Tucked Away

Lauren Sobka November 4, 2021

Balboa 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.

On A Cliff's Edge

Lauren Sobka August 31, 2021

“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.

Hedonistic Delights

Lauren Sobka July 10, 2020

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. Or an automasochist. Some days it seems a fine line. (Especially ones where you spend a whole day trying to materialize a flower in oils only to be beat back at every try until a last effort where you swear you've lost your touch / eye for it).

But I digress. This post is about hedonism, mostly, as 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.

Would that I could

Guest User August 18, 2019

Question: can an artist base their entire career on paintings of candles?

Ophelia

Guest User March 8, 2019

Opehlia - a woman who went insane because of the irrationality of man. Honestly - I get it.

Late Afternoon Camellias

Guest User March 20, 2016

Another plein air piece from the Norfolk Botanical Gardens in preparation for an upcoming spring show. This one was a serious challenge with the composition and the tricky lighting that was changing so rapidly as I painted, but it was well worth the effort. (Frozen solid hands and all.)