Still exploring the shifting personalities of this view.
Here's the bright flashiness before things subdue, little by little neighbors turn out their lights, and the glitter of the city floats into the sky.
“Prelude” acrylic on 6x12” cradled basswood panel, 2024. All rights reserved.
When you’re young, there are things in life you take as a given. Because, what reason would you have to second guess them? As I’ve grown, the one thing I long for with an ache that feels like a part of me is missing is a garden. (Happily, in my current place we’ve worked hard to set up a mini one, but I still dream of acreage.)
This scene is of the first garden in my life, and I’ll always think of who tended to it, what it taught & provided, and how special it is to have a garden.
“Sunset at the Cove” acrylic on clayboard.
I have a crush on this place. Expect to see more of it.
Though really, why not do both.
Ten points if you can name who belongs to this rarest of smiles.
Back from disappearing for a bit.
Fell in love with the simplicity of a no. 2 pencil recently.
I didn’t think so before I did this study and I’m more convinced after.
Pages in my sketchbook - two color studies playing around with palettes I don’t naturally gravitate to and this study of ‘At The Moulin Rouge’ circa 1895.
Lautrec has made a solid case for bringing black onto my palette.
Oil on panel, 2021. Lauren Elyse S.
This park has a lot of little secrets, but one of my absolute favorites is this lion fountain that you have to wander a bit to find.
Just a few pages of my current sketchbook as I practice & plan for more plein air sessions.
“Cove at Midday” Lauren Elyse S, 2021. Oils on clayboard.
Literally. Finally got out to plein air with my new, lightweight set up yesterday. Could’ve done without the sand wasps about my ankles.
My love affair with wandering and this cove continues. A few drawings and a painting from today.
It feels a bit cliché to have Sorolla as an art hero, but he’s earned that status about twenty-three thousand times over and all you need to do is look at one single piece of his work to understand why.
Digital study of his Rosebush at the Alcazar of Seville.
Digital color study illustration, after Keaton’s “The General,” 2020.
Usually.
“The Rush, The Crash” digital, 2020.
This was a fun one.
There’s a good chance if you fall asleep around me you’ll wake up with a portrait of your slumbering.
Detail: Flower in a current work in progress commission.
Detail: Flower in a current work in progress commission.
There’s something distinctly sensual about working with paint. I think it has a lot to do with its lush fluidity. To be a painter, it is my opinion, you're usually some shade of hedonistic.
There's near nothing - for me - more pleasurable than a flower rendered in oils in luxurious strokes. I like to paint my flowers in one pass rather than layered with drying time in between - linseed oil added for that extra gloss and movement. For me it creates a more energetic feel when swipes of paint slide through one another, catch and meld to bring out a subtle color blend, and in the wake leaves the high relief and impression of my brush's intentional path. It's definitely trickier to prevent colors from muddling in this approach, but the reward is that of a painted flower vibrating a bit more on the canvas. Though more punishing in practice, I love a little chaotic, purposeful energy distilled into pigment, worked through to figured petal and leaf.
Detail: “Other People’s Lives” oil on canvas.
Detail: “Other People’s Lives” oil on canvas.
Oil on panel, 2019
Question: can an artist base their entire career on paintings of candles?
Recently found myself on a train rolling back and forth across the country, so of course I had to document it the best way I know how.
I can’t even begin to describe how difficult it is to sketch while being steadily jostled on a train for hours on end.
Click any image to enlarge.
“Ophelia” acrylic & oil on clay panel, 2019.
Opehlia. A woman who went insane because of the irrationality of man. Honestly, I get it.
Dark Mysteries under way.
"Melt" digital painting, 2018.
Here's a piece inspired by Mughal carpet designs and the scent of flowers on a warm wind.
