Frustration is a Good Thing - Live Life Creatively

How many times have you felt like stabbing your canvass, cutting it to pieces, jumping on it and making a bonfire of the rest?

“We all risk failure when we take on anything that’s close to our heart.”
Leonie.e.Brown

Easy does it…

The first thing that I would recommend is to go easy on yourself. It’s like there is this unwritten rule that if you want to be an artist, you have to be born with natural talent and that magic should flow out of your fingertips every time you sit down in front of a canvas. In fact, however, that rarely, if ever, happens.

Most artists have to work really hard to get good at what they do. When you see someone’s paintings online and they take your breath away, you are most likely looking at the culmination of years’ worth of hard work and practice.

Making mistakes, is part of being an artist. Frustration is an excellent task master. Out of frustration and in your anger you decide…stuff it I’m just going to…(fill in the blank), and voila, suddenly something totally different happens. When you no longer are satisfied with your work, it means that you have reached a plateau in your new place in your skill level, and its time to move on.
It’s a sign that you are growing. Moving on means climbing mountains, and going places you have never been before. . Don’t give in, never give up.

What’s funny is that there aren’t many other professions where people are expected to be amazing right out of the gate. Think about it for a minute. Nobody expects people to be born knowing how to perform surgery or how to solve complex mathematical equations. Instead, there is an expectation that things like math, science, etc. require a lot of studying and hard work.
Beth Unknown

Why doesn’t the same thing apply to art? It makes sense that you would have to spend a lot of time refining your skills and practicing if you really want to get good. Making mistakes along the way or creating pieces that you aren’t proud of is all part of the process. Every time you pick up a paintbrush, you are mastering skills that are going to help get you where you want to go.

You Are Not What You Create

Your painting or drawing is not who you are. It is only a gift given to you by God. You are not the gift. The gift is a reflection of you and what you believe and experience. It is not always a reflection of who you are and how successful you are.

You are not your work and you need to separate yourselves from our works. Think of it as an alternative personality. A family member you dearly love but can be extremely frustrating at time. Talk about it as if it is separate from you. Take breaks from it. None of us can stand to much family at a time.

Our art is a product. You are not the product, the product is separate from whom you are. People will like or dislike you because of whom you are, not because of what the produce looks like. Some people like tea, and some like coffee. You are not the tea or the coffee. You only make the tea or coffee.
Leonie.e.Brown

Experimentation and growth is a part of every piece that we create, and some experiments unfortunately do not work. Learn from them and grow as a result. Walk into your studio with the knowledge that not everything you do will be brilliant, or work out according to your plan. Some plans work out better when the adapt along the way. Be adaptable.

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EXCELLENT rating
Based on 16 reviews

I'm about 65% done with my course and I just have to say that Leonie Brown has explained certain things in a way that I've not heard from any other artist. For example, I was blown away by how she explained how to mix the primaries and secondaries to make tertiaries and thus to make a color wheel and how to keep mixing until you get the right shade. I've done it before in another art class but not like this. It sounds so simple but it's mind blowing actually. It's such a basic ability to have that lays the very foundation of color mixing. And she walked me through it in the video she made so I could see how it's done. Wow! Thanks Leonie! - A.R. Posted for Astrid Reeves

Leonie.e. Brown ARTIST

Leonie was the best art teacher, I ever had. She pays equal attention to every student in class, making sure to teach or give advice to one after the other while taking their different skill levels into account. She is always friendly and respectful and is not only interested in her student's progress but also in them enjoying what they do. No matter what skill level you are, even if you're beginning from scratch - I would definitely recommend LifeArt School.

Denise Reisenbauer

If you’re looking for an art school this is the best place to be leonie is a fantastic teacher and amazing person. It doesn’t matter how good you are at art, lifeart school is the best place to learn or expand your knowledge of art.

Oliver Bradley

This is where I go to Art School on Friday mornings. For me, this is a dream come true, a second chance to do what I love, and do it well. Leonie Edna Brown teaches a complete art curriculum that starts you off with the absolute, and fundamental basics, and takes you all the way through to becoming a professional artist. I am still early in my journey, and I can tell you that my eyes have been opened in new ways, to see more clearly. Not only that, but being in class with others at different stages, you learn via " osmosis" just by watching Leonie teach, demonstrate or encourage others. One of those " Leonie sayings" that has impacted me has been... " it doesn't have to be perfect, it's a rendering." I have to say this often to myself and it helps me remember that it's art, not a photograph! My biggest advice is to be patient in the beginning of the journey with Leonie's classes. Whatever is worth it cannot be rushed. Be patient with yourself, and with the process. Enjoy the learning, the TIME it takes to learn. Take a break and have a coffee and a rusk, walk around and look at other's artworks and progess, make new friends and sing along to the music...it is such a wonderful atmosphere. At times quite noisy, and other times intensley quiet as everyone is focused on their work. For those who are now sufficiently envious but cannot get to actual physical classes, Leonie has NEW ONLINE CLASSES! So you too can learn in your own time! Go check it out! And thank you, Leonie, for being the wonderful teacher you are!

Belinda Mesecke

About 10 years ago, after a significant change in my life and with basically no experience with drawing, painting or art in any way at all, I started attending classes with professional artist, Leonie E. Brown. When I say basically no experience, I am talking about literally only being able to draw stick me and colour in colouring books. Talk about going in blind! A few lessons in (just the very basics really), the class at the time had the awesome opportunity of going on a 5-star weekend getaway at Angala Boutique Hotel for a portrait painting workshop. Here she taught us a special recipe using just four earthy colours being: burnt sienna, burnt umber, payne’s grey, yellow ochre. With just those four colours, one could play with the concepts, dark versus light and warm versus cold. Focusing on blending and adding one concept at time, we were taught to add as per our portrait picture we wanted to paint, blended shades of darks, matching warm (e.g. burnt sienna) and cold (e.g. payne’s grey) darks. Then we would add all the blended shades of white, warm and cold lights by mixing in titanium white, yellow ochre. I was amazed that in no time without much effort a portrait appeared! With this technique one really does not even have to draw the face first exactly in pencil, placing the dark, light, warm and cold in the right places, the picture just magically appears. Exceptional! To this day, regardless of all the other lessons I had with Leonie after, I absorbed this recipe in every art piece I do. I even use this recipe to lay the ground work or base layer for my more colourful work, as a guide for the warm, cold, dark and light colours. Sometimes, I just use those beautiful colours in my entire work and maybe here and there add another colour to make the piece pop!

Riny Versfeld

If you wanting to rekindle or explore your creative side I highly recommend that you contact Leonie at Lifeart Studio and school . Leonie offers short courses as well as weekly art classes. Leonie is an amazing teacher as well as a accomplished and very talented artist . I attended one of her short courses and absolutely love it and will definitely be attending another one soon

Ann Mari Fletcher

Thanks to Leonie E Brown, I now have a workable website! Her dedication to help others at great sacrifice to her personal time, as well as the wealth of experience she has gathered over the years, has been such a great source of help, direction and focus for me. Thank you Leonie for supporting unselfishly, other artists who are just starting out.

Belinda Mesecke

I have learnt various techniques in the past year, both in theory and practice. Leonie is very encouraging and she has amazing teaching skills. I always look forward to go to her art classes.

Shehnaz Chohan

How many times have you felt like stabbing your canvass, cutting it to pieces, jumping on it and making a bonfire of the rest?

Easy does it…

You Are Not What You Create

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