Craig Lueck Studio
About
Born and raised in Wisconsin, I still feel deeply connected to the land, water and people there. While growing up, I never thought about “becoming” an artist. I always just figured I was one. I attended four colleges before graduating from the American Academy of Art in Chicago. Currently, my life is devoted entirely to illustration, painting and teaching. A favorite quote: “Life beats down and crushes your soul, but art reminds you that you have one.”
Through my creative workshops, I enjoy reconnecting people to their child-like, playful impulses, and to help them connect thier hands to their hearts, creating art being a great conduit for discovery. The creative process can be humbling, but it can also be just the invitation needed in order to enliven a life. My own painting style is influenced by a host of people, everyone from my kindergarten teacher to Andrew Wyeth, John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. I’m also deeply grateful to my family for their encouragement and inspiration.
What inspires you to create?
Everyday moments are plenty to get me going. I do not wait to be inspired, I just begin. Inspiration comes with practice. Practice is the key that starts the engine in me.
What advice would you give to people looking to express their creativity?
Just begin. Progress over perfection, please. Do not wait. If you are new to the creative process, at least begin a search for what others are doing. Write down names of people with creative works you admire, or that cause your heart to beat a bit stronger. Consider a workshop of some kind. Art requires action, so just begin to move toward it. No doubt you will be enlivened, even with a basic search. Art is a very shy thing at the beginning. You must coax it out to play. You can do it! Just start!
How does your art connect with people?
Perhaps it’s over stated, but emotion is what I attempt to mix in with all of my watercolors. It’s hard to live without emotions. Life and watercolor is hard and soft, lost and found, uncertainty and clarity are in the everyday moments and in the brush strokes. Basically, like life, the joy for me is in the doing. And if I do not over state it, I can then invite others in, so they can add their own personal narratives. Watercolor art is often a shared experience, offering a fresh perpsective.