"A Bird in the Hand"

             7"x5"

Available at Lucia Douglas Gallery Sept. 2013

"Everything New Under the Sun"

        acrylic on canvas

               3"x9"

             $300.

I’m a big fan of R. Crumb the cartoonist, he has done a great job of thumbing his nose at the norm.  So has Robert Williams another artist who seems bent on pushing the boundaries and upsetting the apple cart as often as possible.  I have great respect for these two individuals and many other artists who push buttons.

As much as I respect their work, I like to create art that at it’s very center one finds peace. I’ve drawn and painted since I was 6 years old...creating a world I could live with. My work is  possibly cliche, maybe the work “goes with the couch” too often, but it is my kind of rebellion against what for me was the norm for many years.   I rebel against the difficulties that I have experienced.  I rebel against greed by creating beauty, against violence by painting trees birds flowers and the occasional greenman and against neglect and abuse by painting the other side of life...the drama and beatitude of nature.  

Because of past trauma, life for me can be physically painful and very debilitating. Doing a “normal” job is not possible.  This has led to a poverty of sorts.  I am more fortunate than some and very blessed in many ways, my poverty is of the genteel sort. I have a roof over my head, a beautiful garden, an amazing view and a wonderful life partner. I find rest for my painful mind and body in the beauty that surrounds me and when I have trouble seeing it, I paint the world the way I want it to be. 

 It is difficult to make a living when just being around people can cause a panic attack so sharing my work is hard but I can still paint alone and find solace in my work. I have learned to paint small. I paint “mindful” watches. These have no hands so one can “lose all track of time”, the ultimate experience in art.   The cost for my supplies needs to be nominal since there is no “extra” money for supplies nor is there “extra” money for a studio so I paint at home.  I also use as many recycled and second hand materials as I can.   I like to use used and discarded materials particularly when I make jewelry.  It makes me feel like a larger part of a great force. 

 I find it interesting how the lack of money and being a creative person has formed me and influenced my work.  I would not be the me I am without these constraints.  I don’t see the lack as necessarily “good” but as a challenge that I have learned to work around.

Painting nature is my way of finding joy, of sending that joy back out, hopefully to the world even though few ever see my work.    The paintings I do that are not made into jewelry are also relatively small with the largest pieces being 36”x24”.  I have learned to work quickly so that I can work in between panic attacks which are physically painful and exhausting. When I know that I have art to return to I recover much more quickly so I always have projects.  Sometimes those projects are drawings or illustrations, knitting or beading, particularly if I know I just can’t get away from the depression enough to paint.  Just getting my hands busy shifts the gears.

I’ve given you a small glimpse into my world.  I wish I could share more of it.  I hope you check out my work and find peace in the paintings.

Nancy Leshinsky

"As Above So Below"

10"x10"

My work is now in Seattle at Ventures....! Ventures is located in the historic Pike Place Market, in the main building one floor below Rachael the pig:

1501 Pike Place space 521
Seattle WA, 98101 (206)508-1342

As summer solstice is nearly here I thought I'd post my last spring painting and welcome in the new season.   Happy Solstice all.

"Spring in Flight"
     18"x24"

This is an old clock that I have taken apart and replaced the insides with a painting of a rabbit who reminds me of the one from Alice in Wonderland...in his Zen like little pose he has finally stopped worrying about being late.  Smile a lot about the little things in life.  Happy Sunday

This is a doorstop rock I covered in crochet....it reminds me of the connectedness of all things and the pleasure in simplicity. 

Happy Wednesday

This is one of my "Lose all track of time" pieces called Butterfly Time

SOLD

World Window Butterfly 

acrylic on canvas

     6"x6"

Midnight Butterfly

acrylic on canvas

       6"x6"

      $250.

This butterfly painting is available now through me at matterofyes@comcast.net.  The butterfly painting  below is a little bigger at 10"x10" and will be available at the Museum of Northwest Art on Saturday June 15, 2013 www.museumofnwart.org

Butterfly and Orange Blossom

          acrylic on canvas

                10"x10"

                   $400.

This painting will be available at the MUSEUM OF NORTHWEST ART in La Connor in June...more info on the exact dates to come...

Vase of Consciousness
acrylic on canvas
     4"x4"

JEWELRY
I began making jewelry during a time when I was too ill to paint work larger than a postage stamp.  I received a container of broken watches from a friend who said "I think you can do something with these" and I did.  I took the broken parts inside of the watch out and replaced them with tiny, hand-made paintings of birds, bees, butterflies and many other favorite images and now those works have been added to the collection of handmade art. 
THESE I call mindful watches. They helped me to be mindful instead of watchful and lose all track of time.

I do a few other jewelry related items as well that are also upcycled works using bits of chain, beads that have long lost their bracelet and many other found objects.  I hope to offer these soon.

Hummingbird mindful bracelete      SOLD

Happy Tuesday...

My current group of paintings are called “paintings from beyond the hedge.”

Your average European village, in times gone by, was surrounded by a hedge or woods. Beyond that hedge was unknown land, beyond their known perception... i.e. the Other World, a world of myths.  In my work I feel a sense of painting that other world.

Michael de Ming said it well...."Myths, like alchemy, and like art, are attempts to catch a glimpse of the undiscovered country.  They take everyday existence and transform it into something remarkable.  It is through these stories that misfortunes are transformed into adventures, attractions are transformed into everlasting love, and the process of life and death is transformed into a magnificent mechanism that operates beyond our line of sight." 

Dragon Guide

acrylic on canvas

     5"x5"

     $225.

Just waking up...
Over the next few days I will be posting images from my latest series "Beyond the Hedge"

        "Bee Stung Love"
          acrylic on canvas
              3"x3"
             $100.