L-word: How would you describe your creative process now after being a full-time artist for almost two years? What changed and what stayed the same?

 

LH: I am more efficient now and more organized. I am also more confident. I am getting feedback from many sources in the art world that do not know anything about my past as an actress and that is huge to me. I let the painting dictate where to go instead of controlling it so much and I see that has helped so much. Also, I can see very quickly when it is working and when it is not.

 

L-word: Is there a future possibility for another show in the United States?

 

LH: Yes, of course. I would rather do it when I have really done well in Europe. I have a lot people guiding me and I have to take my time and do it right. I am almost sure if we do this right I won’t have to go back to acting and that is the goal. I know that may be hard for some people to understand. My soul is a painter. I am actually more quiet and private (as an artist) than people realized and I think to be a painter you really have to accept and know that part of yourself.

 

It is actually a private thing to paint, almost a lonely thing. It’s a loner thing. I spend many hours alone in a studio all day, but oddly enough after all these years I realize this is exactly who I have always been. I crave it in a way that I never craved acting, and to deny it any longer would have made me so unhappy. I feel so much peace walking into my studio, and I always felt so internally terrified on a set. I covered it well but the pressure to be so fabulous in television made it hard for me. I am more relaxed now and happier to know I can be creative in a way that I can control.

 Coeur Libre: An Art Exhibition by Laurel Holloman (video by Miki Turner)