Leilani Joy's "Why I Paint" Contest!

Title: “Why I Art”

Title: “Butterflies and Alette, the birds help me make my dress.”

Title: “The Moment of Creation”

Title: “Mousey’s Saturday Afternoon”

Title: “Untitled”

Title: “Addicted to Creation”

Title: “Shikoba”

Title: “Deer Frida”

Title: “It Pours Forth”

Title: La Belle et la Bete: The First Marriage Portrait

Congrats to the winners and Thank you to each and every one of you that entered! If you’re a winner, be sure to contact me at [email protected] so we can make arrangements to get your prize to you!

Submissions are now closed! Thank you to each and every one of you that entered! I’m so impressed by the amazing variety and quality of work! Thank you all for sharing your personal stories and inspirations with me! I’m so impressed and touched by them all! You’ve definitely made my job of choose winners SO difficult! Stay tuned and I’ll have the winner announcement posted tomorrow, June 1st! Thanks again and keep creating! xoxo Leilani Joy

I paint to bring to life my dreamworld. Something untouchable and fanciful. I paint for myself because it brings me joy. Its to express my love for the fantasy realm lost away.

I paint, because it is a necessity to me. I feel like art is the one thing that makes me myself. Art is my identity. If I couldn't create art, I would lose myself and my meaning to life. Being able to take something mundane or ordinary, and capturing it in a way that makes it unique and enjoyable is the best feeling in the world. I live to show the world my point of view and the meaning I see in it. 

I'm ambivalent about my art. I've struggled to make something of it and myself. Sometimes the frustration is too much and I give up. For a while. Then I find myself doodling, and sketching, and then making plans for future pieces and gathering reference materials. I find myself looking forward to creating something material and physical that was previously only in my mind. I make art because I do, even when I don't mean to. Even when I don't want to. It just comes out.

Growing up as a kid, I was always attracted to the strange and supernatural (I still am today). Because I grew up in a Christian school, I would always imagine things like heaven, hell, what angels looked like, and stuff like that. I believe God gave everyone a gift, and it hat's something we should grow and use to portray a message to the world. That's why I draw. This piece to me, is about finding out who you are , and to become able to have the discernment to make the right choices in this short life.

"The Book of my Wonders"- what is in this painting is what sparked my interest to make art with many different mediums. The cat is my love for animals and how I could draw them but also make them my own by making the color whatever I wish. The baymax,the anime, and the Italy head in the corner  stands for how art can be animated and how I would love to see my own creations move. The dragon, Harry Potter face, and the  mermaid tail represents how I love that I can create whatever creature I wish.  The paint brush with multi colored paper is how you can make anything with just color. The waffle and the skittle are 2 of the art youtubers I watch seeing them create what they wanted got me to start to think how I create anything if I just keep my mind to it. The tablet with the pencil represents how there's a huge art community that supports all artist new and old. And finally the book stands for my mind how I can create and keep creating if I don't limit myself. And that's why I paint.