the courage to move into the unknown
My life is a spiritual experiment, a living laboratory of sorts, where my artwork simply becomes one facet of spiritual exploration. I have no hypothesis, no fixed method but I am open to observation.
Because simplicity beckons me, it has been my aim to integrate my life and art as much as possible. They are not two separate things for me.
There is only this art/life, moving and flowing like liquid paint back and forth across a pair of joined canvases.
My work is process oriented. Robert Motherwell said, “I begin each painting as a series of mistakes.” That about covers it for me. And I have always found I learn most in this life from my mistakes. They are always humbling and always a source of insight if I am willing to look.
It is my aim to express something that is authentically me, something that surprises me as much as anyone.
Making art part of my spiritual practice offers me the opportunity to see how I work with frustration, how I work with fear, what brings me joy and equanimity, how each brush stroke is really about having the courage to move into the unknown, to not be attached to outcomes.
The exploration of what comes out from the inside and presents itself on canvas is nothing, if not a primer in getting to know this self and by extension all the other selves I meet in my daily travels.
– Carole Leslie
Website and blog: carole leslie art
Images: a sampling of Buddhas, bowls and abstracts. © copyright Carole Leslie
the awakened eye 