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Interview with Wendy Lee Lynds
Whidbey Island artist Wendy Lee Lynds (pronounced "Lions") calls herself a "terminally perky artist looking for the bling!" She's been part of the Square-Peg tribe since our beginning. We met when she took our first class back in 2005!
Wendy contacted me toward the end of 2007 and asked if I'd be interested in interviewing her. She told me a little about what she'd been up to with her art - and since I already knew her - I knew she'd have interesting things to share with "Encourager" readers.
By the time we got to do the interview things had changed for Wendy:
I was in an upswing when I asked you
about doing an interview - I felt like "the world is my pearl". But now,
ohmygod. I may have to kill myself, where's my pocket knife?
She explained to me that she was sitting in her bunny slippers as we talked, and laughingly said that when she'd mentioned needing that pocket knife, her husband handed one to her.
Wendy continued: In the middle of all this - right now - I'm not too excited about anything. At the end of last year I was SO excited. I saw teaching opportunities... Now I'm back like a 4 year-old asking: "What am I doing with the art stuff?" Even though I taught at Coupeville (a Whidbey Island not-for-profit arts center)...
On her blog, bada BLING! Wendy calls herself a "newly emerging northwest artist (heck, a newly emerging person) currently working in collage, encaustic and monotypes. crazy for abstract expressionism". She teaches collage, specializing in beginners... "I tell them: 'if i can do it, SO CAN YOU!!' "
This is Wendy's "not-so-formal artist's blurb", which she shares on her blog:
often i am surprised at what "comes out". as i try to look objectively at the end product, what surprises me most is that much of my work feels serene and simple in some quiet way. in real life, i am absolutely none of those things.
all i know for sure is that i am drawn to work that has texture and layers. something that begs me to get closer, to figure it out.....to pay attention to the details. maybe that's why i feel the relentless urge to create. i'm trying to figure something out.
Wendy answered with what she called a "good story" (it was!). She said: There's a lady on the island - she's in her early 70's. She's an eclectic artist, has a sculpture garden at home with weird stuff soldered together. She paints tennis shoes and wraps them around branches of trees.
I was thinking: "what a free, incredibly gifted, fun person she is. I want to grow up to be just like her."
Wendy told the woman (negatively): I'm the entertainment ...funny, outgoing. I get good responses. I have good energy and spirit...People want to be around me, they say I'm so life-giving.
Wendy talked about her rescue pups (she and her husband have two - you can see their pictures on her blog):
She asked: Is that a Square-Peg trait - always thinking you will not fit in and not be able to do things that everyone thinks is so normal?
She added: ...too dramatic, too emotional. yes!
Going to CODA,
FAA, keeping on track with what I know to be true. following Anne Lamott's
advice is foremost: SHOW UP - BE HONEST - SHARE WHAT I KNOW WITH
OTHERS!!!!!
Wendy talked about listening to her heart - listening for "the bling", which she describes as:
My theme at the end of last year.."if it doesn't bling I'm not going to do it"
I've spent too much time with my light under a bushel.
I read a few books on the law of attraction in January of 2007 - many of these books suggested being proactive with your wishes and dreams - to actually WRITE THEM OUT (the first place I heard about this idea was from Henriette Anne Klauser's book Write It Down ,Make It Happen in the fall of 2004).
...I made big lists. The theme of last year was: BE FEARLESS!! At the end of 2007, when going over my notes to think towards 2008, I realized that I'd crossed out 68 things on my list.
...one was teaching, I won 2 awards at the NW Collage Society (judged by the National Collage Society), I was in "The Vagina Monologues"...Imagine me, who was a Pentecostal girl - saying "lick me". I got into a juried show (now have been in several).
Anything that comes in, I do...I want to step out in the fear.
...due to the deaths many family and attachment issues resurfaced...I had a major dive-bomb since January.
I was not feeling welcomed to be with the family during this difficult time - some of my personality traits were the "given reason"... See, Square-Peg traits aren't welcomed by the world at large...
Michael (husband) says I'm like Pollyanna sashaying down the road handing out balloons to everyone i meet and holding my raggedy ann doll!!. I hope not to lose that - that's an attractive thing - the Pollyanna...
In the past 6 or 7 years it's been more reality based, rather than being a dissociative trait.
On the Road by Kerouac, eat, pray, love, Wicked, Sickened - about Munchenauser disease, anything by Anne Lamott (she's my fave author of all time!! spiritual, in active recovery from addicitons, loves god, but feels the freedom to say the "f" word!!!!!)
The bling thing - moving towards what you love - what matters. And, as Wendy said during the interview, NOT wasting energy on things that don't have the bling.
Her courage in moving towards the bling even when she experiences fear - and even when plenty of discouraging things are going on in her life - is huge!
One of the things Wendy spoke of feeling anxious about was teaching. Yet she talked to the art director of the Coupeville Arts: "We have all these famous people come in, what about us on the island who have gifts?"
So Wendy started to teach - and it looks like she's not about to stop!! Her blogs list places where she's teaching and where her art is being exhibited.
Oh yes, I did say blogs (plural). Very shortly after Wendy told me "I want to create a blog. It has to have some kind of centeredness about it so I can stay true to it" - and expressed her fear about doing that - she jumped in and created TWO blogs!
Thanks for the inspiration, Wendy!!
You can visit this bling-seeking artist at her two blogs: bada BLING! (mentioned above) and off-the-cuff collage, her "...experiment...with whatever material is laying about on the worktable, done in ten minutes or less..."
Here are some of Wendy's favorite books:
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