A Little Inspiration

June 2025

   I had the guts and the foolishness to enter Beautifully Bizarre’s annual art contest. In doing so, I was signed up for their newsletters, and recently received their feature on the work of artist Michael Parks.
   As I looked at his paintings, I was amazed not only by what some people are able to do with oils, but also by the haunting familiarity of it. I knew I’d never seen it before exactly, but something was ringing a bell. I was so taken with his work that I really wanted one of his art books! They’re all out of print now, but good old Thrift Books had my back and I lucked out and got a copy of this volume.

   When I saw the cover online, my jaw dropped. THIS was why I thought I’d seen it before. I was right, I hadn’t actually seen his art—but what I had seen, and stared at for hours and hours, was this painting by Amy Brown.

   In her book Amy Brown talks about being inspired by artists like Brian Froud and the writing of Charles deLint, but to my recollection she never mentions how often she borrowed poses from the paintings of Michael Parks. This is in fact the most liberating and wonderful thing I’ve ever discovered.

  Both Amy Brown and Michael Parks create uniquely recognizable art—it is theirs and theirs alone. They both have immense bodies of work that, when viewed zoomed out, could not be more different. (I've picked out some of their most similar paintings, but browse their galleries individually and you'll see what I mean. Michael is very surreal and Amy is so whimsical.) They’ve both had successful careers in their own way! But they often repeat a pose or a theme, like multiple studies of the same fantastical photograph.

   Are the faeries of Amy Brown any less wonderful for standing in the EXACT SAME POSE that Michael Parks used? For occasionally occupying the same mysterious warm stone castle in the sky? Who did it first? Were they both looking at some classical painting I don’t know about?
   I’ve been reminded of a wonderful realization I had in college when studying the classical masters. Over and over we were shown paintings of the same theme: Bible fan art. Yes, I said it. Jesus as a baby, Jesus on the cross, Jesus performing miracles, Mary holding the crucified Jesus. Over and over and over. The bowl of fruit. The King. And often times we were told that one artist had painted while looking at another artist’s sculpture or fresco. They all used each other’s work as reference, and often created much more similar paintings than even Amy and Michael.
   We celebrate all of these artists, though. We don’t criticize them for “copying” or being unoriginal. They’re the masters, learning from the art and the world around them.
   I often get asked “Where do you come up with all these ideas?” at shows, as if I just sit in my room and then out of nowhere I suddenly envision a wizard frog striding off into the trees. Maybe somewhere out there are artists who work like this, but I have a confession: this has almost never been my process. I have nearly always started with looking at a painting that made me go WOW I WANT TO DO THAT. I would copy things my brother drew, the styles of other artists, from Lisa Frank to Stephanie Pui Mun Law. I wish I could be more spontaneous with my inspiration, but it’s often quite direct.
   This used to be something I shamed myself for. (Confession: I still do this.) I was not a “Real Artist” I was a fake, a copier. I was always stealing from someone else. Did it even come out a perfect copy? Of course not. It ended up with just a little bit of me in there, every time more and more, as I started pulling from more and more varied artists who I wanted to be like. And sometimes that’s just how it goes! That’s how, little by little, you become your own artist. I am a dash of Amy Brown and a heaping spoonful of Lulu Chen, mixed with hints of Brian Froud, Hayao Miyazaki, bits of many others, and something unnameable that might just be me.
   If you’d left me to sit in a blank room my whole life with no other art to look at, I probably wouldn’t be an artist. Maybe I’d draw swirls or stars, copy the landscape to the best of my ability, but nothing like the paintings I make today. I’ve had the benefit of some incredible teachers, the experience of seeing so much art that made me wonder if maybe I could do something like that too.
   My chronic perfectionism makes a lot of rules for me. I HAVE to do this and it HAS to be this way. There is so much beautiful, expansive permission in realizing that these rules are absolute hogwash. You absolutely CAN kind of copy something you love. Bring a bit of you to the table along with it and that’s how artists have been doing it for years.
   Knowing that Carravagio and Amy Brown did that too puts me in better company that I’d realized.
   If you’re feeling the need for a little jump start to your own creativity, take that as a sign of being human. Delight in it. And maybe check out some of these artists who have, over the years, shaped me into the artist I am today.

 I now follow over 1000 artists over various social media platforms, many of whom are absolutely awe inspiring in their talent. I could go on for days about artists like Taryn Knight, Laura Bifano, Anna Laura, Arthus Pilorget, Puuung, Josie Wren, it never ends, the talent in the world. I am always reaching to match them and to bring my own voice closer to the front. It’s a journey I’ll be on the rest of my life!  

   AND SO. I hope that when you look at my art it is hauntingly familiar, and yet something entirely new! And on that note, I DO have something entirely new for you!
   We've seen a lot of other people's art in this newsletter. Here's what I made this month. This painting took many many hours, and it was so much fun. I actually drew the sketch for it in 2021, and was too intimidated to finish it! I knew to do it justice I wanted to paint it big (12x16 inches) and had a distinct lighting envisioned and that was scary until recently.
   But with a little time and a little practice... or a lot of time and a ton of practice... anything is possible!

I hope you leave feeling inspired and maybe a little more free. Let what speaks to you speak. Just copy the dang thing and enjoy the process.
   Hoping you are well and warm (but not too warm, of course),
Lara Jean