cut paper

work in progress

Ashleigh

Trapeze collages

Wild woman

Spotlight on...Tracy Miller

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, 2006-2010, Oil on Canvas

The first thing that hits me about your work is the color palette which includes a lot of candy colors. Are these your favorite colors? 
I'm attracted to colors that pop, and the brightest ones are the ones that continue to appear again and again.

What is your studio routine?  Do you have several paintings/projects going on at once? 

Usually, there are about a dozen paintings of various sizes in the studio. They get turned upside down and rotated over time until paint accumulates.

Pig, 2009, Oil on canvas

Do you work from still lives, images, collages? 
I do sometimes look at still lives--flowers, cookbooks, table cloths--but mostly paint without looking at anything.

Aside from the relevant subject matter, where do you find inspiration?
Visiting landscapes with real horizon lines, bakeries, riding in cabs, wandering through the Met, walking in NYC.

Did you always want to be an artist and how has your career developed?

When I was 5, I received two artist smocks for my birthday and knew I wanted to be an artist. When I was an undergraduate and thought it was too impractical to take a painting class, everything clicked while painting 5 yellow cars outside the window.

What is the most interesting, engaging part of making your work?
Being in the middle of the mess of paintings and seeing colors and textures pop with surprise is where it all makes sense.

Anything about your work that you don't enjoy doing but you have to do it to get to the good stuff?
If someone else could wash my brushes and stretch canvas, I'd be thrilled.

 Dolly Mountain, 2009, Oil on Canvas

 

What are you working on now?

More food paintings.

What philosophy or words do you live? 
I try not to worry too much about getting everything done everyday but know that over time it will all work out. It helps to keep the panic away.

Visit Tracy's website and her upcoming show at Feature Inc. in NYC from January 19 through February 13, 2011.

Thanks Tracy!

BUS 4 Urban Scrawl at Bricolage

Tami Dixon invited me to donate a piece of artwork to the Bricolage BUS 4 annual fundraiser. It's a crazy one night only event-- not to be missed!
This piece will be available for auction at the event on March 21st.


Lauren Braun
Bricolage Collage
2009
9in. x 12in. x 1.5in.
Cardboard, tissue paper, prayer paper, packaging, white paint collage mounted on wood panel

pink

Cafe Press

My friend Lisa (and her band, Shady Grove) printed my tree drawing on their band t-shirts and other merchandise!! It's very cool to see one of my drawings on somebody's t-shirt, plus I got a complimentary one. The Shady Grove website is also using the tree.

Nancy Crow

Just received this postcard from the Miller Gallery at CMU, they are showing these quilts made by Nancy Crow-- these images are from the website. They are really stunning- and geometric.

and so it begins

Spring is pushing up out of the ground in the form of buds and leaves.
Went to the library this morning to do research and took out a bunch of interesting books including one about the use of Craft in Contemporary Art. Discovered the artist Carolyn Salas whose soft sculptures take the form of underwater seascapes. An idea I have been playing around with in the form of drawings inspired by creatures who dwell at the ocean floor. I love it when I get to see into other artist's studios. The photo at right is a studio view.


I also checked season 1 of Art:21 out of the library. This is such a fantastic series-- showing artists at work in their studios, practicing their art- and discussing what they're doing, how they do it, and the ideas behind it. Every time I watch one of the segments I feel inspired and opened up to art engaging people in so many different ways. It was really inspiring to hear/see Margaret Kilgallen talk a little bit about her work. She passed away at the age of 33 in 2001. Her work has this really western meets folksy, handmade feel. I love the section in Art:21 where she is riding her bike and stops to take a photo of a painted sign and the store owner comes out to ask what she's doing. I love that she was inspired by the handmade visual world around her and that part of her process was to document and archive the images and typography she saw.


very inspiring......

Artistic Inspiration

I bought myself a present. The book at left, Andrea Zittel: Critical Space. She is one of my favorite artists. I have acquired so much published media in the last week. I'm overwhelmed with magazines, books, the newspaper and have barely had time to study this book. Oh but I will! I love her gouache paintings of herself making her art, her knit uniforms, and pseudo manifesto. I think I need a manifesto. If you had a manifesto for living, what would it be?

new drawing

Here's a pastel drawing, it's finished although as I was looking at it I see something that's bugging me. Must move onto the next thing and stop agonizing over all the little things.

studio update

Hello Friends: It has been a busy few weeks and I am feeling like I want to rent a bungalow on Venice Beach and and just lay in the sand and soak in the sunshine for 2 or 3 days. Or even a week. I have always had this fantasy about living in a beach-y place and wearing bathing suits and sarongs and living in a little cottage type house with bright colors and palm leaves.

But alas, it's winter here in the North East and my studio is lacking heat. Hence the portrait of me bundled up like an Eskimo. I was moving some things around this morning and just doing a little brainstorming.

These are some sketches inspired by denizens of the deep.

activities & inspirations for today

I often check in on Simply Breakfast for some inspiration. Here is a picture of our breakfast from this morning. I bought a sack of blood oranges from trader joe's yesterday. They taste delicious and their color is a beautiful ruby red. Below is a detail of a greeting card I bought a while ago, it looks like me!!!



Catching up on some overdue work. This morning I spray-fixed some finished drawings outside on the porch. The sun is streaming through the railing.

Behind me is this view of Pittsburgh's South Side from our deck, across the Mononghahela River. It's pretty nice today! Brisk!
Last but not least, here is some new work in progress:
I've been on this Arctic animal kick lately with the polar bears, and now, I'm trying to fashion a Walrus sculpture. It doesn't look like much right now. It has a chicken wire base and then I was doing some pseudo paper mache over the chicken wire-- which incidentally is not one of my favorite materials to work with.....it hurts my hands. Plus, I'm sewing the different pieces together with wire which is very cumbersome and awkward. But, hopefully one of these days it will begin to develop a personality and the look of a walrus.
That's it for now! Happy Saturday.

pondering

This is the last painting in the Hopper exhibit at the National Gallery in DC. While D and I were there with Honey, D made a very observant comment that this painting - made towards the end of Hopper's painting career and his life, is pared down to the essential elements, the essence. A very apt observation. (I had a teacher at Otis College of Art and Design that gave us multiple step projects having to do with building on an idea or element and then reducing it down to it's fundamental essence). Sometimes, those lessons pop up in my mind like a buoy in an ocean. It seems like life does this-- and as we get older the things that become most important to us change and gain clarity. The other night I had dessert with a friend and I was worrying about getting a second job and having enough money yet still having time to make art and let my brain play. My friend said, take advantage of the freedom you have right now-- I don't have kids, I have a day job that is just that-- not very taxing with a lot of flexibility. She said, you are in an enviable position. And I've been thinking about that a lot because it took me a decade to get to a place in my heart, spirit and mind that would allow me to just enjoy life, not worry too much, and make peace with being an artist instead of running away from it-- (which I sometimes still do). Funny how life changes. I'm not living the vision I had for myself when I was younger-- but I realize that vision was slightly more mainstream than I want to be. I think I'm living something better-- closer to my values and beliefs.

I love that it's a new year right now and a fresh start, a clean canvas. Who knows what 2008 will bring?! It's pretty exciting! Even a new president! Here is my polar bear on an iceberg made of cardboard.

Yesterday's breakfast. Today, the girl's came over for brunch and we had a lovely time with scrambled eggs, croissants, mimosas and feisty conversation. Still admiring the yellow walls and today we hung up two of my framed artworks.
I finished two pastel drawings yesterday-- and even signed them to deter me from going back to do little things. Which I have been doing for 2 weeks already. I will take some photos tomorrow. One of the these days I will update my website again too!