Oil on panel, 2019
Question: can an artist base their entire career on paintings of candles? No? Maybe? Well, this was just a warmup. I have twelve candle paintings upcoming for a big trompe l’oeil style project so hold on tight.
Would that I could
LA > Chi Town > Philly & Back Again
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. Did a digital sketchbook as it’s easier to carry a stylus and iPad than an entire paints set (also, I’ve ruined more physical sketchbooks traveling than I care to remember), so here’s the results. I can’t even begin to describe how difficult it is to sketch while being steadily jostled on a train for hours on end, so while I wish I’d done more sketches during my time spent back east, the protracted concentration needed to create these pieces on the journey demanded I give it a rest - until I was on the return trip with lots of time on my hands. (click the image below to view.)
Where does the time go?
“Dark Seas” digital illustration, 2019.
No, but really. Where. I feel personally affronted in the ways in which time is always reminding me how long certain projects take to come together. This one - that I’m intending to turn into a second book with dozens if not a couple hundred illustrations - is coming up on three years now. Granted, the idea didn’t solidify until last fall, but still. So here is a new illustration to add to the Dark Mysteries collective, and I’m hoping to focus more on it from here on out so I can get the story finished and the artwork to go along with it realized as well. Cheers to the best laid plans!
Delirium
“Delirium” acrylic & oil, 2019. Lauren Elyse S.
There’s so much I could say about this painting - about how it helped push my practice, my mindset about what I want my work to be, how it helped me further let go of caring about how my work is perceived, and how it gave me hell but was worth every second I worked on it and pushed through. But instead, I’ll just show you the label I’ll be affixing to all these pieces moving forward. I dug up a saucy antique printing block and, well, it just seems appropriate that they’re now a mark for this series.
“Delirium” verso.
“Delirium” verso.
Gene
“Gene” digital illustration, 2019. Done on Procreate.
While you’re busy letting thoughts for new work fully form, you mess around with digital. Or, at least that’s what I do. I have two paintings in my head that aren’t ready for canvas so here’s an illustration I did based off one of my favorite photos of Gene Kelly. Because, Gene Kelly.
Switch / Positions
I was telling someone today how weird it is to be the creator of such overtly erotic art when that’s never what I set out to do. Way back when I began creating these pieces I was really mostly interested in spacial arrangement and the challenge of conveying an idea with only pieces of information. It didn’t take long, though, until I embraced what it is these entangled limbs represent, and I really like putting these little sexy people puzzles together. They’re a challenge both for me to create and for you to decode and visualize what’s missing / the mechanics of how it works.
These two started out as one idea from a spontaneous sketch, but as I worked into the wee hours of the morning wrestling with foreshortening, angles, overall positioning (I did these with zero references) one became two. Maybe if I’m feeling really ambitious I’ll create a series of illustrations bridging the divide between these two positions so it can be a flip book/gif/mini animation. We’ll see.
“Switch” digital illustration, Lauren Elyse S. 2019
“Positions” digital illustration, Lauren Elyse S. 2019
Happy Accidents
“Midnight” digital illustration, 2019. Lauren Elyse S.
Nothing in my work flow ever seems to go to plan. Got set up last night to figure out the final elements of a painting I’m working on when flipping through my inspiration folder brought up a photo of a face. I started mindlessly sketching to get in the flow and then this illustration happened. Didn’t get anything done for the painting. Oh well. That’s how it goes sometimes. You need to listen to the muse and not fight it, I’m not upset about it. I rarely have the interest to draw people - couldn’t tell you why. Perhaps an over saturation of faces in art leaves me wanting to focus on other things, but once in a while I’ll see a face that makes me want to create.
Processes and Thoughts
If you were ever curious about what paintings look like on the way to becoming finished paintings or my thoughts on why I decide on what and how I paint, follow me on Instagram! I’m continually posting there again since I’ve made the time to get back into regular studio practice. (You can also follow me on Facebook, too.)
About Last Night
I think the top most frustrating thing as an artist (for me) is when things that usually come easy to you - because you put in years of practice - stop flowing. Being creative is most certainly a muscle you need to constantly flex and condition and even then you’ll have an off day. Normally the drawings I map out for my Touch series flow easily and I’m able to imagine all the spatial arrangements needed without too much difficulty, but this one was a couple days struggle. To decompress before I move this onto canvas I had to just find space to play. So here’s the original digital drawing and a little abstract color play alternate. Now to get this started as a physical painting, take it in a new direction, and hope it comes together with fewer mental blocks.
“About Last Night” painting prep sketch. Digital, 2019.
“Play” Digital Painting, 2019.
Ophelia
“Ophelia” acrylic & oil on clay panel, 2019.
Opehlia - a woman who went insane because of the irrationality of man. Honestly - I get it.
I’ve made prints of this piece available in my online shop here.
Veils
“Veils” - acrylic and canvas on canvas board. 2019.
Sometimes paintings go on long odysseys and come back from ruin - more than once - before being completed. This one really put me through my paces.
She was a Storm, I Held on Tight
“She was a Storm, I Held on Tight.
Limited edition prints available HERE.
It’s been raining in San Diego for weeks.
tangled
January’s almost gone and this is the first bit of art I’ve done yet in 2019. Adult responsibilities… goooo away. Anyway, you can find prints of this in my online shop. Hopefully I’ll have time to lock myself away in my studio soon and finish/start a few paintings. Here’s to hoping!
Storytelling
If there’s one thing I love doing with my art, either on a micro scale within one single painting, or on a larger scale with a series - it’s storytelling. I don’t want my art to be something taken at face value, and so I’m really, really excited about my latest project that will culminate in my second book (First book? You say - click here). I detailed a little bit about it in my previous post (you can read it here), I’ve built up over 20 illustrations so far (check them out here), and I’m busy building out the written story itself. It’s taking shape organically as I create the pieces that inform the story, and the written story is inspiring new illustrations. It’s a super rewarding process, regardless of outcome - though I’m working hard to make the end result deeply interesting, and a book worth reading as well as collecting.
Although a lot of the work I’m doing on the art end of this has been digital (as I decided to work within the Inktober format, and to push out a full illustration a day is rough enough on its own, doing it traditionally would have been near impossible to keep up with for this project), I am going to be pulling ideas out of my digital work and creating hand drawn pieces as well as hand cut, hand pressed limited edition prints. These will be available as I go through the process of putting this all together. I’m thinking giveaways and/or a kickstarter? Those details are still a ways off, but they’re in my mind, and if you’d like to not miss anything, please join my mailing list (that form just off to the right) and keep up with my Dark Mysteries.
Click this image to go to my Dark Mysteries page here on my site and view many of the illustrations that will be used for the book.
Roaming Abroad
I've started a new series in earnest that's taking on a life of its own. It began with the simple idea of explaining how all my work comes together - both as a visual catalog of what inspires me, and to show what is constantly knocking around in my mind that informs the more involved paintings and compositions I pursue. It's also helping me work on what I set out to do at the beginning of this year, which is loosen up my style. Each of these paintings is one brush stroke closer towards instinctual mark making while letting the overly-focused/critical side of my brain rest after doing the heavy lifting with composition. I have to admit it's a freeing way to work. I'm holding myself to as few rules as possible while doing this in order to allow each piece to stand alone and be as idiosyncratic as it needs/wants to be. The only task I've set for myself is that each successive painting must have elements of the directly previous one - whether it be an object, shape, pattern, or just a color - and imagery from paintings previous in the series can and should pop in and out. So this first series is now starting to build momentum, and I'm really loving where it's going. I hope you'll consider following along with each new piece on my Instagram.
I'm calling it "Roaming Abroad" as that's what and where my mind always is, and by you engaging with it you're doing the same, taking time to explore the landscape I've created for you.
"Waiting" acrylic on clay panel
"Where Do I Fit In?" acrylic on clay panel
"Untitled" acrylic on clay panel
"Just Turn Off the Lights" acrylic on clay panel
"Untitled" acrylic on clay panel
Waiting
"Waiting" acrylic on clay board. 2018. Lauren Elyse S.
A life goal of mine is to one day live close enough to Venice that I can take off to paint it whenever I need. And painting Venice is, most certainly, always a need.
The Stormy Sea at Night
"Turner-esque Nocturne" Digital Painting by Lauren Elyse S. 2018.
I don't remember the first time I saw Turner's abstract atmospheric paintings, but I do remember how they made me feel. It was like a lightening bolt - they woke me up. The energy in them is insane. I particularly love Nocturne Black and Gold: the Falling Rocket, and Fishermen at Sea. My worship of a stormy sea rolls deep, and so here is a little digital painting in the vein of Turner.
Finally!
Some new digital work happening now that I was able to get Procreate back into my process. What a relief, it's such an amazing asset to have for working on the fly, for figuring out new ideas, or just practicing techniques. It's so important to my work flow that I'm really going to be able to kick it into overdrive now, and I could not be happier.
"Heatwave" - digital illustration 2018. Lauren Elyse S. For limited edition prints, click here.
"Cat" - digital drawing 2018. Lauren Elyse S. To commission a portrait drawing, click here.
That Time I Wrote A Book
True story. Well, actually, it's an historical fiction, but it is indeed true that I published a novel, and it's currently free to download in Kindle format this week. So if you're at all curious, click the cover to the right (which I also designed and painted) to grab it. Truly hope you enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts if you do give it a read.
Botanical Waters
San Diego waterfall plein air, oil on wood canvas, 2018.
A little plein air piece from a few weeks ago up at the San Diego botanical gardens. They have a really energetic and moody waterfall tucked in the hillside whose course and chatter I'm sure I wouldn't tire of even if I sat by it for days and weeks on end.
I'm currently in my studio wrapping up a piece from my main series of work, and although it's been stop and go for me over the past few months I'm looking to remedy that this week. Excited about it!