Holy crap it's been too long

Not sure why it's taken me almost a year *gulp* to write another blog post. I suppose life has gotten in the way and I really haven't been too serious about art lately. I work full time and go to school part time, so my free time is spent sleeping and trying not to lose my mind. I really love painting and drawing, but I've felt so uninspired lately. I was also trying to create a website, but that sort of fell through and I haven't had time to work on that. Hopefully in the coming months I will be able to buckle down and create SOMETHING to house all my artwork. I'm such a slacker. In any case, it's starting to look like this blog will have to turn into more than just artwork. I'll do a doodle a day or something to post. Might be better than nothing...we shall see!

Chalk Drawing

This was done for the annual Street Painting Competition in Troy, NY on the weekend of June 18th. It was done only with sidewalk chalk (like what kids draw with) and hunks of charcoal. I think it turned out pretty well. I paid homage to one of my favorite artists, Brandon Boyd of Incubus.

Upcoming Arts Events in the Capital Region

I will be participating in two upcoming events in NY's Capital Region: The 8th Annual River Street Festival in Troy, NY on June 18th, and the 2011 FENCE Show at the Arts Center June 24th. Two years ago, I did the Streetpainting competition during the River Street Festival and had a ball doing a scene from "Up", the Disney-Pixar hit movie. Not sure what I'll be doing this year, but it'll be a lot of fun I'm sure. For the FENCE Show, I'm nearly finished with the larger of the two pieces I am entering, it's a juried show and the opening reception is 5-9pm on June 24th. Hope to see you all there! I'll be putting up pictures of my newest piece once it's done and titled.

Working on a new one!

So I haven't posted in a long time because life has been insanely hectic. Moved to another state, got a new job (twice!) and the painting I'm working on is HUGE, one of the biggest I've ever done. It's got elephants in it, and the colors are my favorite part of it. I'm estimating that it'll take another 2 weeks to finish, but I've been taking a couple pictures of it in progress so I can show you that when it's all finished. There are a lot of small details that have slowed the progress down, but I have taken the longest time with this and I think it'll be worth it.

I'll try to be better about posting updates! :-)

man or fish?

Here's my first finished summer painting, titled "man.or.fish"
Dimensions: 2 feet by 4 feet
acrylic and broken mirror on canvas

Fence 2010 Artist Salon

Hi All, just a quick update on what I'm up to. I'm taking part in the Fence 2010 Artist Salon, held by the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, NY. It runs through July 19, and I have 2 paintings in the show. They are "Generations" and "Like Eating Glass." Stop on over and check them out if you have time! The Arts Center website is www.artscenteronline.org if you want to check their hours or any other information.
Hope you all can stop by and see it :-)

Artist Trading Card

Here's a look at my first-ever ATC, or Artist Trading Card. It was created on a piece of canvas paper the size of a baseball card. :-)

Are you Man....or Fish?

Well it's taken me about 5 months, but I've finally finished another piece, entitled "man.or.fish" -- it's acrylic/shattered mirror on canvas. The size is 24" x 48" (2 ft x 4 ft), and is my largest one to date. I'm thinking it probably would have taken me less time if I had made myself work on it more often, but I'm satisfied with it and happy that it's done. These last few weeks I have really pushed myself to finish it, and I'm glad I did. The inspiration for the piece came from a doodle I did while hanging with the bf and the words "Are you man or fish?" just sort of came to me. I guess it's like "are you man or mouse?" ...except, of course, with fish. I think fish are lovely and I've never done them in a painting before. These ones are loosely based on koi fish, and if I was to do another painting with fish, I think I'd shoot for something shaped more like a rainbow trout (those are gorgeous, as far as fish go).

Below is a view of the entire painting, and then some detail shots. I also set up the "photo shoot" according to research I've done about shooting your own work if you're too poor to hire a professional photographer, so I hope these are acceptable for now, because I'm broke.

This Studio Ain't Big Enough...

I'm working on finishing up my most recent piece (it's a big one), and every time I work on it, I am reminded of how small my bedroom studio at home is! I'm also broke as hell, so I can't afford to rent a nice studio in the nearest city or anything, but I'm making do with what I have for now. Sometimes I feel like it's so hard to get into the zone and just do my thing without worrying over a bunch of things, like spilling paint/paint-y water on the carpet, marking up the walls, and running out of storage space. I also wish I had a way of hanging up my paints on some sort of rack so that I could grab them and organize them a lot more easily. In my dream studio, I will have that and a ginormous table for painting on and I won't ever worry about spilling paint because it won't be a huge deal.

The easel I have is a little unsteady at times, but it does the trick, and I'm so glad I have it. Years ago, when I had only been working on smaller canvases, I wouldn't dream of using an easel because it seemed like holding my wrist at a weird angle to paint wasn't very useful...but I feel like getting used to an easel takes a little work, and it's a very helpful instrument, especially for larger canvases.

I also just realized that I'm blathering on about things that might not be that interesting, but I want you all to know that even when I haven't posted something new in a while, art is on my mind and in my room and always in progress here in LaurenLiz's world. :-)

A Handpainted Switchplate

Here's another tidbit I did for Sassy J's Indian-inspired room. This switchplate is on a wall that she painted a brilliant red. Her love of elephants and my love of sunsets behind elephants was the inspiration. I sprayed the plastic plate with Fixatif, then painted it with acrylics, then sprayed it again with the Fixatif so it hopefully won't chip off. I like how it came out.

Fun With Markers in Sassy J's Room

A couple weeks ago, my friend Sassy J told me that she was painting her room in a brilliant red and bright orange because she wanted an Indian-inspired motif. And since I can't keep my nose out of artsy things (and because she let me), I used gold paint markers to do Indian/henna-type designs on her bookshelf and nightstand drawer face. She also loves elephants, so I did some elephant silhouettes in gold on her door. I'm hoping she lets me go all-out again, because it was 3 hours of fun for me, and I still have loads of ideas for her room, some of which include fake gems that you can get at a craft store. I'm pretty sure that gems are a brilliant idea --though Sassy J didn't seem so keen on it, so we'll see. Maybe I'll do a border of elephant silhouettes around her room if I have the time and she lets me. Here are some photos of what I did.

Happy, Happy Spring!

Hey y'all!

I haven't finished my painting yet (nor have I worked on it as much as I would've liked this past week), but I've been busy working odd jobs and waitressing trying to make money. In my free time, I have embarked on a quick creative endeavor with a friend. My friend Sassy J and I have begun our very first duct tape dress, after much deliberation and talking about how awesome it would be, and designing on paper with sharpies like there's no tomorrow.
We weren't sure how to start, but looked up online how-to's and found some helpful things. So we spent about 4 hours working on it the other day, and it's decent for our first attempt. Hopefully, we'll have it finished by next week, and I can post some pictures of the process and the final result.

Until then, enjoy the lovely weather everyone, and I wish you sunshine and blue skies! <3

Working on a New Painting

Currently, I am working on a piece that is titled "Man or Fish" and is another one of the bigger canvases I've ever done. It's definitely a challenge for me to do bigger pieces, if only because I find myself getting way too detailed with the images. Like with this one, I started with a whole conglomeration of stuff and have been trying to whittle it down so that it's not so overwhelming. I like to create pieces that are a little complex so that the viewer sees something new every time he or she looks at it, but sometimes I get carried away. So with this painting, my main focus is to make sure everything ties together in a coherent way, so that it doesn't look like I just threw a bunch of stuff together.

When I post the finished piece, I will give more info about the dimensions, how long it took to finish, and anything else you might want to know. Until then, I hope you are all well, and that snow doesn't fall on New England until at least November or December (but who knows, we might get a blizzard in June, the weather here is crazy!).

Edited Painting

I've gone back to a piece that I did 2 years ago, the biggest canvas I had ever done at that point, and fixed a couple problems that I had been eyeing for about a year now. It didn't feel finished to me, but it is as of today! :-) It's called "Like Eating Glass," which I named after my favorite Bloc Party song. Hope you like it!

(There's a full picture and a couple detail pictures.)

Volunteer Work

It's been a while since I posted, and that's because a lot has been going on in my personal life that's kept my mind on other things (ie a death in the family, job changes, etc) but I vow to myself --and you!-- that I'll be updating regularly from here on out. Even if I don't have a new picture to show you, I will definitely be writing about my artwork and other appealing things. :-)

Now, on to other things...

During the last two weeks of March of this year, I found an ad on craigslist (sometimes that site is awesome, sometimes it's sketchy as hell) that was looking for volunteer artists, so of course, I sent in a submission for acceptance. It's for the "BoardedUP!" series in Albany, NY for the Grand Street Community Arts program. (Their website is www.grandarts.org/ if you want more information, it's a great bunch of people coming together to make their community more exciting and artsy!) I ran over to the church at the corner of Grand and Madison to pick up a piece of 1/4"-thick plywood and was told I can paint anything on it that was family-friendly. So I decided to do something colorful and abstract, which is my true passion, at least at this point in my life. The board is roughly 2-1/2 feet by 5 feet.
Here's a few pictures of my piece, and the one against the gray stone background is the picture I took of it installed.

New Artwork for 2010!

Here's a look at what I did this past December:

a charcoal rendition of my bro's resurrected 1970s Yamaha

an acrylic and mirrors piece on 9" x 12" canvas

I'm also currently working on my largest piece to date, an acrylic/mixed media on canvas. I can't wait to show it to you all! And coming sometime in the next few months... a brand-new website!!! More details in the next couple weeks. :-)

You've Got Only Four More Weeks...

...to see some great art in person! My show, "A Young Artist on the Rise" by Lauren of LaurenLiz Designs, is scheduled to run through the end of November. It's my first ever solo show, and I am proud of the collection of work on display. It's a variety of pieces that I've done; the earliest is from 2002, before I graduated from high school. There are recent pieces, including (my own personal favorite) "Blue Giraffe." I chose the pieces on display because I believe they are a good representation of the various styles I succeed at, as well as an example of how my style has evolved over the years.

I welcome any comments or questions about my work. If there's an interest in buying a piece, but the price is 'a little too steep' for your budget, let me know and we can work something out. I could even do a commissioned piece for you; the holidays are coming up, and nothing says "You rock, [gift recipient]!" like a one-of-a-kind painting! :-) Shoot me an email at laurenewetherell@gmail.com or check me out on Facebook on the LaurenLiz Designs page.

Have a great November everybody, and look out for new work coming soon. :-)

what i've been tooling around with recently

Since I've started two new part-time jobs in the past couple weeks and had oodles of other stuff to do, I haven't had time to start on one of the two big canvases hiding behind the door in my room. Hopefully, though, I'll be able to start on one this weekend. I haven't got a clue what I want to do with it, but that's ok...I rarely know what I want to do with a blank canvas until I pop in some music and lose my mind.

Anyway, I've been doing a couple side projects that I'm thinking may end up for sale on Etsy. They're home decor-type creations, which I've made with slate from an old abandoned roof.

Pictures from Ambition Cafe

This past weekend, I stopped by Ambition Cafe on Jay Street in Schenectady, NY and took some photos of my art on the cafe's walls. The pieces on display (with prices) are:

• Water Under the Bridge - $250
• Generations - $450
• Like Eating Glass - $500
• Blue Giraffe - $350
• African Love - $350
• Sorry, We're All Out - $200

All pieces are on sale; contact me via email or phone if you are interested in purchasing any artwork.

Thanks!

Today's Feature...

Finished a painting today, after working on it (off and on) for about three weeks. If I ever just sat down and painted for hours on end, I'd be way more productive, but I get antsy if I sit still for more than an hour. Anyhoo, I'm including 2 different views of the piece, so you can see the work around the edges. I used a 'gallery'-style canvas, and wanted to work with the thick edges in a way I haven't before. This painting is called "Universal" and is priced at $250. It's acrylic with broken mirror and clothing studs.