slowsnail - an art blog

Whoa... Update?

2011-10-07T01:54:00.001-04:00

Sorry I neglect this blog so much! But a lot has happened!

In September I moved to Oakland and am living with one of my best friends in the whole world, we've known each other since 7th grade! I sadly left my Gallery Director position and drove out here with my buddy Leyland and my dog Tripp! So far it's been very exciting!

Currently I am working freelance as well as taking commissioned portraits of pets! You can order one on my Etsy Shop or email me at { moyerillustration@gmail.com }

Aren't they beautiful!!!

Anyway you can always stay up to date with my daily activities here at my blog Sparrow & Urchin. I also posted the pictures from my drive out west to Cali.

I'm also now obsessed with Instagram! My username is sparrow_urchin

Currently I'm in the middle of possibly redesigning my website, making only one blog (Sparrow & Urchin) encompass both art and life, and also starting a custom print, card, invite shop. So lot's in the works right now!!! Oh and I got a tattoo!

Be sure to check back often, and get a pet portrait! They make great gifts!!

Huggles,
Lauren

A Little Help From My Friends

2011-06-12T23:20:00.001-04:00

So I may have mentioned I was also in a group art show in town... So here you guys are...

"A Little Help from my Friends"

My Junior year in college ('07) I experimented with painting on linen and incorporating embroidery and multiple layers of canvas... My most successful piece was this one, "Rebbecca Rolfe Learns to Sew"

Anyway with all the turmoil of my life I've decided to got back to that experiment. I have a great fondness for sewing and embroidery and am excited to start this again.

This piece I painted the girl on the main canvas and the hand and birds on a separate canvas, then cut those out and embroidered them onto the main. I made the mistake though of using Cotton Duck Canvas instead of Linen... and may I say that was near impossible... I wasn't able to do all the embroidery that I wanted.

The idea of this piece goes along with what has been happening with me lately. That sometimes you have to start sewing yourself back together, making yourself presentable and feeling good, and while you do that you have to allow your friends to help give you the tools in order to pull yourself together.

Upcoming Show

2011-02-08T13:59:00.000-05:00

I'm doing a piece for Kill Taupe's second installment of Meth & Hot Dogs! It will be at the Lift Gallery in Royal Oak on April 30th. Here's the artist line up.

I have an idea of what I want to do but I need to finish the sketches. Also there are a few other things that are going to start too! I'm very excited!

New Etsy Items Preview

2010-11-04T13:48:00.000-04:00

So I just updated my prints on Etsy, and let me say they are perfect Holiday gifts :) I'm also going to be posting in the next couple weeks the return of the Owl Stuffed animals.

As well as starting in December I will be starting to take custom orders for Ring Pillows and listing a few I've made. Just in time for wedding planning.

If you have any questions, want to pre-order or order customs, please email me at moyerillustration@gmail.com

Also: Follow my blog with bloglovin

New Prints on Etsy

2010-09-29T10:17:00.002-04:00

Hey you guys! I finally have updated that silly thing called Etsy! So go get some art for your walls!

I have framing available for all my 8x10" prints, and for my 12x16" screen print. If interested just email me (lauren@laurenmoyer.com)

Also be on the look out this coming month for new screen prints, and the return of my owl stuffed animals! Don't know what they are? Well you can see one here >> http://laurenmoyer.blogspot.com/2007/07/this-is-prudence.html and here >> http://laurenmoyer.blogspot.com/2007/12/noel-night.html

So be on the lookout!

-Lauren

How to make a tunic

2010-09-15T11:55:00.001-04:00

I did a guest post on a friends style blog, Alyson is Neat, and showed how to make a Grecian Tunic. And I did a little illustration with it. I think it's art related enough so I thought I throw it up on this here art blog. Here it is and the final product:

Here are the instructions I wrote:

So here's what you need to create this tunic, it only took a couple hours and can be dressed up and is still comfy enough to sit around the house. For my fabric I used a remnant I had bought from a fabric store, it's a silk crepe so it would be really flowy. I only needed about a yard.

To start I first measured how big I wanted the tunic, I wanted it about to my elbows and at least 27" long (the zippers length), after I cut out two rectangles which with my measurements were 40 inches wide by 30 inches long. I cut one rectangle in half for the back and sewed on the zipper. Then I faced the two rectangles face to face and sewed the top leaving about 12 inches in the middle open for my head (important). Then sewed the sides leaving again about 12 inches open at the top for my arms (that's important too!). After that I turned the shirt right side out and figured out where I wanted my waist and cut slits on the front and back for a belt or sash... And voila! You have a homemade Grecian tunic. I hope my instructions were understandable :D

Some pieces from my Show

2010-09-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

These are a couple watercolors I did for the show. I haven't used watercolor since freshman year but it was fun to experiment... I think next I'm going to try out pastels next, I love them freshman year.

Sorry these aren't very good pictures, they aren't scans just quick shots. I'll get better images.

Bluebird

Stork

Yeah so there you go...

Oh and Remember to become a FAN of me on Facebook and follow me on twitter to get updates and all that jazz!

A little from Work

2010-09-08T10:54:00.000-04:00

Here's just some cute pictures from my work. This is Sherri and I, she was my awesome intern from State who is majoring in interior design. She helped me re-hang the front room and was so great to have around. I miss her so much.

That was the day she said my legs look antique... hahaha cause they were so white. Oh we had such great times running around the Design Center and trying to sit and try all the chairs. I called it "Goldielocksing"

The Preserve Opening

2010-09-05T15:19:00.001-04:00

Friday night was my opening for my show The Preserve at Starkweather Arts Center. It went really well I sold a painting and some prints, and Anna also sold a few paintings as well. So overall great night!

A bunch of my buds were there, pictured is my fashionable buddy Jen, and Cat and Sara stopped by too! Jaye Thomas of the Rogue Satellites played after the opening and he sounded great! Perfect to go with art and wine. My friend Heather also did a write up on the show on the Perfect Laughter blog, which is a detroit based art blog run by my friends Dennis and Christina (the sweetest people ever! they exposed my screens for me). The night wasn't over until we saw a stupid kid get arrested for fighting outside the bar we were at. Some night! By the time we got home all of us were about the pass out. Man, I feel like so much stress has been lifted off my shoulders. Now time for Arts, Beats and Eats Festival which now is a few blocks away from my house! Yay!

Hummingbird Thoughts

2010-09-01T11:24:00.000-04:00

Here is another new painting that is going to be in my show called "The Preserve" with Anna Cangialosi on Friday at Starkweather Arts Center.

It's entitled "Hummingbird Thoughts"

12x16"
Oil on Canvas

Limited Edition Screenprint

2010-08-31T15:58:00.001-04:00

Here's a screen print I finished for my show "The Preserve" this friday! Sara was kind enough to take some pictures of the print unframed and the framed option.

Details:

4 color screen print (Blue, Yellow, Pink, and purple-gray Linework
Edition of 25
12x16"

Options:
Framed or Unframed

for pricing please email me at
lauren@laurenmoyer.com

Screen Print Glimpse

2010-08-29T13:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a sneak peek of my screen print that will be available this Friday at Starkweather Arts for my show The Preserve: The Work of Anna Cangialosi and Lauren Moyer

It's a 4 color print that is 12x16 on 250 gsm archival paper. You can buy it unframed or order a framed version. Will post the framed version soon, it's pretty sweet.

Colors are Blue, Yellow, Pink and Purpley grey. I wish the yellow was a little more transparent but for my first time doing this at home, I'm pretty happy with the results, they came out great!

Lookie there!

2010-08-05T10:28:00.000-04:00

Well here's the best picture of the Caterpillar Dreams painting. I still want to add a little more linework to it but it's done for now. I've been lately overworking too many of my paintings. I need to get a better picture of it for the internet, I really hate how the colors get online, how do some artists always make their art look good on their blogs.

Art? Do we have art?

2010-07-26T09:36:00.000-04:00

Well this weekend was quite productive. As you can see I've gotten rid of my wordpress blog and went back to the good ole' blogger. And it's incorporated into my website yay! Well here's some stuff I did this weekend.

I went to eat Crepes and Kevin and I were entertained by cute sea creatures.

I like my narwhal with his bowtie :)

And I have a painting... Here's a sneak peek from my iPhone. It'll be photographed tomorrow!

I also have some screen prints getting ready. Yay! I will have new stuff for my show in September!

Camping this Weekend

2010-06-17T23:20:00.002-04:00

Packing for a weekend with my favorite illustrators!!

I'm so excited!!

Boredom

2010-04-28T12:17:00.005-04:00

I was going through my pictures and chose a best of photobooth... time frame about 1.5 years... My hair has changed, and the moral of the story is I need to keep my hair my natural blond and long.... damn it!

And update your blogrolls to http://www.laurenmoyer.com/blog/

Yo

2010-03-24T15:08:00.003-04:00

So soon this blog will be re-directed to the blog on me website, http://www.laurenmoyer.com/blog/ So updates ye blogrolls!

So I pretty much finished my webby site, and of course something happened with the layout of my blog... of course, I'll probably fix that around this weekend, and hopefully get my sketchbook page up too.

So tells me what you think!

Website

2010-01-19T20:19:00.001-05:00

I absolutely despise my flash website, and am currently building a awesome new one. But until it's up and ready I just used a program to quickly put up a temporary website that's all nice and clean.

So go have at it!

http://www.laurenmoyer.com/

2010

2010-01-13T11:20:00.003-05:00

Well onward to a new year.

2009 could be a forgotten year, Yes, I did spend a wonderful summer with my cousin in Alaska and I am so grateful but I feel I have fallen off the artist bench and I need to pick myself up again. The year ended for me with a terrible job rejection but I look on to the new century and hope that positive thoughts will prevail.

I began 2010 in Washington DC with one of my oldest friends, Kate Leboeuf and my ever wonderful boyfriend Kevin. And jobwise I'm off to a great start I now am working as the Gallery Manager of TRA Art located in the Michigan Design Center, I'm hoping being surrounded by huge paintings of beautiful landscapes and people can fill me with daily inspiration.

I have sketches to be made into paintings and screenprints... redesigning of my blog and website ahead of me. Let's do this.

So onward into 2010, may it be the change that everyone needs, and only change for the better.

Till next time.

Solo Show 2009

2009-12-21T01:41:00.000-05:00

I'm terrible at blogging. Hopefully 2010 will change that. I need to get all the rest of my images together from my solo show... months ago. Been kinda a vagabond as of the past few months and I don't have a permanent residence, so as you can imagine it's hard trying to get things together.

Crazy 4 Cult 2009

2009-12-21T01:30:00.006-05:00

Months old as well. Don't have a scan of it, just this photo.

An Interesting Thing Happened to me Today

2009-08-14T01:52:00.001-04:00

So I was at work today at the Native Hospital selling fruit, typical day, frustration, bees and sticky fingers. When the maintenance man came up to buy some fruit and veggies. He was a round gray haired fellow with a nice smile and attitude. A typical grandfather figure. His name was Ron Robbins (not sure on the spelling of the las name). When he bent down to put his spackle knife and tools of that sort down I noticed his red jacket with his name embroidered in it had a big Ohio State emblem on the back. I responded to the sight "Do you like Ohio State?" and was answered with a happy "Well of course, I'm an alum" Excited knowing the Pat is a big fan and my ohio pride "Oh well I'm from Ohio... Dayton to be exact" "Oh yeah I was born in Springfield, only 27 (don't remember exactly) miles from there." "Oh yeah I know Springfield" conversation continues on about Ohio a bit and then "I played for Ohio State and got onto a rookie league in '56, way before you were born. (I now forget the minor league team somewhere in Ohio) and then I was drafted to the Detroit Tigers along with Buck Rodgers..." I'm amazed at this point and tell him "I've been living in Detroit!" "Well I played in Briggs Stadium which was renamed Tigers Stadium, but now that's gone it's now Comerica Park, and then I played for the Reds I played in Crosley Field and then they built Riverfront but now that's gone too. But I was making more money in construction then in baseball, so I got my priorities straight and quit. I guess I was born too early, baseball players then didn't make any money compared to today, and now they are all on steroids."He shook his head with that. "It was fun."

He bought some great food and gave me an amazing story, it brightened my day so much. I came home and of course the first thing I did was look him up. I'm not sure on the dates he gave me, he said something about 1956 but I wasn't sure if he was a rookie at Ohio State or Minor League. But sadly I can't find anything on him, maybe it was just a big fish. I don't think it was or care if it was, I got to meet someone with extraordinary life story and a had a great conversation. It gives me hope in knowing that I'll have interesting stories when I am his age buying fruit at a street side stand. And hopefully I can make someone's day like he made mine.

And with that I thought it best to share my days story. It made me grin for the rest of the day.

nuntnghel'ił

2009-08-05T04:44:00.002-04:00

nuntnghel'ił is a common saying in the Native Alaskan language Dena'ina. It means "I will see you again" which is what I chose for the title of my solo show just about a month away.

The phrase means a lot to me currently being away from my family and friends. But all I need to remember is that I will see them again. And if I leave for another place after the show, I always have to remember that...

I will see you again.

nuntnghel'ił

Update

2009-07-18T21:21:00.002-04:00

Part of a larger painting... Been looking a lot at John Currin... I think it's been helping. I re-did her face so many times, and I'm trying to be a little loose and mix some tones on the canvas.

1,000 True Fans is what you need to be able to Live

2009-07-07T04:15:00.001-04:00

Great Article from The Technium

This is the text taken from the article on the KK.org website in the Technium blog, please visit the original here the article .

I DID NOT WRITE THIS!

I feel that I should pass the knowledge and information on because it is very informative.

"1,000 True Fans

The long tail is famously good news for two classes of people; a few lucky aggregators, such as Amazon and Netflix, and 6 billion consumers. Of those two, I think consumers earn the greater reward from the wealth hidden in infinite niches.

But the long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist's works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales.

Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail?

One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

To raise your sales out of the flatline of the long tail you need to connect with your True Fans directly. Another way to state this is, you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans.

Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.

One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.

The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. They are giving you their support directly. Maybe they come to your house concerts, or they are buying your DVDs from your website, or they order your prints from Pictopia. As much as possible you retain the full amount of their support. You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.

The technologies of connection and small-time manufacturing make this circle possible. Blogs and RSS feeds trickle out news, and upcoming appearances or new works. Web sites host galleries of your past work, archives of biographical information, and catalogs of paraphernalia. Diskmakers, Blurb, rapid prototyping shops, Myspace, Facebook, and the entire digital domain all conspire to make duplication and dissemination in small quantities fast, cheap and easy. You don't need a million fans to justify producing something new. A mere one thousand is sufficient.

This small circle of diehard fans, which can provide you with a living, is surrounded by concentric circles of Lesser Fans. These folks will not purchase everything you do, and may not seek out direct contact, but they will buy much of what you produce. The processes you develop to feed your True Fans will also nurture Lesser Fans. As you acquire new True Fans, you can also add many more Lesser Fans. If you keep going, you may indeed end up with millions of fans and reach a hit. I don't know of any creator who is not interested in having a million fans.

But the point of this strategy is to say that you don't need a hit to survive. You don't need to aim for the short head of best-sellerdom to escape the long tail. There is a place in the middle, that is not very far away from the tail, where you can at least make a living. That mid-way haven is called 1,000 True Fans. It is an alternate destination for an artist to aim for.

Young artists starting out in this digitally mediated world have another path other than stardom, a path made possible by the very technology that creates the long tail. Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum hits, bestseller blockbusters, and celebrity status, they can aim for direct connection with 1,000 True Fans. It's a much saner destination to hope for. You make a living instead of a fortune. You are surrounded not by fad and fashionable infatuation, but by True Fans. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there.

A few caveats. This formula - one thousand direct True Fans -- is crafted for one person, the solo artist. What happens in a duet, or quartet, or movie crew? Obviously, you'll need more fans. But the additional fans you'll need are in direct geometric proportion to the increase of your creative group. In other words, if you increase your group size by 33%, you need add only 33% more fans. This linear growth is in contrast to the exponential growth by which many things in the digital domain inflate. I would not be surprise to find that the value of your True Fans network follows the standard network effects rule, and increases as the square of the number of Fans. As your True Fans connect with each other, they will more readily increase their average spending on your works. So while increasing the numbers of artists involved in creation increases the number of True Fans needed, the increase does not explode, but rises gently and in proportion.

A more important caution: Not every artist is cut out, or willing, to be a nurturer of fans. Many musicians just want to play music, or photographers just want to shoot, or painters paint, and they temperamentally don't want to deal with fans, especially True Fans. For these creatives, they need a mediator, a manager, a handler, an agent, a galleryist -- someone to manage their fans. Nonetheless, they can still aim for the same middle destination of 1,000 True Fans. They are just working in a duet.

Third distinction. Direct fans are best. The number of True Fans needed to make a living indirectly inflates fast, but not infinitely. Take blogging as an example. Because fan support for a blogger routes through advertising clicks (except in the occasional tip-jar), more fans are needed for a blogger to make a living. But while this moves the destination towards the left on the long tail curve, it is still far short of blockbuster territory. Same is true in book publishing. When you have corporations involved in taking the majority of the revenue for your work, then it takes many times more True Fans to support you. To the degree an author cultivates direct contact with his/her fans, the smaller the number needed.

Lastly, the actual number may vary depending on the media. Maybe it is 500 True Fans for a painter and 5,000 True Fans for a videomaker. The numbers must surely vary around the world. But in fact the actual number is not critical, because it cannot be determined except by attempting it. Once you are in that mode, the actual number will become evident. That will be the True Fan number that works for you. My formula may be off by an order of magnitude, but even so, its far less than a million.

I've been scouring the literature for any references to the True Fan number. Suck.com co-founder Carl Steadman had theory about microcelebrities. By his count, a microcelebrity was someone famous to 1,500 people. So those fifteen hundred would rave about you. As quoted by Danny O'Brien, "One person in every town in Britain likes your dumb online comic. That's enough to keep you in beers (or T-shirt sales) all year."

Others call this microcelebrity support micro-patronage, or distributed patronage.

In 1999 John Kelsey and Bruce Schneier published a model for this in First Monday, an online journal. They called it the Street Performer Protocol.

Using the logic of a street performer, the author goes directly to the readers before the book is published; perhaps even before the book is written. The author bypasses the publisher and makes a public statement on the order of: "When I get $100,000 in donations, I will release the next novel in this series."

Readers can go to the author's Web site, see how much money has already been donated, and donate money to the cause of getting his novel out. Note that the author doesn't care who pays to get the next chapter out; nor does he care how many people read the book that didn't pay for it. He just cares that his $100,000 pot gets filled. When it does, he publishes the next book. In this case "publish" simply means "make available," not "bind and distribute through bookstores." The book is made available, free of charge, to everyone: those who paid for it and those who did not.

In 2004 author Lawrence Watt-Evans used this model to publish his newest novel. He asked his True Fans to collectively pay $100 per month. When he got $100 he posted the next chapter of the novel. The entire book was published online for his True Fans, and then later in paper for all his fans. He is now writing a second novel this way. He gets by on an estimated 200 True Fans because he also publishes in the traditional manner -- with advances from a publisher supported by thousands of Lesser Fans. Other authors who use fans to directly support their work are Diane Duane, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and Don Sakers. Game designer Greg Stolze employed a similar True Fan model to launch two pre-financed games. Fifty of his True Fans contributed seed money for his development costs.

The genius of the True Fan model is that the fans are able to move an artist away from the edges of the long tail to a degree larger than their numbers indicate. They can do this in three ways: by purchasing more per person, by spending directly so the creator keeps more per sale, and by enabling new models of support.

New models of support include micro-patronage. Another model is pre-financing the startup costs. Digital technology enables this fan support to take many shapes. Fundable is a web-based enterprise which allows anyone to raise a fixed amount of money for a project, while reassuring the backers the project will happen. Fundable withholds the money until the full amount is collected. They return the money if the minimum is not reached.

Amelia, a twenty-year-old classical soprano singer, pre-sold her first CD before entering a recording studio. "If I get $400 in pre-orders, I will be able to afford the rest [of the studio costs]," she told potential contributors. Fundable's all-or-nothing model ensured that none of her customers would lose money if she fell short of her goal. Amelia sold over $940 in albums.

A thousand dollars won't keep even a starving artist alive long, but with serious attention, a dedicated artist can do better with their True Fans. Jill Sobule, a musician who has nurtured a sizable following over many years of touring and recording, is doing well relying on her True Fans. Recently she decided to go to her fans to finance the $75,000 professional recording fees she needed for her next album. She has raised close to $50,000 so far. By directly supporting her via their patronage, the fans gain intimacy with their artist. According to the Associated Press:

Contributors can choose a level of pledges ranging from the $10 "unpolished rock," which earns them a free digital download of her disc when it's made, to the $10,000 "weapons-grade plutonium level" where she promises "you get to come and sing on my CD. Don't worry if you can't sing - we can fix that on our end." For a $5,000 contribution, Sobule said she'll perform a concert in the donor's house. The lower levels are more popular, where donors can earn things like an advanced copy of the CD, a mention in the liner notes and a T-shirt identifying them as a "junior executive producer" of the CD.

The usual alternative to making a living based on True Fans is poverty. A study as recently as 1995 showed that the accepted price of being an artist was large. Sociologist Ruth Towse surveyed artists in Britian and determined that on average they earned below poverty subsistence levels.

I am suggesting there is a home for creatives in between poverty and stardom. Somewhere lower than stratospheric bestsellerdom, but higher than the obscurity of the long tail. I don't know the actual true number, but I think a dedicated artist could cultivate 1,000 True Fans, and by their direct support using new technology, make an honest living. I'd love to hear from anyone who might have settled on such a path.
"

Epic Fail

2009-06-29T22:48:00.003-04:00

So I've been here a month, what have I done?

Seen a bear eat some salmon? - CHECK
Seen too many Moose, and don't like them now? - CHECK
Climbed a mountain? - CHECK
Thinks the Bald Eagle is a little over rated? - CHECK
Realized riding bikes in Alaska is hard? - CHECK
Rolled around on the ground? - CHECK
Hugged a tree? - CHECK
Painted? - CHECK
Miss the moon? - CHECK
Seen a glacier? - CHECK Dug for Clams? - CHECK Miss having a car? - CHECK
Drooled over men in kilts? - CHECK
Grown a beard? - Still working on it

There's still so much more to do....

Here's my messy desk... fail.

And am I serious?

On the Easel

2009-06-16T04:07:00.003-04:00

picture of me taking a picture, been playing with a 120 format camera my cuz is letting me use.

On the easel today. Middle pic I just did. Started from scratch no drawing just started painting.

Bad photo, middle girl I just painted from my head, her skin tones look awful in the pic maybe when it's brighter out I'll take another picture. First painting I can think of that I didn't start with a drawing, just painted. neat.

Tryin lighter skin tones. Experimenting. Stretched some canvases today. Awesome.

Mountains

2009-06-02T17:22:00.003-04:00

Updates

2009-05-21T15:37:00.003-04:00

So less than a week, and off to Alaska. YAY!!

SO I caved and a got a twitter account... http://twitter.com/moyerdestroyer. Thanks Heather :p

I was part of a Gallery 1988 SF feature on NOTCOT blog!!! That's pretty rad, read it here.
Working on my piece for Gallery 1988 LA's big show Crazy 4 Cult which should be extremely sweet. Most likely going with my sketches on 2001: A space odyssey, cause if you really know me, you'd know I've been obsessed with that movie since elementary and i have a crush on Dave.

Um... It's fun to check on your host to see how people got to your site, and in google search how people found your site. So far people got to my site from a Steroids site (don't really know how), an italian club website, and for google searching my favorites are "how to graduate with honors ccs detroit" (I think that is kinda obvious... get good grades?) and "brazil design heather ccs" (that one I have no clue). So yeah...

Anyway, come to my house tomorrow night to say toodles and drink a beer with yours truly.

The Man Cub Final

2009-05-02T17:00:00.005-04:00

So I almost feel like I interpreted the piece too literally, but of course who likes their final paintings. I feel like Bagheera needed much more love in the painting. But it was very fun to experiment on stuff. I've been in conversations with many of my other artist friends, seeing what they used and tried some new stuff. As always the painting was mainly all oil.

the final painting

The idea for the piece is of course from my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, Rudyard Kipling's the Jungle Books. I wanted to show how throughout the books Mowgli fights with the want to become a wolf like his family, but he never will be no matter how many time he puts on the "clothes" of the wolf. And coming from him are his experiences, his stories. All of the characters that make him. Rikki-tikki tavi, Kaa, Raksha, Baloo, Hathi, Bagheera, and his enemy Shere-Khan.

Mowgli and Raksha, you can see I didn't do a good job stitching this together in PS, but I plan on doing it better eventually

I did the drawing all in pencil first at the final size, used really soft pencils and ebony pencils. Then I scanned it. I printed it out on watercolor paper on Kev's epson. The mounted it on Masonite. I first started in watered down acrylics getting the colors and base down. Then worked in pastel, colored pencil, oil paint, and finally markers. I did that about 3 times. Got my hands dirty too. It was fun.

Total time was about 8 hours painting over 2 days. Drawing was done in one evening. The final concept and positioning of everyone took me weeks to decide on. I finished this quite a few weeks ago, but wanted to wait for the opening before posting, the opening was last night (Friday May 1st) and will be up until May 23rd.

Shere Khan in his angry goodness

I really like Raksha (the mom wolf) and the texture in Hathi (elephant), but the colors of Hathi are too cartoony I think. I had a lot of fun drawing Shere-Khan and all of their paws. I love hands and feet.

painting ready to be hung at Gallery 1988 SF

I'm very excited to continue doing work with both Gallery 1988s here is a link to all the wonderful paintings done for this show.
http://1988btp.blogspot.com/

The Man Cub

2009-04-22T10:31:00.004-04:00

The drawing for my latest. The finished piece I sent out on monday to San Francisco to Gallery 1988. I used a lot of different media for it which was really fun. I don't know if it entirely worked out how I wanted but it was good to experiment and learn some new stuff.I think that I like the drawing the most.

Kevin has looong arms

2009-03-30T22:58:00.002-04:00

Drawing from a painting of kevin and his van. and walleyes. He really has that long of arms, down to his knees. Weirdo. :)

Here I Come

2009-03-26T22:20:00.000-04:00

Manimals

2009-03-24T01:51:00.002-04:00

Kevin's a Fishie
Heathers Puff Bun

Drawings for some portraits.

Drink and Draw

2009-03-24T01:48:00.001-04:00

Drink and Draw was a go, it was really fun. We all dressed up in funny and interesting costumes and sat for 15-20 minutes while everyone drew us. It was great. Will have to post pictures. These are a few of my sketches. Thinking we are going to do this again soon, keep our drawing chops going.

kidnapped by monkeys

2009-03-11T23:10:00.000-04:00

Mowgli the man cub... half done.

...

2009-03-07T22:36:00.001-05:00

Etsy

2009-03-06T17:36:00.001-05:00

Just posted more prints in my etsy account! So go and shop, everything is only $20 +shipping!

Etsy
Buy Handmade
laurenmoyer

Restriction

2009-02-24T00:09:00.002-05:00

The restrictions show is this weekend and here is part of my piece. I did it digitally, and there is a reason for it, and it gave me an excuse to break out the ole' wacom. I haven't colored on the computer for more than a year. Tried to be kinda loose, and use many colors. I liked the midway of course better then the final. Maybe will work on it a bit more, hopefully it will print well.

Sketch

2009-02-23T21:05:00.003-05:00

Decided to try to scan some stuff in

train ride

i have a crush

2009-02-23T20:16:00.000-05:00

oh Maxfield Parrish... so handsome.

Books Books!

2009-02-18T19:05:00.003-05:00

As I procrastinate I will give you a book update.

Just finished an autobiography on Charles R. Knight (1874-1953), amazing naturalist and painter... and he was legally blind. No one knows his name but everyone knows his work, he was the first artist to accurately depict dinosaurs and other extinct animals because of his study with taxidermy and his friendship with paleontologists, which they collaborated to figure out how these ancient animals moved and looked. I saw his murals in Chicago this weekend at the Field Museum of Natural History. So beautiful and huge for a man who couldn't look at his work from afar. Read the book on the train ride home. The Foreword was by Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen, both amazing.
My Favorite, the Irish Deer
"Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. This is unequivocally Knight's most influential work, the classic confrontation between the horned dinosaur Triceratops and its deadly adversary Tyrannosaurus. Mesozoic era." This one was massive, wonderfully set up behind some posed dino bones.
An example on how large he worked, this not the largest of his work by far.
The artist himself
Here's more of his work
His Field Museum Murals, there were 27 massive murals which I think he did them all in under 4 years... These things spanned the walls.

I'll post some pictures from my adventure in Chicago when I load them.

Also I just ordered my copy of Illustrators 50 which has my "Snake Scarf" painting in it that was in the Society of Illustrators 2008 Student Competition. I'm excited to get it.So excited!

I'm in the CCS Video HAHA!

2009-02-12T21:28:00.002-05:00

I was watching this and a girls voice came on... and i'm like that sounds kinda like me. And lo and behold tis I. And I think I hear a little Lee in the beginning as well. I'm towards the end, look like crap they caught us all when we putting up our seniors walls how dare they! hehehe, so neat. I miss school so much, oh post-grad depression

AD AD AD AD

2009-02-04T18:26:00.001-05:00

ADWORK trying to create a look. all photos taken by me, all published ads... all jewelry tried on. :)

I have a facebook page!

2009-01-04T23:37:00.002-05:00

click here and be a fan!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lauren-Moyer/53499644135?ref=s

Binary

2008-12-17T18:28:00.002-05:00

01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110111 01100101 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110010 01110100 01110111 01101111 01110010 01101011

WOOOOOO!

2008-12-02T21:36:00.003-05:00

They used my piece for the Vivsect Playset write up on the San Fran Flavorpill (a magazine)

Looooook! http://flavorpill.com/sanfrancisco/events/2008/12/5/the-vivisect-playset-five

COOOOOOOL!

If your in San Fran this weekend check it out! Friday opening!
Directions/Locations/Time here

I'm on the Gallery 1988 Blog!

2008-11-26T16:50:00.000-05:00

Write up for the upcoming vivisect playset 5 show here
http://g1988.blogspot.com/2008/11/vivisect-playset-round-5.html

Ridiculous

2008-11-23T01:21:00.001-05:00

21 years ago, 1 year before abandoned, Central Station was some what shiny and had windows. I wonder what these guys would say if they saw it now.

LOOOOOOOK!

2008-11-17T23:32:00.003-05:00

Find my name!!! Soooooo exciting!

It's official...

2008-11-17T23:09:00.001-05:00

It's winter, my car doors have frozen shut.

Close up on Goat Cloak

2008-11-17T14:31:00.002-05:00

Paintings are shipped out and I now need to start my commissions and sketches for my solo show... Yay! and I got some new ornaments and we inspected the faux xmas tree last night yeah christmas is coming!

So Sweet

2008-11-14T20:00:00.002-05:00

This is such a lovely article from Sept. 21, 1897 to the New York Sun on whether or not there is a Santa. I just think it is so lovely and well written. I love theology of the early century.

Inspiration

2008-11-14T17:31:00.002-05:00

I love the women of the Pre-Raphaelite era... i love all those painters.

Halloweeny and boredom

2008-11-06T19:16:00.006-05:00

So Halloween was great I went as Nurse Chapel from the original Star Trek, Kevin was Spock and our friend was Kirk. It was great on Fri we went to the Van's custom show curated by Andrew Davis at Cave Gallery. Sat we just chilled at Ryan's former apt.

I made my costume out of a XXL shirt!

So I've been trying to clean me house and get rid of stuff (everyone who know me knows I'm a "collector") So my fam hasn't seen it all painted. So i'm posting it.

Beside the front door my awesome sewing machine cabinet... currently I have my garage sale sewing machine on top cause the awesome old one in the cabinet is getting new wiring! And the roses where from a huge box of roses me and my wonderful minions found on the road while celebrating this wonderful tuesday we just had. We feel that they were a sign for us, showing that wonderful things were about to happen and change was a comin'.

Looking into the kitchen from the living room. A beautiful painting by Joe Schlaud and a silhouette of me at I think 2 and a little print of a painting of mine. And the end table has all my wonderful different flute and recorders I've collected from all over.

Part of my awesome art wall. Got prints of Heather Hansma, Camilla d'Errico, James Jean Poster, and some cutouts from juxtapoz. On the other half of the wall I have prints from Ryan Gitter, Jeff Nolan and a original screen print from Kristina Rafalski... I'll have to take a picture of those when that area is a little more clean. I love all my artwork and framing and hanging it. Oh and I have a wonderful screen print from Leyland Devito, he has the coveted spot above the tv! I'm so excited I have my full front room painted it only took a couple months!

haha

2008-11-03T23:17:00.001-05:00

hahhahahahahaha

Paintings

2008-10-31T13:45:00.004-04:00

Here are progress shots of two paintings for shows.

This is finished and was shipped a couple weeks ago for the Modus Lotus "Pop Euphoria Show" Its based on Peter Pan and how Wendy always tried to play with the mermaids but they would always pull away from her and tease her. The scan is a partial... my scanner wasn't working correctly so this is all i have of the drawing. The show is a charity show for Toys for Tots. If my painting doesn't sell during the show then it will be auctioned off :)

This one is the companion piece for the SF Gallery 1988 show "Vivisect Playset 2008" curated by Luke Chueh. It's "Goat Cloak" hehehe I like the name even though it's a big horn sheep cloak. It was the best name I could come up with to go with "Giraffe Jacket". The painting is pretty much done but I'll wait a little before posting because the show open in Dec.

Oh and here is the ring pillow I made for my lovely friend Morgan Hawkins... now Drain's wedding. She sent me a link to the pictures and here is the beautiful boy who carried the pillow down the aisle. It looked like a wonderful wedding, I'm so sad I missed it.

Paintings Woes

2008-10-16T12:19:00.001-04:00

I need to get back into the swing of things... I miss schools pressure to be good!

Ring Pillow

2008-10-16T11:22:00.002-04:00

A Season of weddings!

My sister got married and my good friend Morgan, all in one weekend!!! Unfortunately I couldn't go to Morgans, but I saw the pictures and it looked amazing! But she was great enough to send me pictures of the ring pillow I made her (because silly me didn't take any pictures)

Now I need to get a picture of the book I made for my sister. And I'll post some pictures from her wedding, I was a bridesmaid! It was gorgeous.

my job

2008-09-15T15:17:00.003-04:00

So recently I started working for Schubot Jewellers which is a old high end Detroit jeweller, they carry really expensive jewelry and make custom stuff for the wealthy and CEO types of the area. The jewelry is incredible. Here's a pic of a picture I took of one of my rings, this was given to my grandma by my grandpa when they first started dating. It's a Tigers Eye with a carving of a spartan head, this motif was popular for the time but mainly seen in men's rings and were usually bulky "class ring" styles. This is I guess pretty rare to have such a small stone on quite a dainty ring. Also the bumps along the gold band were made to give the illusion of diamonds in the setting, this was because really the common person could not afford diamonds during that time... Well hope you enjoy.

vacations

2008-09-15T13:46:00.014-04:00

So theres been alot of traveling this summer, I need to post pictures of all the pretties I saw all across the country when Kevin and I drove along Route 66 to california then back through the middle of the country seeing all the pretty national parks and camping. It was wonderful...

My Studio

2008-09-15T13:42:00.001-04:00

Kevin and I have finally cleaned up our studio spaces. Here's a little picture of my desk area, I'll have to post more pictures of our little house as soon as I have all my walls painted and artwork hung, but I'm so excited that the house is finally getting organized and becoming our home.

Actual CD Pictures

2008-09-15T13:40:00.002-04:00

These are looong over due

Pop Euphoria!

2008-09-08T18:00:00.002-04:00

The show by modus lotus "Pop Euphoria" in Mass, is looking to be a really great show. Veronica the curator has released the flyers and they look great.

Make sure to go to The Modus Lotus Blog to read about all the great artists that will be in the show, there is a ton more that they haven't even written about yet. Looks fun!

If you can vote tomorrow

2008-08-04T11:09:00.002-04:00

Go out and help support the zoo. If I could vote in Michigan I would be there first thing tomorrow morning. The tax is said to average around $10 a household over a year, which isn't much compared to the approx. $60 mil the zoo creates in revenue for the surrounding areas (info gathered from articles below go read for more). I hope you all go vote tomorrow cause along with the zoo there are some really important issues on the ballot.

Read more here

Voters to hit polls on zoo tax question - Royal Oak Review

Say yes to Detroit Zoo - Detroit Free Press

Zoo vote a test run for mandate on new tax wages in Wayne County - Detroit Free Press

Schools, public questions and zoo on tuesday ballot - Daily Tribune

New Piece and Travels!

2008-07-17T21:29:00.005-04:00

Here is the cover painting I was commissioned for by the band Andrew and the Pretty Punchers. The cd release party is Aug 2nd at 9:30 pm at Jimmie's Cornerstone and the Judy Blooms is also playing. I can't wait to see how the entire album looks, I did some small paintings for the back and inside, I hope the printing looks great! I've already got some great response from the band and their friends/followers. They are a great band check them out @ their myspace account http://www.myspace.com/andrewtheprettypunchers.

Also I'm leaving tomorrow to go tread through the mountains all the way to San Diego to the comic con, then back across canyon lands to explore and dance. I'm so excited, haven't been camping since last year and haven't been out west in four years. I wonder how much has changed!

http://royaloak.utrechtblog.com/

2008-07-08T01:28:00.000-04:00

Royal Oak Utrecht Blog

Preview

2008-07-07T21:33:00.003-04:00

Digi pics of my painting for Andrew and the pretty punchers... finish will be shown when the release is!!!!!

Colors way off and lot's of glare. sorry, it's too wet to scan, and I've already baked it once!

Shows!!!!

2008-07-07T21:14:00.002-04:00

Oh my word, I have so many upcoming shows to start preparing for!

Upcoming:

"Goodbye Ohio" by Andrew and the Pretty Punchers CD release party
Aug. 2 in Dayton, OH (not sure of the location or time yet)
CD art painted by me!!!

My article in Stuck Mag (not sure which issue I'll be featured in)

The Vivisect Playset
curated by Luke Chueh
@ Gallery 1988 in CA
Dec. 5 - 23
Gallery 1988

Pop Euphoria
Curated by Veronica Hebarb
@ the Aurora Gallery in MA
Dec. 6 thru Jan. 8
Modus Lotus

And next fall 09 (I know so far away!) I will have my first solo show at the BBAC (Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center) in their Ramp Gallery!

I was so excited when they contacted me, they saw my art at the student show and asked for me to exhibit, and this was their first time asking a student, usually people apply and are juried!!! I'm so excited!

Updates to come, half of these date are final I just have to sign one of the exhibits papers!!!

Thank you to all the support I've recieved!

Preview of Freelance work

2008-06-23T16:34:00.003-04:00

Sketch for the new album from the band Andrew and the Pretty Punchers.

San Fran

2008-06-23T16:20:00.006-04:00

was sweet!

So I graduated

2008-06-23T16:10:00.005-04:00

So last month I graduated with a BFA and with honors... I'm quite sad that it's all over I really miss seeing my friends everyday and just talking to new people and joking around. I am excited for the next step in life but still I'm going to miss all my ccs people.... *tear tear*

My wall!!!
My design that was made into rugs by Hagopian, they made two cause the owners wanted to see how the different weaves would look. They were telling me that Karmanos was interested in putting some of the rugs in the downtown offices... that'd be so neat!

Society of Illustrators

2008-06-23T15:55:00.005-04:00

Need to get back on the band wagon of blogging.

So these are from my trip to New York for the Society of Illustrators Student Show which I had a piece in! It was really exciting, I also received a scholarship from the Friends of the Commercial Arts. We also got a tour of the Society's private collection. It was incredible to see all the great paintings up close, and then after we had lunch in the Society dining room. It was so incredible and I met so many interesting people from all over the US and from great schools.

My art was used as the poster to advertise the show outside the building!!!

Mike, Me and James we all had a piece in the show!!!
Holding a Leyendecker

Haven't updated in awhile

2008-06-02T15:25:00.002-04:00

So I need to update this blog, what have I done lately... well traveled to New York for the Society of Illustrators show, graduated!!!! and with honors (crazy!), and traveled to San Francisco and spent my nights partying in a co-op. Sweetness. Now I just need to get all my photos organized and post everything here. Thanks for being patient.

New Stuff!

2008-04-21T00:45:00.002-04:00

New Paintings! Man I had the worse time trying to make the colors seem alright on the web. Stupid web rgb profile, it messes up beautiful work.

"King Fisher and Queen Triggerfish" each 15"x15" oil on board
Play on words, they have crowns of their namesakes... haha. yeah.

"Soy vs Corn" 16"x20" oil on canvas
here's my long winded explaination
This is of two girls, one is born from soy plants and the other corn. This piece is about how both corn and soy are seen in current politics as "green" renewable sources when in realit they are both very harmful to the environment. Ethanol is made from corn but to create it is very pollutant and it isn't as efficient as gasoline which means you'd have to fill your tank more and at a higher price. Now with the corn prices going up (making food costs soar) farmers who use to farm soy now grow corn. Farmers in Brazil are now growing more soy to keep with the demands and cutting down the rainforest at the fastest rate ever.

So you see they supposedly are "good" but are tied together in a harmful consequence to the earth. That is why their braided together hair turns to their hands because in our hands we are creating destruction. This is a ery "Ohio" piece for me considering soy and corn are the main cash crops of the state.

I'm off my soap box now.

WIPS

2008-04-13T22:54:00.003-04:00

This weekend has been quite refreshing i'm finally feeling calm and good. here's some stuff.

My wall, got my giraffe painting back today from the gallery, and my lovely king and queen need to be framed. And temporarily i get to stare at joe schlauds wonderful painting of i'm pretty sure it's his girlfriend (he's going to pick it up from me when he comes to the d from lansing... so soon it'll be gone... how sad) and my wonderful beaver and capybara prints by jeff nolan. they need frames... i love everybody's art and need to get prints from folks!
My feet.
Munny and tiny painting, i'm trying a new technique on the painting where i start in greyscale then glaze color ontop like Vermeer.
Painting on the easel now... and yes i'm using my bed for a makeshift desk, it works.

Refresh

2008-04-11T12:17:00.005-04:00

I'm finally coming down from my cold and my worrying about the end of the semester... so now i can think clearly.

Here are some of my screen prints I've done!
this one is just one color I did, i did the same print on 4 different colors of paper. this project was creating a screen then on the second color change the pre-existing screen. the colors are pink with transparent silver on top (it looks greyish purple here but it really does sparkle!)

this is the poster for this semesters potluck!! the colors are way off so i need to play with it. the colors on the actual print didn't turn out quite like i wanted them to, they dried much darker than i thought and you can't really read the writing, but oh well learning experience. this was a four screen print, first blue, then yellow then pink and the line work was a gradient.

Walt Disney

2008-04-11T01:04:00.001-04:00

"Landscapes of great wonder and beauty lie under our feet and all around us. They are discovered in tunnels in the ground, the heart of flowers, the hollows of trees, fresh-water ponds, seaweed jungles between tides, and even drops of water.

Life in these hidden worlds is more startling in reality than anything we can imagine. How could this earth of ours, which is only a speck in the heavens, have so much variety of life, so many curious and exciting creatures?”

—Walt Disney (1901-1966)

EARTH HOUR!!!

2008-03-29T20:14:00.003-04:00

Turning all electronics and lights off and unplugging everything (cept my fridge) for an hour... such a great thing. I've actually become quite fond of drawing b lamp light. i've done it a few times with power outages.

Well i'm cheating a little my laptop is on, but not plugged into anything. Maybe i'll go on a bike ride....

Custom!

2008-03-26T00:08:00.004-04:00

So for one of my projects I've created these characters that are street urchins with sparrows, hence my new fondness for my company Sparrow & Urchin (under construct) Well I plan on making my own dolls but here's the custom munny i'm making in the mean time.

and there's a story that was the inspiration.
oh old timey language.

also found this inspiration
"I also vaguely remember how street urchins would kill the sparrows flying in plenty across the street and roast them in the little fire built with the dry twigs and leaves. Then they would clean the roasted bird, sprinkle salt and chilli powder and eat. For them, it was like a hunt in a jungle. A hunt in a jungle of rows and columns of tiled roof houses. Tiled roof houses can give space to these sparrows to build their nests. Concrete built, spacious bungalows could not accommodate these little sparrows. Is it not really sad? How man has become selfish to deprive some space even for little sparrows who are angel like. These street urchins will not listen even if the elders shout at them for doing so. For them it is a kind of adventure. Striking a sparrow with a single stone from their catapult is a feat that demands admiration from their friends."
except from an article by kalai selvi arivalagan

Updates!

2008-03-22T21:21:00.002-04:00

So, it's been a while since I posted but here it is.

Last weekend myself and a few friends drove to chicago to meet up with some ccs alumni, Sam and Rachel Conant, who are both marvelous illustrators and designers. It was so great meeting up with them, and the wealth of information they gave us was truly remarkable. Also we got to see the different neighborhoods of the city as we went to a art show of "Book Band". We also got to see some other recent alum wayne and mike. It was great.

And here is a quick image of my paintings I'm working on, I also just got to shoot some reference today for my next piece. Yay!

Sketches

2008-03-13T17:44:00.003-04:00

Some sketches of works in progress.
Sketch for my silkscreen poster, it's for the potluck this semester, still need to figure out the type.
Sketch for the companion piece to m kingfisher (which I will post sometime), she's a queen trigger fish.

I think this will be one of my last head shots, I really need to show what I can do with painting the body (and prove I can!)

Insane

2008-03-08T23:15:00.001-05:00

It's hilarious but hard to watch all 5 minutes, oh those japanese.

Look

2008-03-08T21:48:00.003-05:00

the wonderful Maureen O'Brien is painting a beautiful piece where she used me in it! heehee. Her idea is "about solar panels giving people energy/new ideas instead of giving energy to buildings and material objects.". And she chose me for the portrait because of my values concerning the environment.
visit her blog!!!

Wow

2008-03-05T00:03:00.003-05:00

Last night I was awaken to a ring of my phone saying I had a message. Groggy I check my messages and I have a lovely voice message from Dave Chow... but it's almost midnight. weird. Sounding delightful as always the messages informs me that... I got into the Society of Illustrators 2008 Student Competition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe it. Myself and two other CCS students (James Noellert and Mike Burdick) were part of the 130 students honored with this great aknowledgment. I'm ready for someone to pinch me, I just can't believe it. My piece chosen was the "Snake Scarf" painting. Look it's HERE! >>LOOKIE!

I'm just so excited and amazed. I guess since I look at my stuff everyday I really don't appreciate it, but from fresh eyes is the true vantage point of our art.

I just cannot believe I have this honor.

Merry Leap Year!

2008-02-29T19:51:00.001-05:00

Hopefully todays leap will be into a wonderful, fulfilling year.

Artwork!

2008-02-29T19:48:00.002-05:00

I've uploaded new prints on my etsy account. Now there are giclee prints of the Snake Scarf and Giraffe Jacket available. So go! It's fun.

http://laurenmoyer.etsy.com

WooHoo

2008-02-25T15:03:00.002-05:00

Two of my pieces "Giraffe Jacket" and "Gazelle Ghost" have been chosen to be in the upcoming Hatch show "Hatchback". It's featuring many different artists in the Detroit area some having shown a lot and some new to the scene. The entries were juried by Nancy Barr is the Assiciate Curator of Graphic Arts at the Detroit Institute of the Arts. It's very exciting, this is the first show I'm in outside of the school. The opening is Saturday, March 8th, at Cafe 1923 in Hamtramck with live music, a Dr. Sketchy figure drawing session, and food. The whole event runs from 5 to 10 that evening.

Learn more about the Hamtramck Art Collective Hatch at www.hatch.org

I won!

2008-02-21T23:04:00.003-05:00

Last week I got the exciting news that two of my rug designs won 1st and honorable mention for this years Hagopian Rug Competition. I'm so excited because my winning design will be made and unveiled at the Student Exhibition. It's such a great parting, for m senior year my design will be showcased at the student show. I jump around everytime I think about it.
My winning entry and the honorable mention
The announcment
My two other designs

hehehehe

2008-02-18T16:30:00.001-05:00

hmph

2008-02-18T00:21:00.001-05:00

So I just bought some web domains yay! soon there will be a www.laurenmoyer.com! But still one of my domains isn't loading correctly been talking with tech support all day, they're my new friends.

Well Well

2008-02-15T08:50:00.010-05:00

So here's my newer paintings. The photos are a little grainy I'm going to try to retake them today.
This is a companion to my Snake Scarf piece, it is a Giraffe Jacket, which speaks about how people use animals to their advantage. Not necessarily speaking about using animal fur as clothing but as a different type of fashion statement. People cloak themselves in an appearance of "caring" for the environment when many times they are just trying to be in the scene that is cool at the moment. People just go with what people tell them, without getting informed. It's good at the time but once a different fad comes along people won't care any more, they'll take their cloak off and wear something else.

This was in the blank show, it's about the loss of animals, and I used a ghosted red gazelle to communicate the idea.

New Painting

2008-02-14T01:14:00.003-05:00

Still working on this, I really like how it's coming out. She's zipping up her giraffe hoodie. It goes with the snake scarf painting in terms of the discussion of how humans use animals for their own benefit, using them in ways the animals are not purposed for, and for only human gain or need. I sould be able to post the finish tomorrow.

Sweet Action Figures

2008-02-13T15:44:00.002-05:00

Check this out http://intuitionkitchenproductions.com/actionfigures/artarmy/
It's the art of Mike Leavitt, he creates custom action figures, namely well known modern illustrators, like Amy Sol, Jeremy Fish, Audrey Kawasaki, and Sam Flores to name a few. They are so neat, he also makes many other fun custom action figures.

Os Mutantes!

2008-02-13T00:38:00.004-05:00

A video I found which was funny and cute, the song is A Minha Menina by Os Mutantes, one of the greatest psychedelic bands ever, and one of the best brasilian bands too. Eu gosto disto, que fofo!

ScreenPrint!

2008-02-07T17:31:00.001-05:00

Here's my screen print I finished today! yay! It's 4 screens, first is the orange, than red, then transparent grey/blue, and last very transparent yellow. I was inspired by cell structure and skin cells, namely onion skin cells (remember in grade school looking through the microscope at onion skin?)

Somewhat New Paintings

2008-02-03T00:24:00.002-05:00

Here are some better pictures of two of paintings I did last semester, I need to retake the Snake Scarf one because the camera was crooked and cut off the corners.\\

Mini Ostrich
Snake Scarf

Blank Show TONITE!

2008-02-01T16:13:00.000-05:00

Yay for the blank show!

I have a piece in it too!

http://www.myspace.com/theblankshow2008

FFFFound these

2008-02-01T15:59:00.000-05:00

i saw these on www.ffffound.com I don't know where these are from but I really like them.

i love hands and female bodies.

Akron Art Museum

2008-02-01T11:58:00.001-05:00

Last weekend myself and a couple fellow illustrators, Leyland and Antoin, had a mini road trip. We drove down to Akron, OH, near Cleveland, to see the amazing Norman Rockwell exhibit that is currently there. All I can say is it was INCREDIBLE. I never realized the textures he used. He coated his canvases with such think gesso, and must have used very bristly brushes then probably sanded it... it was crazy. Also what was surprising is how he painted. We're all so use to the print version of his paintings that one doesn't know how loosely and simply he painted the faces, also how much drawing he left showing through the paint and he also drew with pencil on top to get fine line details. One painting that struck me was the painting “The Problem We All Live With”. On the ground he had actual pebbles in the paint to give more texture, the tomato splat is actually paint thrown against the canvas, the ledge on the wall was really thick... meaning it was "wow"

What irritates me is that so many artists are so quick to write him off, calling him kitschy. But his paintings were so loose, the colors were crazy. His 323 Saturday Evening Post covers were so impressive, he was able to keep the same basic layout yet make every painting different, not many are able to accomplish that.

People who don't look at his ability of layout, his painting skills, and his ability to portray emotion through the look of a character, need to get off their high horse. He is an incredible painter who lived his dream, so he then painted other peoples dreams. There is nothing wrong with painting what could be.
My favorite out of everything, "A Family Tree", in person this was huge and crazy... in a good way.

I got a book that was for the exhibit, which was great because it has all the text from the show in it. The reproduction is good but nothing can ever compare to the original.

I was blown away.