Art of Don DeLeva

Everything happens all at once, all of the time. Try just to wittiness it. Interpreting it is means focusing on one aspect of  it at a time and applying your opinions to it.

People ask," What are you trying to say? What is the story you are trying to tell people? If i am listening, observing and recording then you already know the answers.  I am more interested in why you might need your questions on your own reality confirmed. My Two Sides: acrylic on wood 2018. 5"x7"

Try twisting the brush as you paint a line, let the line swell and condense. Better yet see if you can forget that you are in the act of painting. Try watching what it is that your hand is painting. What is it trying to communicate to you? Queen Maria, painted by Deigo Velazquez

Knowing what to say is different from having something to say which is different then not knowing what to say and how to say it. Observing the moment is much easier.

When you, work just work.

It can be easy to brush of the people in your Tribe or Squad as friends and family, but the truth is they are your squad because they see something in you or your work that speaks to them.

Counting social media "likes" is a fruitless and harmful habit if  you endeavor to create from the Heart.

Sometimes it feels like you are the only one around. Congratulations your in the lead. Artist Diego Velázquez Year 1652–1653 Medium Oil on canvas Dimensions 127 cm × 98.5 cm (50 in × 38.8 in) Location Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna Artist: Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) (Spanish, Seville 1599–1660 Madrid) Date: 1651–54 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: Overall 13 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. (34.3 x 40 cm); original painted surface 12 7/8 x 15 1/8 in. (32.7 x 38.4 cm)

Creating without a story? Is there a such thing? Everything made seems to have a story with it, a shovel has a story of purpose. A story has the purpose of a story with a lesson or entertainment. Even rocks seem to have a story of history and ingredients attached to them. Finding the story in what it is you are creating will help you to recognize when the work is finished. 

It is hard to see how your art really looks in reality. First you have to know the difference between delusion and what it real. Then you have to let your body do what it wants to do and find a common ground between muscles and brain. You can honestly feel when the mind is controlling the body too much, its subtle but you can feel it.

Creating everyday, convinces the critique that they might be underestimating the importance of your gift. the Curly Brace, drawing, 4x6 graphite   

It is hard to differentiate between what you think you are saying and what you are really saying. I have found the less I try to explain the people who interested always seem to ask more questions. 

People often ask what does this painting mean? If you answer definitively, you will lose their opportunity to interpret the work for themselves. If you ask what their interpretation is, they will ask you the question once again. This is because the do not want to have the wrong answer. How can they be wrong when there is no wrong answer... unless you made one?    

As you walk on your path through your real life adventure realize you have 5 scenes. Should you lose your way of seeing the path realize you can feel your way down the path. Should you lose your seeing and feeling you can follow your hearing and smell. The path doesn't disappear we only have to try using a different scenes to find it's direction.

It is hard to see the path you are on. However there are roads that are less traveled and they are just as adventurous and war torn.

Without passing on the billions of opportunities to do things I wanted to I could never have been able to accept the challenges of 50 opportunities I lusted after.  Angle of Psychosis: Oil on panel, 1915 24x32

As to the saying "practice something for over 10,000-hours and you will be at a world class level ." Maybe... But it seems to me that 10,000 hours of practice makes you a world class practitioner of your field. Why not talk off your watch and feel what the master feels instead of the student. Huxley's Dream: Acrylic and composition leaf on panel, 6"x 12", 2017

 Using abstraction can either confuse and lose a viewer or get them to ask themselves "How do I look at this painting and what is it saying to me?". Empower your audience, give them the opportunity to think and create their own reality. Bison Kachina: Acrylic on wood, 6/15/19, 4" x 6"      

Ideas and their fruition take time. Just like trees you have to water them, prune them and nurture them. Once they are created make the effort to finish them otherwise they will always be unfinished.

Listening to advice is tricky. You really are the only one that knows the answer for sure. For a long time people told me my paintings unfinished. They sure felt finished to me. Heavily sanded out images suggested abstracted human portraits coming out of white noise static. I still did not share their view of what they felt was missing. Then one day it struck me, I am not an illustrator. I never wanted to tell the viewer what to look at and explain it in detail so as to steel their personal interpretation. Mystery is fragile, so is the mystery of own personal world.