The Creative Process – Lea Finke

Why I Sometimes Trust Colours More Than Words

Lea Finke — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:00:00 +0000

There are days when words escape me. Not because there's nothing to say, but because language sometimes feels too clear, too direct, too fixed. It demands a shape where I don’t have one yet – or where I don’t yet know what it looks like. It wants structure when all I have is chaos.

I admire people who can paint with words. That’s not something I’m good at. I’d rather reach for colour and brush. Then I mix, layer, scratch, let it flow. I don’t need to explain what I’m doing – I just do it. And often, it’s only afterwards that I realise what was moving inside me.

Content

Nuances Without Words

Trusting the Process

Colour as a Resonant Space

Trust as an Attitude

Nuances Without Words

Colours don’t ask for justification. They don’t need a title.
They can stand side by side, overlap, contradict each other – the uncertain, the wild, the tender.

A deep green next to a muted rosé can say more about my mood than a journal entry. And when I can’t quite put into words what’s going on inside me – it often shows up, all on its own, on the canvas or the paper.

Sometimes I look at a finished painting and think: Yes, that’s what it felt like.
I might never have been able to express it in words. It’s a bit like the colours are speaking for me – in their own layered, quiet way.

Trusting the Process

Right now, there’s a project on my worktable where I’m deliberately playing with colours – with no clear goal in mind. The tones are rather unusual for me. Much bolder than what I normally use – and intuitively, compositions are emerging that feel floral and lush. I’m struggling with it a bit and can feel: what’s taking shape there isn’t quite mine yet.

In the past, I might have tried to get it “right” straight away. Today, I try to be more patient with myself. And also braver. To allow things that aren’t always muted or subtle.
I observe, let it be, take the pressure off. And trust that with time, it will become clear what wants to stay – and what needs to move on.

This openness to my own process is, for me, just as much an act of trust as the painting itself. I don’t force meaning onto the image – I wait to see what it has to tell me. Sometimes not until days or even weeks later.

Colour as a Resonant Space

I almost never start with a fixed idea of what the final piece will look like. There’s no plan, no finished image in my head. I usually don’t even make sketches. I simply begin – with a colour, a movement, a shape – and see what happens.

Often, it’s only afterwards that I understand what wanted to come out of me. What mood or theme made its way into the work. It’s a bit like tracking traces within myself. What appears on the paper is mostly unconscious – but it’s true.

This process is exciting for me, too – and sometimes painful, especially when I uncover something that’s been buried deep inside for a long time. While painting, I find sadness in myself. But also joy. Sometimes both at once. Painting doesn’t ask me to resolve contradictions – it lets me give them space.

In the end, I meet myself in my paintings, in the colours. My art isn’t just a way to express myself – it’s also a way to question, explore and get to know myself. It brings me comfort and insight, playfulness and joy.

Trust as an Attitude

Sitting with my own (interim) results isn’t always easy – especially because my art is so personal. But maybe trusting colours also means trusting the not-knowing. Trusting that I don’t have to define everything. Trusting what exists in between things.

Maybe that’s the true essence of my painting: not to give an answer to a question – but to trust that the painting itself is asking it.

A New Dawn: How I find Inspiration for my New Art Series

Lea Finke — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 08:00:53 +0000

I recently joined the Artist Alliance Community, a group of artists. For the first time, I have the opportunity to participate in a Stay-in-Place residency. This is not a residency in the usual sense, where artists are given time, space and resources to focus on projects or questions away from their usual daily lives.

Everyone works with their own materials in their own studio. The Stay-in-Place residency is self-organized, yet it is about focus. At the beginning, you set a goal: What do you want to achieve in the next 3 months, what do you want to work on? It doesn't matter what the goal is.

It's about commitment; together we share a sense of obligation. That helps you stay focused. Once a week we share ideas, give each other feedback, support and encourage each other. I am very excited to be working with wonderful artists from all over the world on our respective projects.

I have 4 goals for the next 3 months:

I would like to continue to publish a new blog article every week.
At the beginning of July, I will participate in an artist market. I am preparing for it.
ABUN is working with the Southeastern Grasslands Institute at Austin Peay State University on a new project. I would like to create one or two pieces of art for that.
My main goal is to create a new series of art. In the beginning, there is always the search for inspiration.

content

Inspiration for new art

My green muse: How the beauty of nature inspires me to explore new artistic paths

Sensual Inspiration: Why Food, Music, and Nature Make Me a Better Artist

The Beauty of Tactility: How Natural Materials and Textures Influence my Artistic Work

Invitation to Experiment and Discover

Inspiration for new art

The search for inspiration is a journey that is different for every artist. For me, it often starts with a hunch, a whiff of an idea that slowly develops and becomes something bigger.

As an artist, I look at the world with an open mind, always ready to absorb whatever touches me and can be expressed in my art. An idea of an idea, not even formulated, just a hint, is the beginning of my search. My curiosity is my greatest asset. I am hungry for the unknown.

I capture my ideas, everything that makes a sound in me, in mood boards. These collections of images, colors, textures, and materials serve as the inspiration and starting point for my artwork. They are the framework within which creativity and imagination can be set free.

It is an ongoing process that constantly challenges and motivates me to find new ways to express my art. It takes patience, dedication and passion - but it's worth it! In my constant search for inspiration, there are three areas in particular where I always find new inspiration.

Today I'd like to show you the mood boards from these areas that will lead me to my new art series.

My green muse: How the beauty of nature inspires me to explore new artistic paths

My main source of inspiration is and remains nature. And it has a lot to offer in spring. New beginnings are in the air. The colors are so delicate, the air so light and translucent. There is the smell of grass and leaves, the gentle murmur of streams and rivers. And then the scent of apple blossoms...

I love being in nature, just walking or sitting and listening to the sounds and smells around me. Sometimes I find answers to questions that have been bothering me, and almost always inspiration for a new project or an important step in my life.

In nature, I can sort and balance my thoughts and feelings. When I move in it, I feel free and yet connected to everything that exists around me. Nature gives me a moment of peace and clarity that encourages me to listen to my inner self and discover what I really want.

Inspiration and peace, beauty and clarity - I am grateful for every moment I can spend in nature.

When I can't be outdoors, I like to scour the internet for inspiring landscape photography. I always find what I am looking for. What fascinates me about the images I've collected in this mood board are the colors and the delicacy. I am trying to bring them to life in my new series.

Sensual Inspiration: Why Food, Music, and Nature Make Me a Better Artist

It is that unmistakable moment when all the senses come together and the world is full of colors, smells and sounds. A good meal - the flavors blend and dance on the tongue. Being together, talking, laughing and telling stories until dawn. The hours fly by.

Conversations that inspire, challenge and bring us closer together. The smell of fresh berries, the feel of grass under your bare feet, music that makes me cry - or dance. Any of these things can be the spark that ignites an idea, the spark that unleashes my creativity, the spark that awakens new art in me.

It's one thing to enjoy things superficially, but when you dive deep into the experience and consciously notice every moment, that's the key to inspiration for me.

It's about letting those experiences flow into my art. Enjoying with all my senses gives me the tools to bring my ideas and my creativity to life. It helps me sharpen my senses and expand my perception of the world around me. It makes me feel alive, inspired and full of creativity.

The Beauty of Tactility: How Natural Materials and Textures Influence my Artistic Work

Naturalness is very important to me as a painter. Also in the materials and textures I surround myself with. Wood, sandstone, clay, ceramics, coarse linen - I have already written about my passion for paper in another blog post. I love to touch these materials, to feel them. I find it very sensual.

Even if I don't always use these materials and textures in my art, they still inspire me in a special way. I love their feel and tactility and like to incorporate that feeling into my art. The materials I have around me in my studio play an important role in my artistic work. When I have a new idea for a piece of art, I often go in search of materials that will help me realize my vision.

It's important for me to feel connected to the materials and textures I use in my art. I strive to capture the essence and beauty of these natural materials - this creates a dialog between my art and the world around me that is essential to me.

Invitation to Experiment and Discover

These are just a few ideas - of course there are a thousand ways to inspiration, and they are different not only for each artist, but often for each work or series of works. Schiller, it is said, had to smell a rotten apple to get going, Hemingway had to sharpen 30 pencils to get inspiration flowing. All that is allowed - if it works - and all other ways as well. I, for one, find working with mood boards both stimulating and liberating - it's a way of collecting materials without immediately making them artistic: they remain free for a while, so to speak, for mutual conversation. In this way, they create exactly the resonance space I need to enter into a dialogue with my upcoming artwork. What's it like for you?

How do you find inspiration? Do you also create mood boards or do you go in completely different directions?
Are you more inspired by the familiar or the unfamiliar? Are you a sharpener or a collector? I'm curious, tell me.

Seascapes – A new art series emerges

Lea Finke — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 09:10:22 +0000

My new project "Shore" - a whole series of seascapes - is very close to my heart. I love the sea, actually water in general. Even as a child, you couldn't keep me away from any puddle. The first time I saw the sea, I was overwhelmed. It was in Spain, on the Costa Brava, and I was 7 years old. I don't remember much from that holiday. But that vastness, that elemental force, the feeling of sand between my toes, the taste of salt on my lips... it has stayed with me ever since.

Painting seascapes against Meerweh

Do you miss the sea as much as I do? I haven't been to the beach for so long - we made the decision not to travel during the pandemic. I paint seascapes to deal with my Meerweh.

Meerweh - In Germany, we call wanderlust "Fernweh". The almost painful longing to be somewhere else, far away. And if it's the desire to be by the sea, we call it Meerweh. Do you know this feeling? A subliminal and yet so urgent longing for the sea and the beach? The longing to hear the sea roaring, the sand crunching and the seagulls screaming. That's Meerweh!

I dream myself to places of longing, hear the rhythmic sound of the waves, smell seaweed and shells and salt, feel the wind in my hair and the sun on my skin, I remember the feeling of being on a journey and put all my longing, my wanderlust into the paintings. In the next two months I will give myself completely to this feeling, take my time for my beach-and-sea paintings. In the first week of May I will present the paintings, and you will have the opportunity to get one or more paintings from the series.

DOING GOOD WITH ART

Get a piece of ocean freshness in your home and do something beneficial. Our oceans need our help. The world's oceans are littered with plastic waste, cigarette butts, tampons, etc. They are polluted by heavy metals, microplastics, fertilizers, pesticides, pesticides, faeces and other pollutants.

Deepwave is a team of students, scientists, researchers, marine biologists, deep-sea specialists, computer scientists, graphic designers, filmmakers and artists. For more than 15 years, they have been working together with other national and international environmental organizations to protect the oceans. They do not limit themselves to their own campaigns/events and public relations work, but actively participate in political processes.

I would like to support Deepwave's work. I will therefore donate 15% of the proceeds from the sale of the seascapes from the "Shore" series to the marine conservation organization.

WANT A SNEAK PEAK?

I don't want to give too much away yet. But little by little I'd like to give you a glimpse of what's to come, and maybe that will heighten the suspense a bit. In any case, you can participate in the creation and the work processes. Until the art series is published, I will post small videos, pictures or reports on my social media channels. If you don't want to miss anything, just follow me. I would be delighted.

I have already created a video with the first seascapes. Get into the coastal mood, have fun:

ART SERIES "SHORE

What exactly can you expect? The art series "Shore" will comprise about 10-15 paintings. Maybe more. We will see how many paintings, how much sea there is in me. I have set myself these general conditions:

Format: Square - The smallest paintings will be 15x15 cm, the largest will be 80x80 cm, perhaps even 100x100 cm.
Medium: Acrylic - Some paint will be opaque, almost pasty. In other paintings, I will apply the paint completely transparently, as if looking through the water at the seabed on the shore.
Material: Canvas - mostly stretched on frames, but also partly on painting boards. The stretcher frames have a depth of between 1.5 and 3.5 cm.

There will be shore views, the pure vastness of the ocean, beach pictures... Let's see where my longing takes me. I'll keep you posted.