and HUGE. I felt distorted, disgusting, ugly, horrible, I was very ill (it’s when my formal diagnosis of fibromyalgia happened), I was carrying a boy and the hormones were making me nuts, I was newly married, lots of other stuff , we were building a new house and life was just crazy as I was dealing head on with so much.
This painting was completed in inks, with acrylic paint and graphite pencil on laminated watercolour board.
Impact, 2005 Ingrid Lee. Ink, Acrylic, Graphite Pencil on Laminated watercolour board 60 x 90 cm
Needless to say I absolutely hated being pregnant, and I think this painting reflects my emotional and psychological state at the time. I didn’t have the perfect baby bump..my body exploded out of control- my stomach, breasts and everything just did it’s own thing…I couldn’t recognise myself. Looking at that painting now, I can’t recognise myself!!! My whole body and life was changing and I didn’t see it or anything in my world at that time as my own. Seriously when I look at this painting now…that’s not even me or the form of what I look like, it’s so foreign and distorted to me…thank god my bits and pieces moved back into place!! I should put a warning on this painting for women thinking of having babies so it doesn’t turn them off!!! ha ha ha
I didn’t get to start the painting of when I was pregnant with my daughter, as I was more sick during that pregnancy and developed lupus, I still had another child at home, but I have photos, journals and quick studies to work from, when I get the inspiration to complete it.
Motivation for this week- keep trying
“God is really another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.” — Pablo Picasso
Always liked this quote. I always remember that the most important dynamic element of creativity is that of curiosity and risk taking which are at the heart of problem solving…that’s what creative people do, and as an artist I problem solve
One of my favourite Picasso paintings……..
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907 Picasso
Where am I going?
“This painting I did a few years ago actually captured the essence of this. I was inspired after a longtime girlfriend came to visit. I just felt that from our chat that she was really grappling with herself still in her early 30′s at the time, not liking how she looked, where she was, insecurities about relationships, not knowing which person she had to be, feeling exposed, trying to find a way out…but really, it was, I think trying to find a way to her authentic self.This painting hangs in my family room, as a reminder for me about the self judgement I make, though a lot less now as I’ve learned to let go and accept a lot of things about myself (largely influenced by a syndrome I have called fibromyalgia), and most importantly to keep away from the anti-sisterhood who look for more victims to join their group of judgement. “This quote really summed up this artwork for me at the time:To look at oneself without any judgement is of the greatest importance, because that is the only way you can understand and know yourself. -Krishnamurti
Emerging verve: Judgement, Ingrid Lee 2007, Acrylic on canvas
At this time, I don’t have anything to paint about where I’m going, that’s probably why I’m writing….it’ll come ;p