Tell All Tuesday ~ Featured Artist: Laila Nedrebø Jensen

It's TAT time YAY! I'm going to kick straight off and hand you over to Laila, as her wise words are calling me to =)

Tell us a little bit about yourself & what kind of artist you are.

Hi, I’m Laila, a norwegian 55 years old and happy girl. There are two men in my life, one of them calls me mum and the other one is the love of my life. Handyman and I have been married the last 36 years. Three years ago I quit my dayjob, so I’m free to mess with paint, or any medium, all day long. As every other person I’m called a lot  of different things and some might even call me an artist. Personally I prefer being me, Laila, anything else feels limiting for me. To be called a good friend, a good seller, a good seemstress, a good crafter and so on, creates a lot of different expectations and if I should live up to it all there would be no time left to what I love the most, being me.

Mostly I’m self-taught, and most times that’s what I prefer. Not knowing how to/any rules is extremely freeing to me. The moment the rules or how to’s are presented, I feel locked up. Not knowing means no boundaries to me. How about you, please leave a comment telling how you feel about this. There must be a million different opinions, I think.

Do you ever lose your mojo, and if so, how do you get it back?

Variation is a keyword in my artistic life. Drawing, painting, knitting, crocheting, sewing, gardening the list could go on forever. When I’m out of ideas in one area, I just continue creating in another area. That way I keep the inspiration constantly flowing.

If, for one or other reason, I’m away from creating, I can lose my mojo for a longer period of time and it’s always a struggle to get it running again.

What is the biggest challenge you personally face as an artist and how do you overcome it?

My biggest challenge, as I see it, is my lack of patience. I am and have always been a quick person. Quick learner, quick doer, quick runner and quick speaker. My aunt tells that I spoke a lot of real words before my first birthday.

Looking back in life, I think I have avoided doing slow jobs, and therefore I have little practise doing them. To be honest, slow work bores me! Can you tell variation is perfect for me?

During the last three years it has dawned on me that working a bit slower adds another value to me. I have found that I very much enjoy working in depth of a theme and in series. Both of them slow processes and a real test of my patience. I hope that age and practice will help stretch my patience, but I realise, it’s a SLOW job.

What is your greatest personal achievement either in your art, or because of it?

What I’ll tell you now is perhaps not what you’d expect, but it’s true and hopefully inspiring. Back in 2011, August to be precise, I decide to draw and paint a face a day during that month. The result of doing so surprised and pleased me a whole lot, and still do. I actually can draw, ME, I can do it! From then on, every fibre in my body carries that knowledge. I don’t doubt it any more, never.

That is, by far, my greatest achievement, to own such a valuable security makes me feel blessed. It doesn’t mean that all I do is perfect, it’s just that I don’t doubt my own skills any more. If you’re not there yet, I highly recommend you to search for it. I promise you, it feels like finding summer in the middle of a hard winter.

Tell us where can we find out more about you & your art?

If you want to see and read more about what I’m up to, the right place to dive into is my blog. You’re welcome anytime. http://inlailascorner.blogspot.com

Thank you so much Laila....see what I mean about the wise words? The last comment resonated with me so much, because I always seem to be saying 'you can draw' (in response to someones 'I can't draw a straight line') which is usually responded to with another 'I really can't draw'. PLEASE anyone that has this 'I can't draw' sentence burrowed in their brain heed Laila's advice because I believe if you can hold a pencil then you CAN draw ~ and if you can't hold a pencil, well then I've seen more than one artist draw with their feet! So more excuses, just pull out some paper and practice. This is the only real trick there is to drawing ~ to practice, yes you can read books, watch videos or take classes to learn the more technical skills, but the only way to implement and improve them is to then practice!

"Ask yourself the secret of your success. Listen to your answer, and practice it."

Richard Bach

Do you wanna TAT it??

Email me or click the link to find all the details here =)

Much love