TEDx Philadelphia 2015

TEDx Philadelphia 2015's host, Erica Atwood,
the only speaker I forgot to draw

It's been awhile since I felt I had anything important to write about here, but my experience at TEDx Philadelphia talks last week definitely deserve a post! I have watched a few talks on the TED website but seeing a whole day worth of talks (14 in all) was a different experience entirely. I wasn't familiar with any of the speakers before seeing them on the day of the conference, so I wasn't too sure what to expect. I was hoping for a few talks about Graphic Design or other art-related discipline, but the theme, "Justice for All" suggested otherwise, which was ok, I do realize there are more pressing issues in the world than picking the right font.

There was one talk about artwork made while incarcerated, and one about architecture, so art wasn't completely off the table, however, I was surprised to find I was more interested in other subjects discussed, such as being an openly gay preacher (I didn't know that was possible!), just how hard it is to break the cycle of poverty (with some pretty sobering statistics), and police brutality (spoken by Philadelphia's own chief of police, Charles H. Ramsey). Downstairs in the basement there was also an art show and a screen printing station were attendees could make their own 2 color screen print to take home with them, and two live musical guests, so don't worry creative people considering attending next year, you will get your art on :)

David Norse, Philadelphia first Openly Gay Preacher!

I bought a little 5 x 7 inch sketchbook with me with the idea that I would draw people in the audience during the talks - but ended up drawing the 14 speakers instead. Each talk was 18 minutes or less, so I worked quickly to try to capture each guest's likeness and pose during their speech, then add their ending quote & name.

Charles H. Ramsey, spoke about police brutality and other experiences
during his 46! years of working in law enforcement. Cool guy.

The short drawing time for each speaker meant I worked in pen with no chance to erase mistakes (which I made many!) and some line work that I would considered sloppy, however overall I was happy with how they turned out. I liked the speed of each drawing  - no time to second guess yourself or over think, just do it.

Yasmine Mustafa, former Persian Gulf War refugee & Entrepreneur

If you want to see all 14 drawings, you can check them out in my TEDxPHL15 Album on Flickr.

Thanks, TEDX Philadelphia, you've given me a lot to think about, I'll be back next year.....

Scenes from the Sketchbook Project Philadelphia 2012

At the end of August, I had a fantastic time attending the Philly stop of the Sketchbook Project World 2012 tour. I lost track of the number of sketchbooks I got to browse through - it was incredibly inspiring to see books with all different medias- drawings, painting, words, sewing, collage, digital and more. 

My tour buddy was super-talented Highlights illustrator, Chuck Dillon. Hi Chuck! Here he is creating some tour mail to send along to people at future destinations of the tour.

 And the first sketchbook randomly suggested for me to read was my own, lol, it was nice to get re-aquainted with it :)

One of the most clever books I checked out was "Forks & Spoons" by Steph Calinski. It was filled with Forks & spoons engaging in all types of social situations.

 

 This cool book from Spain had braille imprinted on every page

And my favorite book of all was by a woman who claimed not to be an artist, but filled her book with adorable drawings, collage, personal writings and inspiring quotes. This page says "a good book has no ending..."

See you next year, Sketchbook Project!

PS- There's still time to be part of the fun & sign up for the 2013 tour!

Brooklyn Art Library & 4x6 Exchange part 2

Last month, I was in New York city to see a show at Webster Hall and I figured I better make a quick stop at the Brooklyn Art Library and finally see the place I talk about so often.  I registered, got my library card and looked through 10 or so sketchbooks from the 2011 tour, created by artists living all over the world. It was a really intimate experience, I felt like I was snooping through people's personal diaries. I especially liked one from a college girl from Ohio, who took her time starting her sketchbook, then procrastinated working on it, then tried to hurry up and finish the entire 40 or so remaining pages in under a week (she failed, and apologized profusely to the reader for not completing it, hehe, it reminded me so much of someone I know ;)).

I highly recommend checking out some sketchbooks for yourself! If you're local to NYC, last year's books are available to be read 7 days a week at the Brooklyn Art Library on 103A North 3rd St. The 2012 books are touring the country from now until September (the Philly stop is Aug 23-24!). Check out the the complete tour schedule HERE.

I also did a little bit of quick life drawing on my trip- first I tried to draw some people from the concert - (I was by far the oldest person there - the vast majority of people were waaay under 18, that was a bit humbling, I guess I've reached the age when I'm supposed to start attending sit-down concerts, or better yet, enjoy televised ones from the comfort of my couch....?)

 

Next, I tried to draw people on the subway, but I don't recommend it, it was bumpy, hard to get a seat, and people don't seem to stay on for many stops (at least Philly is good in this aspect!). I also hate when I pick the perfect person to draw; someone who is visually interesting, is sitting in my view, and isn't likely to notice me drawing them (very important!),  then I start drawing them and they get off at the next stop, grrrrrrr....... I'm not asking for much, 4 minutes would be perfect!

(I think that last guy saw me drawing him and wasn't too happy about it...)

Last but not least, I got my art from the 4x6 exchange! ( Do you remember mine from March?) 

It's a cute collage piece done by artist Linda Peterson, who blogs at myartmylifeme.blogspot.com/. Interesting, both our pieces featured birds and have a similar color palette. If you saw them both together, you could probably guess that each artist would appreciate the other's work (or at least I hope Linda likes mine as much as I like hers!). I wonder if Art House planned this? 

(Linda's art above! She also has a lovely etsy shop Dear Hazel, with lots of cute things!)

Mural Painting

Last week I finished up another project for my beloved Yogawood - a mural on a 36 foot long wall in their Riverton studio. This was in the planning stages for quite some time, and I am so excited to see it finally finished and up on the wall. It was so relaxing to go in to the studio, put on a cd from their yoga-music collection, zone out and just paint (sometimes till 1AM, opps where did the time go??).

But I'm getting ahead of myself....let's go back to the beginning.......

Here was the wall before.

Before I started working, I had a meeting with the owner and studio coordinator, to hear their ideas about the project, what colors they wanted, what design style they were looking for, drink coffee, etc., etc. I took some photos of the studio and started doing research - they wanted native plants, so I went out to some fields and took some photos of plants for reference.

(hey! that's not a plant! Just making sure you're still paying attention..)

From these photos I started making some quick drawings in my sketchbook, then I use tracing paper and ink it before scanning it in the computer.

(yes, I'm a tree hugger, not one inch of my tracing paper shall go unused!)

I drew around 15-20 individual plants, picked some complementary colors, then put them all together to create a few different comps to choose from.

They chose #3, then I was off to the paint store to match colors and buy supplies.

I took a ton of wall measurements, then used my computer to create a grid to help me paint faster and with great accuracy.

(don't ever try to work with your computer on the floor, ouch, my neck was in terrible pain for days)

(can we just pause a moment to acknowledge the fantastic-ness of this grid? It took a lot of brain power for this non-math person to figure out)

I made a separate grid for each color of the mural, then used a projector (awesome!) to show me exactly where to paint.......

(hey guys! it's THE GRID in action! look! look!)

and paint......

 and paint.....

 and stop. 

to mix colors because I WAS NOT happy with the colors straight out of the can. of course.

then paint some more.....

so close!

.......

.......

(45 minute break for frenzied clean up of a can of paint I accidentally spilled all over the floor, and the wall and my only good pair of yoga pants. do you know how expensive good yoga pants are???)  

.......

(FYI - YES, I know painting is messy, i was only wearing the yoga pants because I went to a yoga class before painting, otherwise they remain in a locked case in my bedroom.)

.......

.......

DONE!

(and yes, the yoga pants survived. whew.)

You can view an album with more photos of the studio at my (yeah, just got with the program and created a facebook fan page, welcome to 2007!) HERE :)

I am working on......

....something......

really, really FUN! 

(to be continued after 2/9/11)

I am still alive....just very busy

I've been working on many things at once, which means nothing has gotten completely finished....and things I've finished need many many revisions :( so....

for no reason at all, here's a quick sketch of abe lincoln......

Girls, Girls, Girls

Looking back through my sketchbook, I am left wondering why I didn't get repetitive stress disorder from drawing so many half-naked girls....

now I just suffer from carpal tunnel from being a graphic designer.

Lauren likes to Design

The title of this blog may be "Lauren likes to draw", but there hasn't been much actually drawing lately. Even though I went to school for illustration and would spend up to 8 hours a day drawing, over the years I have gradually become more of a graphic designer. Not only do the jobs pay better, but there is more of them.
(an old sketch book page, click to enlarge) 


I spent a few years designing concert posters (see here), and made an attempt to be a portrait artist (see here), both of which were fun, but not very financially rewarding (and I have 14k of student loan debt!). 

(Chalk drawing and charcoal drawing both from 2002!)

So in an effort to remember my drawing days, I signed up for a basic drawing class at a local art center. I've only had one class, and it was spent listening to the instructor talk and drawing different tones (from pure white to pure black) and basic shapes. I was disappointed, but I also remember in art school, we spent an entire YEAR drawing this stuff, before we were finally allowed to copy some master drawings and draw basic anatomy. 

 

                  (anatomy drawing, done in pencil) 

(copy of a master drawing, done in water color pencil)

So in the next few weeks, I plan to post some of my new drawings (which will be mostly still lifes (...yawn), though the teacher mentioned the last 2 classes will be drawing portraits (yeah!!!). Stay tuned.