Ad Hoc Opening & New Drawings

Here are pictures from my opening this past Friday at Ad Hoc Gallery! There was a great turnout, drawings sold, and I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone for their support. It's up for the next month in case you'd like to check it out! There are 40 drawings up, a couple pages from my comic Sealed, a few etchings by Karat, and paper airplanes made out of the maps I collected from my travels this year.






Garrison and Allison, the awesome owners of Ad Hoc...


And now on to some new ART! They both deal with the topic of relationships, which I find myself needing to talk about lately. (Please click on image to enlarge!)

So....a relationship. I admit, it's the thing I want the most. But in the past few years I have not gotten anywhere. So instead I've focused on my art, travel, friends, projects, etc. My life is SO full of lucky amazing things that I feel terrible complaining about the fact I'm lacking the ONE thing that's the most important. It's like I got all the Star Wars toys when all I really wanted was the Han Solo figure. I feel like the universe is toying with me...

This was based on a conversation with a friend. The text is tiny, so here's what it reads..."I mean, I used to jump in headfirst. Sometimes I wish I hadn't lost that impulse...What about you and your girl? At least YOU'RE trying." He replies, "I thought I was falling, but now I'm grasping at roots and rocks on the way down. I'm not so sure what's on the bottom after all." He continues, "But you...you're just clinging to the edge for dear life, refusing to let go." I say, "Yeah, pretty much. I'm hoping sometime soon my arms will get tired."

Oh, and I finally glittered my bike helmet...silly meets safety.


Currently reading: Swamp Thing (Volume 1) by Alan Moore

My head is a balloon.

I made these two pieces yesterday, intending them for my show at Ad Hoc Gallery in a couple weeks since the theme is "In Transit." (Please click on image to see full size!)

This painting captures how I felt sometimes while traveling. My body was walking around Spain, but my head was already back in New York, thinking ahead. I used this specific style and color scheme because I thought it would make a good cousin of this painting I did a few months ago.

Close-up...

I've had this idea in my head for a while...it's about how when you spend ALL DAY by yourself, there is SO much stuff that happens that you never articulate. Thoughts that you don't express. They only exist in your memory, which feels less real to me because my memory is such a unpredictable place.

Currently Listening: Ryan Adams...Heartbreaker

"Sealed" Comic! Figure Drawing!

My comic Sealed: Growing Up Tupperware has gone live on Act-I-Vate today! Click here to check it out! I'm really excited to be a guest artist on this awesome webcomix collective. It's an exclusive preview of the anthology The Big Feminist But edited by Shannon O'Leary, Joan Reilly, and Suzanne Kleid. And if you're in NYC, swing by Bergen Street Comics today because it's Free Comic Book Day! (I'll be there after 7pm)



And now, what better to go along with a wholesome Tupperware story than some drawings of...naked people! HiChristina held its first figure drawing night and it was a great success. I tried used just markers for this series, and I like the fauvist-flavored results...Please click on the image to see the full view!


Fritz decided to hold up a SINK in this pose...the sheer attempt to hold it for 10 minutes was quite admirable!

This portrait turned out really nice...

And I modeled myself for the first time...which was definitely a new thing for me! One fella gave me a swan head which I found amusing, but here is the only sketch I got a photo of. (He asked me to sign it)


Currently Reading: Art is a Way of Knowing by Pat Allen (It's an art therapy book)

Post Trip Artwork

Phew! Now I'm back in NYC I got to finish up some drawings I didn't have time to while on the road. These drawings return back to my internal subject matter than drawing surroundings. (Please click on image to see the full size!) If you want to see pics from the trip, visit my travel blog: http://lauraleetrip2009.blogspot.com/

I've had this image in my head for WEEKS and finally got to dump it out on paper. It's about how independence and loneliness seem to come hand in hand...well, at least that's how it feels to me. It's hard to find a balance.

I started this drawing by literally spitting whiskey on a blank piece of paper, then drawing on top of it. So I did sorta vomit it out. It's about bottling up thoughts and feelings for WEEKS without an outlet. ("Outlet" for me meaning my normal art-therapy drawings and people who I can be totally open with.) I love the acidic green color...and yes, after I threw this up I did feel a lot better.

This is airport hell. It only takes a couple hours to fly from Lisbon to Edinburgh but due to a canceled flight and an unexpected detour through Frankfurt, I spent 16 hours in various airports! And it was just an endless series of waiting in lines. You think you're done, but no...there's another line. Arrrgg!! (Notice how the figures evolve as they go though...) When I drew this out, I realized the people look like ants. Yup, that's what we felt like.

Currently Listening: Apple Tree...Katie Herzig

Portugal Art

"Pushing myself" copper etchings by Karat. In the Barrio Alto neighborhood of Lisbon, Portugal. (On Travessa Do Pocoda Cidade between Rua de Rosa and Rua de Atalaia) Please click on image to see full size.



Now, about my personal art...well, I didn't have time to do any! But I did crank out a couple drawn-gifts. This one was the card for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. I'm rather proud of it... (And of them of course!)

And this is a little tour guide award I made for my brother since he basically was in charge of ALL our activities. He worked so hard planning everything! (In case you've never seen big tour groups in Europe, a lot of them use an umbrella or a handky on a stick to help keep the leader visable.)