Scrappy, strappy and fixing the world by Tuesday

...meet Lisa Lala

Inspiration is a funny thing. We’re brought up to believe ideas will arrive suddenly and fully formed. But ideas don’t play that way.

But they do come to play! They play Hide and Seek, Tag, You’re It and GUESS WHAT I CAN BE?

Sometimes…most of the time…ideas hide in plain sight, passed by many before being found by one. A glint of light JUST bright enough to capture the attention of the attentive.

My friend, artist Lisa Lala, is always paying attention.

That’s why she was the one who spotted a twisted hunk of strapping metal on the side of a highway one night and why she couldn’t just leave it there. She exited the highway, doubled back, and stopped her car on the shoulder in the way we tell our teens to never EVER do. (I love telling this story in Start More Than You Can Finish: A Creative Permission Slip to Unleash Your Best Ideas.)

Lisa didn’t know what would become of that scrap metal…until she did. That big tangle of inspiration sat in her studio untouched for months until she decided how to cut, sculpt, paint and mount it into a captivating art series.

Once she has an idea, Lisa’s all about starting immediately. But “The Tangle” as Lisa calls it, was raw inspiration that needed time. The ideas needed to stare at her and reveal themselves for months and mediums to come.

Some ideas, on the other hand, boil up from within and strike with urgency, like her book How to Fix the World By Tuesday, which she outlined in a day and wrote in a few weeks.

The story of this book is a thrilling example of how stARTistic muscles can change our lives and our world, so I wanted to talk to her about it.

Becky: Hello, my friend. I’ll never forget getting the email from you that was the outline of your book – something we had talked about on social media only the day before. Tell us the back story.

Lisa: I had been stressed out about some big world problems, so I sat down and wrote my own reasonable action plan for what I was going to do about it. I immediately felt better. Friends began asking how they could make their own plans and it became clear that a lot of people felt like I did. I couldn’t talk to everyone, but I could write a book. And it allows me to share with whoever else wants to create a personal action plan.

You start so much. Which stARTs are you best known for?

I’m lucky that one of the things I adore doing is what I’m best known for… as a painter of thick, luscious paintings. Right now they’re represented in galleries from NYC to LA, and other fantastic cities, including Kansas City, in the Blue Gallery.  People are most likely to recognize my Bird on a Wire paintings. They’re works that to me are about our community and the special people we listen to.

We’ve been friends for awhile, and I know you act fast when you decide to start something. What’s another story of your bias for fast action?

My husband and I lived in an adorable stone cottage when we got married. We loved it, but it had this terrible pink shag carpet on the second floor. We lived with it for years. One beautiful day I took a peek under that carpet and saw hardwood floors... and I didn't stop cutting it up and tossing pieces out the window for hours! My husband came home and the driveway was full of piles of cut up pink carpet. He couldn't even pull in! He was surprised... but we both loved the floors much better as hardwood.

Other than highway-side metal harvests, what are some ways you find inspiration to start?

For sure I go in cycles of starting new things and coasting. The two things that inspire me most are getting a new idea and seeing a friend get started on a new idea. It reminds me how easy it can be to begin – that I can just start that day.

Creativity seems to run in the family. You’re a visual artist, your husband, Robert, is an architect, and your daughter, Gigi, is a film student. What’s the key to raising stARTistic kids?

Gigi was born curious, creative and stubborn. And sometimes that was hard…she could just be so fierce about her opinions. I believe that is called a “spirited child,” and there are countless books about how NOT to go crazy when parenting one. Sometimes I think Gigi focused on film because it was an art form that was really hers, as I was terrible at it. But she had lots of other passions growing up, so we gave her opportunities to explore and then got out of the way.

A pro tip from I learned from my own parents was ‘blank paper only’. Growing up, I got absolutely no coloring books, so I did the same with my daughter. I bought blank notebooks in bulk, and kept them in her room and car so she always had a place to doodle.

You’re a sculptor, painter and writer. Were any of these art forms once harder to start than the others?

New paintings used to be hard. Now, it’s as easy as a little quiet time, a pencil sketch, mixing up some yummy paint colors and dragging them onto the canvas. After that it’s just the joy of thinking and painting and evaluating until I realize it is done, and I feel so good inside. Or it doesn't feel done and I need to get away for a bit and have a glass of wine...

How many power tools do you own?

ALL OF THEM! No, of course that is impossible. But I do like to be well rounded.

For seven years my husband and I hand-built our modern home on a small rocky point at Lake Lotawana. I’ve always been handy, but this was a whole new level of involvement (and exhaustion!) for me. I slowly learned all the house-building tools as we plugged along nights and weekends. I got REALLY good with most of them.

One day, I had to meet the glass company guy right before a ladies luncheon so he could measure up the glass for our shower.  As I showed him the area, I realized we had forgotten to build a small wall. Here I was in this gorgeous turquoise slip dress with hot pink kitten heels, but I didn’t want to send him away over a little thing. So while he was just standing there, I ran down to the shop, cut up some 2x6’s on the radial arm saw, grabbed a nail gun and lickety-split, had the wall in place so he could measure.

His complete shock has stayed with me. It was such fun surprising him!

Pretend you only get one power tool to build your next house. What is it?

You would absolutely need at least two. I mean, you can’t just gnaw materials apart. A battery powered drill is my first pick. It’s the one thing I cannot live without and I am very protective of mine. I have LALA written on it in bold Sharpie letters. This is partly a response to the fact my darling hubby dropped his own drill off the roof - TWICE! - and I don’t want my amazing drill taking flying lessons. My second tool would be a circular saw.

The teacher has sent you to the chalkboard. What is the LAST thing you want to be told to do? 

Are there still chalkboards?

Still or sparkling? 

Tap water and champagne. Separate glasses.

Over easy or sunny side up? 

In a shell. Two eggs boiled for five minutes and 20 seconds. Eaten out of one of our many different egg-in-a-shell cups.

Erasers: Yes or no? 

A MUST!

PDA: Yes or no? 

I mean, no need to act like robots...but can we set a time limit? Perhaps two seconds?

Now finish these sentences:

The best way to kill an idea is to …let time go by.

The best time to stART something is …that day.

What would you say to someone having trouble getting started?

Figure out the tiniest first step, like looking up a phone number or writing something down, and just do it that day. No need to spend time thinking about it. It's just a few minutes. Not a waste of time at all. Even if you change directions.

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Learn more about Lisa at: