Color and Inspiration from LA

Two weekends ago I took a trip to visit my wonderful friend Jenny in LA and we had such a blast! We spent a bunch of time just wandering around outside in the beautiful sunshine and everything was so colorful that I thought I would share some photos in case anyone is looking for some inspiration. I know that these are the kinds of vibes I'm looking for right now as spring gets underway in the Northern Hemisphere.

Even laundromats are decked out in killer street art.

I want to do an abstract-ish painting of this beach so badly.

This was the cutest motel ever. I want to stay here!

This was a super cool crystal shop in Santa Monica. Heart eyes for that neon sign. When I was here I bought a piece of citrine for prosperity, personal power, creativity, clarity and focus.

Amazing street art by Vhils. This is created with explosives.

There are neon signs everywhere - I loved this one (just a little bit less than the Room of Ascension)

Last Spring I realize that I was obsessed with flowers (so many flower photos) and LA's flower game is so on point.

We visited the Broad museum and I fell in love and took so many photos. This is Tulips, by Jeff Koons.

Perfect for selfies. And pink.

Roy Lichtenstein's take on my favorite paintings of all time - Monet's Rouen Cathedral series. It is so cool to see other artists loving and being inspired by the same work that I love and am inspired by.

Another iconic Jeff Koons piece: Balloon Dog! WHen I was looking at this I realized that I hope to someday create work that surprises and delights people like this.

Jenny Holzer's Inflammatory Essays. Jenny Holzer is my icon.

Really difficult to show the size and color in this installation, but here is an attempt. 

A closeup of Takashi Murakami's piece, Of Chinese Lions, Peonies, Skulls, and Fountains. 

Again, LA's flower game is so on point.

Happening Now

It has been a little while, so I thought I would share what has been going on lately!

1. The Awesome Ladies Challenge Team - I am so excited to be a part of RUKristin's Awesome Ladies Project creative team!  I am a huge fan of Kristin's and I love her philosophy of feminist scrapbooking - that telling stories is a radical empowering act. The Awesome Ladies Project is a wonderful way for creative women to connect with and support each other Can you tell that I'm gushing a little? 

The Awesome Ladies project releases a new challenge every week and the members of the challenge team share our projects on Instagram every Friday. You can check out all of the challenge team's projects every week on Kristin's blog and play along with the challenges too. I am loving the push to make something new each week and am so inspired by trying to interpret each challenge in a new way.

Here are my first two projects:

The first challenge was all about entertainment, so I picked my two current entertainment obsessions and made a very simple 12x12 layout. Apparently I had a lot to say about these two things.

The second challenge was a recipe challenge - we had to include orange, two patterns, squares, and something sticky in our project. I'm not going to lie, I struggled with this one for a little while, but I am really happy with what I came up with.

2. Inktober - Inktober is exactly what it sounds like - a challenge to draw in ink for every day of October.  I have already been drawing every day in 2015, but I am trying to embrace drawing in just black ink every  day without pencil outlining first. It is definitely intimidating, but I am trying to push myself to try drawing things that aren't "safe" subjects that I feel confident drawing without a pencil outline first. It is also cool to go back to using mostly black as a color. I drew in only black pen outlines for the first month of my daily drawing project, but quickly got bored and started adding in other colors - even doing the same drawing in a red marker instead of a black pen makes a huge difference. You can follow along with my Inktober drawings for the rest of the month on Instagram.

Overall, I am happy with the direction that my drawings have taken this October - an Inktober sketch even became a "finished" drawing (ie, not something only in my sketchbook).

3. Fall - The weather has finally (finally) cooled down here in DC and it actually feels like fall. I am really not excited for the shorter days and even colder weather to come, but I am loving being able to walk around outside without sweating, lighting candles, and all of the fall fashion possibilities (layering, dark lips, boots oh my!). Things have also been getting pretty picturesque around here.

I hope your week is off to a great start! What is going on with you lately? Maybe we can make this a regular thing and keep talking about what is happening now.

Haley