Yoga and art

Renata Loree is a conscious artist who uses her yoga practice to also infuse her artwork. Her images are of strong women, Angels and fairies and are always vibrant and beautiful.

I think that art and yoga go extremely well together as they both are paths of self discovery and requests the practitioner to sharpen her perception of the world.

Thank you Renata, for agreeing to answer some of my questions - I'm so delighted as I adore your work.

Does your yoga practice shape the energy of your work?

Yes, I think it started with yoga. I painted all my life, but with my yoga practice there was always a need for expression. Just like in the movement in yoga and the postures being a container for a feeling and moving energy, I needed to express how I was feeling and what I needed to connect with and let go. Putting it down on canvas became very freeing for me and healing to my soul.

Do you have a fixed image in your head before you start painting, or is it a more intuitive process?

Most of the time there is a need to express something. I get images in my head constantly, then I work out on the canvas how it can be done. Sometimes it changes or goes through a progression.

I saw that you started work on a tarot deck a little while ago. I would imagine that to be a very challenging project, not just because of the amount of artwork, but also the depth of vision that needs to go into each card. Could you tell me what initiated the project and where it will end up?
​
The Tarot deck started again from a need to figure things out, I used it to find answers in my life and connected with it very intimately. So as usually, I like to express the images I see personally. I really wanted to finish it, but I started it at a time when I had plenty of free time to work at it. That seamed to have changed as I started to get commissions for other work. I stopped at the Major Arcana, and hopefully one day I will get to finish the whole deck as well.

You have a class on this years Lifebook - could you tell us a little bit about what students can expect to learn?

The lessons in Life book were very expressive again. That is something I have been working a lot with, and I think some students found it really challenging. But many of them were surprised that they could actually do it and it was fun. I tried to offer two different versions, one more intermediate and one more advanced. It was on working with watercolors and learning to layer them in a portrait, plus painting hands.

Could you describe where you live and the lifestyle of the place?

I live just outside of Boston in United States. I think predominantly the life around here revolves around working families in a lower to upper middle class. It’s always really hard for me to describe the community that I live in, because I am always so immersed in the yoga community and then in my art, but there is a lot to do around here and its only a half an hour car drive to Boston.

What do you do when you are not practicing yoga or painting?
​
I mostly just do the things I need to do to survive and to be with my family. I rarely go out anywhere, even when I am invited, because I am usually immersed in some project I have to finish. But it’s because I love it, or it might be also that I am kind of a homebody.

What are you the most excited about at the moment?
​
At the moment it’s just evolving in my community of artists and developing my style. I belong to wonderful group of artists called HearfulSoul Artist Collective, and they are all really amazing women with the same interests. Developing these friendships is really important to me, because it supports me on my journey, and I also don’t feel so isolated. I think being a working artist can be that way sometimes, when I paint for hours, the time just goes by so fast, so it is really nice to know that there is an audience there to share my work. I am also really excited about teaching art. I know that there is a need for art lessons and the internet makes it so much more accessible to offer so many different skills in a video format. It’s something I really would have appreciated when I was learning how it paint, and it’s something that helped me to start on my art journey again about 5 years ago.

Thank you so much! I saw that the retreat in Portugal is just around the corner for you - that sounds amazing!
​
I know it does, I really hope we can make it happen.

Thank you Renata! It was so great to learn more about you and your art.
​
If you would like to learn more about Renata then please follow her on Facebook 

​Renata's blog 

Her website is: https://renataloree.com/

'