A Love Affair With Egg Tempera Painting: Exploring The Fragility of Life Through Art | Lora Arbrador

FOR EPISODE LINKS & MORE INFO VISIT: https://samhorton.co/blog/ep121

In this fun and inspiring conversation, artist, author, and nurse Lora Arbrador shares her remarkable creative journey and lifelong devotion to the ancient art of egg tempera painting. 

From discovering art as a teenager to navigating self-doubt, nursing through the AIDS epidemic, and finding inspiration in the human stories that shaped her life, Lora offers a moving reflection on creativity, purpose, and resilience. 

Together, we explore how art can become a vessel for meaning, healing, and self-discovery, as well as the surprising ways our creative practice continues to call us home through every season of life. 

In this episode, we explore:

•  How Lora unexpectedly fell in love with art at age 12 and began her creative journey. 
•  What egg tempera painting is and why this ancient medium has captivated her for more than 50 years. 
•  The unique process of creating paint from egg yolks and pigment. 
•  The discipline, patience, and quiet beauty of working in a slow, layered medium. 
•  How a career in nursing profoundly influenced the themes and stories within her artwork. 
•  Creating paintings inspired by human resilience, disability, illness, love, and transformation. 
•  The relationship between storytelling, visual art, and memoir writing. 
•  Why self-doubt can coexist with a lifelong creative calling. 
•  The difference between artistic confidence and creative devotion. 
•  Creativity as a practice that continues to nourish and sustain us through changing life seasons. 
•  The moments of insight, intuition, and unexpected breakthroughs that emerge during the creative process. 
•  The possibility that art helps us connect with something larger than ourselves. 
•  Why playfulness may be one of the most important ingredients in a meaningful creative practice.

FOR EPISODE LINKS & MORE INFO VISIT: https://samhorton.co/blog/ep121

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Transcript

Ep 121 Lora Arbrador

Sam Horton: [00:00:00]

So today I have Lora Abrador with me. Lora is the author of Art and Love: My Life Illuminated in Egg Tempera. It is the memoir of a woman's quest to master the ancient art of egg tempera painting, gain confidence as an artist, and find lasting love. So welcome, Lora. 

Lora Arbrador: Thank you so much, Sam. May I call you Sam or Samantha?

Yes. 

Sam Horton: No, that's fine. 

Lora Arbrador: Sam? 

Sam Horton: Okay . So let's just start with your story, Lora. Tell us about your journey and how that's led to you writing a memoir. 

Lora Arbrador: Sure. Well, um, my journey's, I think, a little different than a lot of artists who kind of say, like, they were just painting and drawing at a very early age and they knew they wanted to be an artist.

I really had no interest in art. And then I... My parents wanted me to be interested in something, so they sent me for piano lessons and dance lessons. And finally, they had a friend who was a very accomplished watercolor artist, and so [00:01:00] they sent me to her for art lessons in a small group in her basement.

Mm-hmm. And there was just something about it. She just treated us like adults with a lot of respect and one-on-one attention, and I just became totally fascinated by art and engaged with art. I think I was around 12 at that time, and that started my journey. But it's been a long road because I never really got the confidence that, that I, I imagine people get from their parents and teachers like, "Oh, you're so good," and- Okay.

"Let me put your, let me put your painting on the refrigerator." You know? I never, I never got that, so... And yet I still had the passion, and eventually I did find some really wonderful mentors and I developed a lot of my own voice, my own style. Part of that came because I knew I was not gonna make money from art because I wasn't getting- Mm-hmm

the feedback. So I became a nurse, registered nurse. And then these things started happening, like the AIDS epidemic [00:02:00] happened. Mm-hmm. And I was doing nursing research during the AIDS epidemic and- Mm-hmm ... my patients were dying, and this started showing up in my artwork. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: So, a- and at that point, I, I always believed that artists would not, do not need to write about their art.

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. 

Lora Arbrador: That the art should speak for itself. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: But a lot of my paintings were very narrative and the painting didn't tell the whole story. 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. 

Lora Arbrador: So I thought, "I'll just write down some stories," and I posted them next to the paintings when I exhibited them, and people really resonated- 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm ... 

Lora Arbrador: with the painting more because they read the story.

Somewhere along the line, I got the idea to put it into a book form, possibly because some of the art is pretty edgy- Okay ... and out there. And I thought- Mm ... well, maybe it's a little safer in a book. Which of course is not true. It's not safer in a book. Yes. But that was what I thought. That was my thought.

And then also, whenever I've told people about my [00:03:00] life, I had all kinds of things happen to me, which I can, I can get into. Mm-hmm. They said, when I was telling the stories, say, "Oh, you should write a book. You should write a book." And I thought- Mm ... "That's ridiculous. My life's not anything special." But then I s- came to see that- There were a lot of kind of interesting things that happened to me.

Not all of them were good. Yeah. They were dif- difficult. Yeah. So between, between that and the, uh, the different reasons, I just started writing without any idea of publishing, just writing. 

Sam Horton: Yeah, 

Lora Arbrador: beautiful. So that's the basics. I could go on from there but that's the basics. I'll let you- Let you talk now. 

Sam Horton: So, so why egg tempera?

You know, y- can you explain a bit about- Uh ... what, what it actually is first, and then how you discovered it, and why you fell in love with it? 

Lora Arbrador: Oh, okay. Sure, yeah. Mm. So egg tempera is a kind of a homemade paint that you combine an egg yolk, just like you would make a cake. You would go back and forth and get rid of the white.

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: And e- and then you mix it with [00:04:00] colorful pigments that you buy- Mm-hmm ... in a powdered form. Now, you can grind your own pigments from stone. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And I have, I have done that. But most of us buy them from companies now, and you just mix a little bit of the pigment with the egg yolk, and it forms a paint.

It's somewhere between oil paint and watercolor, in that the egg yolk has elements of oil and water in it. 

Sam Horton: Mm. 

Lora Arbrador: It is usually water-based. You, you wash your brush out with water. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: But what happened was I was, uh, in college and I was taking an art class, Materials and Methods of Painting. 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. 

Lora Arbrador: So, you know, he went through all the different acrylic and watercolor and, and then he said, "Okay."

One day he p- he handed out a piece of paper, one page, said, "This is a recipe for egg tempera paint. I have never done it. I don't know anything about it, but everybody has to try it because it's a historic medium, and..." So I went and bought the... I bought a plywood, [00:05:00] and the pigments, and of course eggs. And- The thing that I didn't mention about egg tempera is that usually it's painted on a, a ground or a primer- 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm

Lora Arbrador: called, it's called gesso, but it's a different gesso- 

Sam Horton: Okay ... 

Lora Arbrador: than oil painters use. 

Sam Horton: Sure. 

Lora Arbrador: It's made with animal glue and a white substance. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: Now, a r- regular acrylic gesso is also made from a white substance, but it's bound with acrylic polymer or plastic. Mm-hmm. But ours is a, is a animal glue. So it's really the magic of painting this egg tempera on this pure white surface- Mm

that's very absorbent. Okay. So and see right, I was 19 years old. I bought this stuff. I didn't know what I was doing, and I just started painting, and it was, like, very magical. 

Sam Horton: Mm. 

Lora Arbrador: Just how the paint absorbed in, and you added layer after layer. And that started me on this path I've been on for about 50, 60 years [00:06:00] now.

Sam Horton: Okay. Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: But I, I could not find a teacher. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And so yeah. And I talk about this in that, in the book, yeah. Yeah, sure. So yeah. Uh,

Sam Horton: So, so what do you love about it? You know, why is it that particular material that really st- has stuck with you?

Lora Arbrador: Yeah. So then when you finish the painting, you polish it with a, like, a silk cloth. Okay. You can, you can varnish it, but I like... I'm more of a purist, and it has- Okay ... kind of a slight, a slight glow to it. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: And the surface looks different than oil painting or acrylic or... And it's not dramatically different, but I think also the process is very slow because you cannot just put paint over paint.

You have to wait for each layer to dry. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And it dries very quickly, so you keep adding the layers. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: So i- it's just, it's a process that, uh, is kind of a discipline in a way. Sure. Like, maybe if you're a poet, you, you are, uh, working in, um, [00:07:00] iambic pentameter or, you know- Yeah ... different... So it kind of, you work within the bounds of this- 

Sam Horton: Yeah

Lora Arbrador: this technique, this discipline. Well, 

Sam Horton: it obviously felt really good to you and really resonated with you, and you stuck with it for a long time, so- Yes. Yes ... yeah, beautiful. So how many, how many eggs do you go through in, to complete a painting then? 

Lora Arbrador: That's such a common question. Actually, well, most egg tempera artists work really small- Yeah

because it takes so long, and then you use very little egg. Okay. And my, my were always a little bit bigger, like 16 by 20. Okay. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: But about 10 years ago, I don't know, for whatever reason, just got into me that the paintings that I envisioned, these ideas that I had, they just told me, "I wanna be big." Okay.

Okay. The paintings dictate. So I started making them like this, and then- 

Sam Horton: Okay ... 

Lora Arbrador: like that. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And then the, the last one, and the one I'm working on now, is a full eight... Four feet by eight feet. Okay. 

Sam Horton: Wow. 

Lora Arbrador: A whole piece of [00:08:00] cardboard. Now, that started to require more eggs. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: Okay. 

Sam Horton: For sure. 

Lora Arbrador: At that point I said, "Hey, I'm kinda going through eggs here."

Sam Horton: Yeah. Well, you need some... You need your own chickens if you're going through a lot of eggs. 

Lora Arbrador: People do that. And there's a whole debate as to whether to use, uh, r- raise your own chickens or buy them. Yeah. Some people think it's better... Like, even in the old manuals it said whether you should use town eggs or country eggs.

Sam Horton: Oh, right. 

Lora Arbrador: And, and they would actually recommend town eggs because they had less color in them. 

Sam Horton: Okay. Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: Or less richness. Although, when you paint with a very yellow egg and you mix it with, say, a blue, expecting blue and yellow become green- 

Sam Horton: Yeah ... 

Lora Arbrador: it will, it will look green for a little while, but within maybe minutes it turns to the color that you want it to be.

Sam Horton: Oh, right. Okay. So 

Lora Arbrador: the egg, the yellow of the yolk doesn't really affect the color. But it's- Wow ... really... Any, any yolk is fine. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. That's interesting actually, the, the color. Yeah, I didn't think of that before. That's, um, really interesting. But I guess the, the [00:09:00] pigment is stronger than the, the yolk pigment, if, if that makes sense, and that's why- Yeah

probably. 

Lora Arbrador: Yeah. 

Sam Horton: So one of the things that I noticed about your art when I was looking at your paintings was that the figures that you include, they all include sort of varying shades of eggshells, and it seemed more intentional than just the color of human skin. So the first question is, is that intentional?

And how do you think, like, the eggshell, the yolk, and the human experience kind of all inform or play out in your art? 

Lora Arbrador: So you mean that the color looks like the color of eggshells- Yeah ... and the same things? 

Sam Horton: Yeah, the 

Lora Arbrador: skin. Is it, is... Oh, the skin color. Oh. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: I never heard... That's what I love about showing my art-

is I get such incredible feedback that I never thought of. Mm-hmm. It's so- 

Sam Horton: You've got really- ... it's so magical ... white, pale, almost bluish, purplish colors. Then you've got like, um, more- Mm ... yellowy based. You know, they're all- Yeah, yeah ... different. You don't paint one sort of [00:10:00] shade of human skin. You've got lots of different variations, almost like the eggshells themselves, if you think about how varied eggshells are.

Yeah. So I thought maybe it was intentional and that you were aware of that, but obviously that's not something that you've considered. 

Lora Arbrador: You know- Yet ... the honest answer is that, is that I have a... I struggle painting flesh tones. Okay. 

Sam Horton: I 

Lora Arbrador: think that's the... So they, I'm trying this, try that. I think that's the- Okay.

Okay. Well- ... uh, not very romantic answer. 

Sam Horton: Well, maybe it's something to think about. You know, maybe you're- Yeah ... kind of almost being forced a little bit to actually play out on that eggshell, um, concept without realizing it. So, yeah. Yeah, I love that. I love that. I invite you to explore that more because there could be a really beautiful hidden message- Mm-hmm

within that as well. Um, you know, like the fragility of the eggshell- Mm ... and the fragility of the human experience. Wow. Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: I love- 

Sam Horton: So- 

Lora Arbrador: I love that. Yeah. 

Sam Horton: I love 

Lora Arbrador: that. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. Wow. So something beautiful I think you could explore for sure. So how does your other role in life then as a [00:11:00] nurse, I mean, you sort of touched on it a little bit before- Mm-hmm

but how does your role as a nurse inform your painting practice and your art? 

Lora Arbrador: Yeah. So originally I did it just for the money, but luckily- Yeah ... I, I was very fascinated when I went through training. 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. 

Lora Arbrador: I have a whole chapter in the book called Adventures in Nursing School. Mm-hmm. And, and, um, so luckily I became fascinated.

At the beginning I, I was too busy with it to, to do any art at all. But then I was doing, uh... then I started to, to do the art again. But for many years I felt frustrated that I wanted more time to paint, and I had to do the art, even though I made sure that I worked part-time most of the time, so I had time for it.

But at this point, I still can't retire. I'm, I'm like 76 years old. I'm still working- Yeah ... as a nurse because I never really got a pension 'cause I was always working part-time, per diem. But now I'm only doing it one or two days a week 'cause that's all the [00:12:00] money I really need on top of my Social Security, and I just find that it really is part of my identity.

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: Uh, as I'm kind of like a healer artist. Um, so it's funny that it's come full circle. Um- Mm-hmm ... and partially because I don't have to do it that often, but I, I kind of- I think I would miss it if I didn't do it, so it's, it's like that. And it does come into my work. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. I 

Lora Arbrador: had the whole series, The Ways of Dying series, the four very large paintings.

But now, um, I'm working on another one that really hearkens back to my time as a nursing student- 

Sam Horton: Okay ... 

Lora Arbrador: where I was working in a very backwards nursing home. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And, um- I got the idea... One of our, our patients that we really loved, her name was Peppi Vafiades. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And she... I found out she was Greek.

Her name is, is, uh, Despina Vafiades. And I felt sad that she was eating the hospital [00:13:00] food, the bland hospital food. So I got the idea to take her to a Greek restaurant, which I didn't think would be allowed in this hospital, but I was... O- one of my nursing school friends, we got permission to take, uh, Peppi and her friend Bernie to a Greek restaurant.

We hired a van that could take disabled people. And after that, they got the idea that they didn't have to live in a hospital, and both of them were able to leave the hospital- 

Sam Horton: Wow ... 

Lora Arbrador: eventually and live on their own. And that planted the seed. So also, they started asking me to help them. There was a, a, a couple that were getting married.

The man, I can't... I, I think it was the man had no hands. He had hooks for hands, and the woman was paraplegic, and they were getting married. 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. 

Lora Arbrador: And they invited me to the wedding. And so I went, and I think as I recall, the man was driving with, with a, a wheel... a steering wheel that was adapted. 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. 

Lora Arbrador: So I don't know if I have the details right, but even [00:14:00] so many years later, I have it in my mind to do a wedding scene.

Okay. It's gonna be another pretty big painting- 

Sam Horton: Yeah ... 

Lora Arbrador: with them walking down the aisle. Yeah. With the... One with the hands and s- and she's sitting paraplegic. And then it's, it's worked out. I have some sketches, but it's working out in my head. And then there was gonna be an officiant reading from the book.

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. 

Lora Arbrador: And all of a sudden it came to me that the officiant was blind. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And so the book is gonna have braille. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: It'll be- 

Sam Horton: Beautiful ... 

Lora Arbrador: obvi- you know. And so that's like what I love about art, these ideas. They just- 

Sam Horton: Yeah ... 

Lora Arbrador: they just come to me. And so that, that's another painting that has the, the medical theme.

Although there are- Yeah ... several... Of course, there are many others that have other- 

Sam Horton: Mm ... 

Lora Arbrador: themes that are not, that are not medical. It's- Yeah ... it's 

Sam Horton: such a beautiful example of how you can take things that have really touched you in your life, um, in your own experience as you're moving through the world, through work, through [00:15:00] whatever, and, you know, then kind of, uh, follow that line of curiosity in, in your art.

You know, it's a really- Mm. 

Lora Arbrador: Mm-hmm ... 

Sam Horton: people often say, like, you know, that they struggle to be inspired or that they struggle to find ideas. Yeah. But actually they're all around you. They're with you every day, right? Yeah. So that's really beautiful. I love your approach there. Um, and has it always been that way for you where you've been able to sort of take things from, you know, either your, you know, your work or from the rest of your life and infuse those into your art and find that inspiration?

Or is that something that you've learnt, um, you know- Mm ... later on? 

Lora Arbrador: It's a good question, 'cause when I think about my early art experiences in school, college, and, uh, high school even and college, I think that I just did very prosaic topics. Just anything. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: I don't remember it being linked to anything like that.

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: And I would have to really think about when that started happening. Sure. Some of it happened with feminism. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And also living... I lived in [00:16:00] the woods. I built my own teepee. 

Sam Horton: Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: That... Some of those ideas came from that. 

Sam Horton: Okay. Yeah, it was probably really gradual, so you didn't even really notice. And obviously- I 

Lora Arbrador: didn't notice.

You're 

Sam Horton: right. Yeah ... yeah, yeah. So I mean, I think these things are really, really gradual. You know, it's just like one little tiny idea- Mm ... in one painting, and then suddenly there's three ideas in the next one and, you know. Like it just, you know, builds and builds. So that's beautiful. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And this is your life's work, so you know, that's just- Yeah

so powerful, isn't it? Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: Yes. 

Sam Horton: So in our message exchange, you said that- Mm-hmm ... um, and I think you meant- touched on it at the very beginning, that you struggled with self-doubt about your art, yet it's the one thing- Yes ... that brings you transcendent joy is how you put it. 

Lora Arbrador: Mm-hmm. 

Sam Horton: So tell us more about that inner dialogue and your experience with that.

Lora Arbrador: Yeah, so I just have this feeling of just that I'm not, I'm not good. Like I was joking with somebody. A lot of... I'm in touch with a lot of [00:17:00] writers because I just wrote a book even though I'm not a writer. Mm-hmm. And they always talk about, um, uh, imposter syndrome. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: Yeah. And I said, "I don't have imposter syndrome.

I know I'm an artist. I just think I'm a bad artist."

That's what I struggle with, is just, you know, I don't have the technique. I... And yet I don't really wanna have a very polished t- uh, technique because I'm inspired by the, the, um, proto-Renaissance, the, the more, um... They call them the prim- they used to call them the primitives, but they don't anymore. Yeah.

But I don't really want a very realistic look. 

Sam Horton: No. 

Lora Arbrador: And I have gone through a lot of training now. Art- artistic anatomy and classical realism. So, uh, it... But it's just I think painting is just difficult. And- Yeah ... for some people it comes more easily. But I think partially in writing the book and talking so much about my process and, uh, [00:18:00] I think I've gotten more confidence.

But what I've heard is that even very, very incredible artists still suffer from that. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. That's- 

Lora Arbrador: And that it's, it's just something I, I have to always live with. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's- Mm. I think it's true. I, I feel like... I mean, there's potentially some, um, you know, egotistical people out there that don't think that.

But I feel like they're kind of, um, not on the same path that we're on, you know, in terms of- Okay ... this, this like, um- uh, this connection to self through art. Do you know what I mean? Where you're really exploring- Mm ... kind of your own kind of inner landscape and your own experiences through art. Um, and that's certainly what I'm getting from you in terms of, um, the way that you're moving through it.

And I think that that does then lend itself to this sort of concept of self-doubt. We're constantly doubting our decisions, our choices- ... you know, as we move through the world, right? So it's- Yeah, yeah ... only natural that it should also happen in, in our art [00:19:00] because, you know, they're, they're one and the same thing as far as I'm concerned.

Lora Arbrador: Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

Sam Horton: Mm-hmm. So drawing on your theme of art and love, which is- Yeah ... the title of your book, um, do you believe that art and creativity help us to love ourselves and others more authentically and deeply? 

Lora Arbrador: Hmm. Well, maybe in the sense that I, I've realized that my art comes first. Okay.

I, I, I'm, I, I am partnered now in a wonderful relationship. But before I met this person, I was, um, I was happy because I was painting, and it was an addition to it. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: So I, I think that, um, but without the art, even if I was in the most fantastic relationship, I would feel a lack. Okay. So it really comes first for me, is the, is- Yeah

and recently I had to stop painting because the book became so intense, the- 

Sam Horton: Yeah ... 

Lora Arbrador: production of the book. For the last year I wasn't painting, and for a while it was like, first I [00:20:00] felt bad. Yeah. Then I got used to it, and then I even liked it. I thought, "Wow, this is easy. I don't have to paint. It's great." And then after the book came out and I was...

I just had... I don't know how, how to expr- express it. I don't know if it was a depression. I was just like, something was terrible and I just realized even though I have so much to do with book promotion and all that, I had to start painting again. Yeah. And just like a light turned on. It's like, oh. It just- Yeah

you know. And even all the self-doubts, it's like they- they're like old friends. Like- Yeah ... oh yeah, you know, you think you're terrible. Oh yeah, you know. It's almost like, it's almost like ref- refreshing now. It's like connecting- Yeah ... with that, so. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. That's so powerful. 

Lora Arbrador: Yeah. 

Sam Horton: And it's, it's, you know, moving through the seasons, right?

'Cause creativity has seasons- Oh, yeah ... and our art has seasons. Mm. So, you know, like you find- always find a way back to it. I think that's so powerful and beautiful the way you explain that. Um, 'cause sometimes other priorities do come into play, you know. You [00:21:00] can't paint as much as you want to or whatever, so.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, but knowing that you'll always find your way back to it I think is, is really important too. So, um- Mm-hmm ... yeah. So do you believe that creative flow, you know, when we get lost in the moment when- Mm ... painting, et cetera, do you think that helps us to connect to something bigger than ourselves?

You know, like a connection to spirit or to the, to the divine or, you know, whatever you want to phrase it. 

Lora Arbrador: Yeah. You know, I have a problem with the concept of flow because I don't think I ever get into flow. You know, they say we're- But you get lost in time 

Sam Horton: when 

Lora Arbrador: you're painting, do you? We're time... No, I don't.

It's always like- You don't? ... oh my... No. It's like, I have to be honest with you. It's almost like when is this gonna be over? It's so hard. Do I have to do this? I know. You know? And then I'll have a little breakthrough. It's like, oh my God, that color and... Or a flash like, that's how I'm gonna solve that problem.

So that's 

Sam Horton: [00:22:00] flow. I 

video1872223276: don't- 

Sam Horton: That's flow ... 

Lora Arbrador: is that flow? 

Sam Horton: Yeah, 

Lora Arbrador: that's flow. Oh, that's flow. 

Sam Horton: That's flow. 

Lora Arbrador: Okay. Okay. Then I have flow. I, 

Sam Horton: I think pe- I think, you know, people think that maybe it's some, you know, really magical thing, but it feels hard too. It, you know, it's part of- Oh, okay ... I, I think it's part of, um, navigating, um, you know, a painting or whatever- Mm

you're making creatively. And I think that, um, it's this thing where, you know, those ideas do arrive, you know? Like just out of nowhere- Yes ... and suddenly the painting's kinda taking on a new course, or it's taking you on a little adventure, or you stop and you go, "Oh, did I do that?" You know, "I wasn't even thinking about it."

Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah, 

Lora Arbrador: that's where the, where the higher power or the spiritual- Yeah ... or whatever comes in. Yeah. So these ideas that you had, you can't imagine. Yeah. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: So I, I do, I do kinda live for that. It's not all the time. Yeah. It just happens, yeah. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. Well, you said transcendent joy, so that's part of that, right?

Lora Arbrador: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: It's, it's really amazing. And with the egg tempera, I call it, [00:23:00] even though I don't really believe in alchemy per se- Hm ... but I call it alchemy. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: Well, it is. What, what happens with... So the, the combination of the egg tempera technique with these ideas- Yeah. Yeah ... it's, it's really just incredibly magical.

Yeah. Yeah. 

Sam Horton: Something from nothing, yeah. Yeah. It's really, really beautiful. So for all the women who are curious about finding their voice and experiencing- Mm ... a deeper love through their art, what powerful message or question would you like to leave them with today? 

Lora Arbrador: Well, I know there's some people that actually don't, uh, wanna do art.

They just love art. 

Sam Horton: Yeah. 

Lora Arbrador: And they feel bad. I... So I have a message for people that they just, they think they want to, but they don't really want to, but they just like to look at art. And same with music. They, they love music, but they don't really wanna be a musician. So- No ... first of all, just that you don't have to do art.

You can still be involved with art- 

Sam Horton: Yeah ... 

Lora Arbrador: by, by experiencing it. But, but then for the people that really, really do wanna do art, [00:24:00] I think realizing that you don't need to do it, even for an hour, even five minutes, just playing. Just think having a playful- Yeah ... attitude about it, uh, is a good way to start.

Yeah. I don't know if that's what you were thinking about, but- 

Sam Horton: Yeah. Yeah ... would say, 

Lora Arbrador: uh- It 

Sam Horton: doesn't have to... Yeah, it can be small. Uh, I definitely agree with that. So how can people get to know you better, Lora, and get a real feel for your art and, um, your book and the work that you're doing? 

Lora Arbrador: Yeah, sure. So the easiest thing...

Well, here's my book. Art and L- Art and Love. And so to keep it simple, my website is 

Sam Horton: artandlovebook.com. Okay. 

Lora Arbrador: And you can find everything there, my paintings, and I have a Substack newsletter once a month- 

Sam Horton: Okay ... 

Lora Arbrador: uh, that comes out. It's all-- The links are all on artandlovebook.com. 

Sam Horton: Excellent. Thank you so much- Yeah.

Mm-hmm ... for coming and chatting with me today, Lora 

Lora Arbrador: Oh, thank you so much- 

Sam Horton: I love-- love exploring your art ... Yeah. Thank you. 

Lora Arbrador: Yeah. I've had a wonderful time with you today. Thanks so much.