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Leonora Oppenheim

design, play, participate

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“For many years, one of the barriers to me makin

“For many years, one of the barriers to me making art was the perception that to be an artist is to be selfish. Such a negative thing to be, I was always taught. As I now commit more fully to my art, I see more and more what kind of selfishness it requires. Long days alone, thinking and making. Turning down invitations. Being more antisocial than a human should be. As someone who has spent most of my life surrounded by people, in shared housing and shared studios, this pandemic isolation has come as a bit of a shock. But it has also come with a true revelation. Now that I live on my own and work on my own, funnily enough, my art practice is flourishing.”
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I wrote about the need to find a balance of generosity and selfishness as an artist. With thanks to @robert.poynton for inspiring me with the word ‘bondadoso’ - one of those wonderful untranslatable words that roughly means loving generous abundance in Spanish. You can read the full essay, featuring Martin Buber, Zadie Smith, Virginia Woolf, Barbara Hepworth, and many other art monsters 👹, over on @medium https://leonora-o.medium.com #bondadoso #generosity #selfishness #womenartists #artmonster #iandthou #purpleiris

‘It was electric’, watercolour on paper, June

‘It was electric’, watercolour on paper, June 2021. Hey, lovely ones, this is the third edition of my art gifting experiment through my monthly newsletter. Thanks to everyone who put their names in the draw last month and to those who bought a print. It was a joy to see you all in my inbox 😀👋 I’m sending this month’s newsletter out tomorrow, Saturday. You can sign up at the link in my bio to enter this month’s draw to win ‘It was electric’ and/or buy a limited edition print☝️☝️☝️#LEOonpaper #watercolour #drawing #colourstudy #electricvibes #thisisagift

Masked dance in the woods with @petit.pli 💙 A f

“Delicate is not a word I’d use to describe my

“Delicate is not a word I’d use to describe my mother’s hands. They were large, strong and capable of many things, such as making the finest pastry, digging the soil, or rubbing my back. Like her they were full of life and full of love.

I can see her hands now, covered in flour rolling out pastry on the kitchen counter-top. I can picture her gripping the heavy wheelbarrow as she rolls it down to the compost heap at the end of the garden. I can feel the feather light touch of her broad fingers on my back as a small child, soothing me to sleep when my mind was racing.”
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I wrote a new essay about gardening, grief, and growth to mark the tenth anniversary of my mum’s passing. It’s called ‘My mother’s hands’. You can find it here: leonora-o.medium.com. #gardening #grief #growth #soilhealth #guthealth #microbiome

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