Industrial beams for creative studio at Strijp S

New Studio+Workshops, a Dream Come True!

Creative life, Creative workshops, eindhoven, events, Markets and events

Big news: I have my own studio space now! Over the summer I cleared the application process plus won an actual lottery to gain my own studio space in Strijp S, Eindhoven.

I’ve been looking for a while for a space to give workshops, mingle with people in a creative setting and generally have a bit more room for my business. My living room was bursting at the seams trying to contain my business goings-on, necessaries AND just generally being lived in, so this is fantastic.

I was missing the chance to connect and teach in my own space. Being hosted by other creatives and venues is lovely and cosy, but I’m going to relish not having to lug my stuff around to each location each time. Plus I get easily overwhelmed by the cleanup process, and having to clear out immediately after teaching a group. Now I have a chance to slow down and recoup at a slower tempo.

I’m based at Studio 52 in the Apparatenfabriek, Strijp S. A lovely, ramshackle old Philips building with a history, that now houses a hundred or so creatives. It’s broken in, with an industrial, functional feeling. I’ve been enjoying primping it with my own bits and pieces. Big tables, big airy windows (natural lighting!) and good access.

The only downside is the building will be renovated end of 2026, which is the outermost our rent will be extended to. This does however mean I have an end-date to this endeavour, which gives a satisfying idea of how long I’ll be at this, and keeps it all in perspective instead of me getting a bit carried away with plans. It’ll hopefully be a lovely tenancy with some great workshops and meeting new people. Hopefully a learning curve, preparing me for another location after 2026 (give me a heads up if you have any leads on a new location!) because it would be a shame to downsize again.

Meanwhile, here’s the first look at my agenda for this workshop season (links are clickable to tickets for all currently listed events)-

I’m focusing on painting and manual printing workshops for now, but if you have suggestions or ideas for collaborations (especially eco/nature ones) then do send me a mail.

Above you can see some photos of a drypointing etching workshop done over the summer at Minimuc Architecture and Interior Design studio. I can’t wait to get nice and inky in my own space with some of you!

L x

‘Biblioscapes’~ An Illustrated Journey Through Literary Landscapes

Art, illustration, product development

The ‘flavour’ page for the Biblioscapes project

I’m rounding up the first leg of what will hopefully be an expansive project for me, as it has so much life in it and covers some of my favourite loves: books, vintage ephemera, environments and the wonderful worlds we find ourselves in when we read. Here’s a look at some of the process…

The 2024 Biblioscapes wall calendar is about to become available to order (my newsletter will keep you updated!), and my favourite six of the illustrations will be released as prints and postcards in the shop.

I’ve looked at so much reference from vintage travel ephemera, maps, and guides that I was stumped with what not to include, and had a terrible time keeping the design simple.

The first video showing my first research stage is here, the development for the watercolour landscapes is here, and you can see more development here.

The actual illustrations were pretty straightforward, as some of these places have lived in my head for years, originating of course in stories and the works of others. I’m sure you can all relate to some of the locations and might be able to ‘place’ a book it might belong to. Using my experience of illustrating the natural world the scenes were fairly easy to realise, though I’ve never painted a ‘galaxy’ scene before.

I found portraying ‘tourists and locals’ from each scene more challenging. I didn’t want to go in to the minutiae of the world too much, as so much of this is done in your own head whilst reading. I kept the canvas fairly sparse for the viewers imagination to populate. I’ve even played with the scale, as just with dreams, a literary world can become larger than life.

I developed the figures last, as a way to avoid adding too much detail. Here’s the process-

I had to go and do a bit of urban sketching first to observe what sort of details are visible from a distance, as they would be quite a small scale compared to the size of the environments. Facial features disappear, and it becomes largely about silhouette and tone. I did laugh to myself drawing the characters! Tourists have a special something, don’t they? They were mostly worked from photos and my imagination. It’s been ages since I went to life drawing so it was quite tough.

As a trained illustrator and a life-long lover of books (my job working in a bookshop was often a dream come true!) this project has been a wonderful challenge. I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I did making it. The final illustrations will be found in the ‘Illustrations’ section of my Portfolio, once the calendar is available for sale.

There are so many more ‘genres’ of literary landscape I’d love to capture on paper, who know how extensive this series will become!

L x

Watercolour Painting workshop in Eindhoven

Art, eindhoven, events, Uncategorized

We’re organising another botanical watercolor painting workshop in Eindhoven, in the lovely Irisbuurt Blokhut. Come join us on Saturday 20th May, from 10.00-12.00!

Please drop me a message or RSVP to the event on Eventbrite if you can, it helps with planning! The event is listed as ‘free’, but €2 donation on the day would be much appreciated!

English// (Dutch below)

Open for beginners and experienced artists. This will be a guided workshop, with tips and tricks. Use the lovely garden as inspiration! We speak both Dutch and English. Everyone is welcome!

€2~ per person (cash or card), coffee/tea included.

Use our watercolour materials (10 sets available, first come first served) to make a couple of paintings of the lovely garden, or bring your own painting equipment and inspiration pictures. Materials for tonal sketching will also be available.
We’ll go ahead even if it’s raining, we can sit further under cover.

PLEASE NOTE: It is paid parking in the neighbourhood, except the nearby Lucas Gasselstraat. The first hour of the Jumbo carpark is also free.

See you there!

NL //

Samen gezellig aquarelleren bij de Blokhut. Gebruik de prachtige tuin als inspiratie!

Voor zowels beginners als ervaren kunstenaars, iedereen is welkom!

Wij spreken zowel engels als nederlands.
10 sets materialen beschikbaar (op is op)

Geen les, schilderen wat je wilt, maar er is wel een professionele illustrator aanwezig om tips te geven.

Ook met slecht weer gaat het door (er is een overgedekte ruimte beschikbaar)

€2~ per persoon (contant of betaalpas). Koffie/thee inbegrepen.

Alstublieft RSVP voor het evenement op Eventbrite, dat helpt met plannen, dankjewel (op Eventbrite staat dat het evenement gratis is, maar ik zal die €2 betaling op de dag heel fijn vinden)!

Let op: Betaald parkeren in de buurt, wel gratis parkeren op de Lucas Gasselstraat, en de eerste uur bij de Jumbo parkeerterrein is gratis.

Tot 20 mei!

Watercolour Workshop at the Blokhut~ Winter Botanicals edition

Art, Creative life, eindhoven, events, expat life, indie business, Markets and events, product development

Come join us Saturday 10th Dec at the Blokhut for a ‘Winter Botanicals’ watercolor workshop! All abilities welcome, I can give tips for those who ask, or just come along and do your thing. Botanics are one of my passions and a much-covered subject in my work. I’d love to share my process with you!

We’ll have some lovely botanical materials on the table to paint and draw from (donation jar will be on the table, much appreciated!), or bring your own ‘wintery’ reference photos.

Come join us on the 10th for a watercolor workshop in Eindhoven!

We speak both Dutch and English. Everyone is welcome!

Use our watercolour materials (10 sets available, first come first served) to make a couple of paintings, or bring your own painting equipment. Materials for tonal sketching will also be available.

This will be inside, so no worries about the weather. This will be our third edition, and the first two were really fun, with some good chats with fellow creatives.

PLEASE NOTE~ Please sign up to the Facebook event or send me a message to say you plan on coming if possible, so that I can make sure we have a decent amount of reference material laid out for everyone. It helps me out greatly with planning!

Here are some examples of the type of botanical illustrations I can show the process for in the workshop, if you want to follow along~

For the second image I used my painting as the background for a mini desk calendar, which is available to my peeps on Patreon (hence the smaller image size: it’s exclusively for the use of my Patrons).

Here’s a peek into my process~

Tutorial video for watercolor painting workshop in Eindhoven, December

Creating little spot images like these are a great way to make art for yourself, for journaling, to stick on your wall or to turn in to your Christmas cards this year. You’ll come away with something you love!

Hope to see you there!

Laura

Back with live watercolour painting sessions in Eindhoven!

eindhoven, events, expat life

I’m pleased to announce that you can join me for a watercolor painting event in Eindhoven! Myself and a couple of folks thought it a lovely idea to get together for a casual painting session, on location inspired by the lovely Blokhut garden, in the Irisbuurt.

Come join us for a fun painting session in the Irisbuurt Blokhut!

Open for beginners and experienced artists. This will be a casual session with no set instructions to follow, but tips and guidance will be available for beginners and anyone who asks. I speak both Dutch and English. Everyone is welcome!

We’ll go ahead even if it’s raining, we can sit further under cover and arrange for botanical material on the tables to paint.

Having missed painting in person with people over the last few years, I’m very much looking forward to this get together!

If you’d like to RSVP to the Facebook event, you can do that here.

See you there!

Custom wedding illustrations

Art, custom illustration, illustration

Sometimes custom projects come along that are so satisfying to work on from start to finish. Lauren and Stephen very kindly asked me for some illustrated North American animals for their wedding, which they then worked into their table names and seating plans.

The results were a mix of brush pen and ink, plus watercolours. Simple, quick and loose (read: fun to do!) but still cohesive as a set. This was the first time I’d done a series in a while, but I think it gelled well.

Illustrations printed and ready to ship

I was happy with my drawings once I’d passed them on, but boy did they come together with the gorgeous styling of the wedding! The photography by Georgi Mabee also showcased the event to stunning effect, so thank you to her for letting show off my illustrations with her photos.

Illustratorlaura on Etsy

Congratulations once again to Lauren and Stephen!

Laura

My Choice to use an Earthy Palette

Art, Creative life, Uncategorized

You may notice when you look at my art that it is often quite muted and earthy in colours, and that is a by-product of the materials I choose to use. I love bright colours in my personal life, but for my work I’ve chosen to go with a more muted colour palette, as it’s often better for myself, others and the environment. I prefer to keep my sustainable footprint as small as possible by working with found, recycled/rescued or upcycled materials where I can, and in particular ones that were made with as few harmful dyes as possible.

Of course, sometimes nature provides a way of working that gives spectularly pure colours (I’m looking at you, indigo), and some of the materials I’ve used happen to have been bright pops of colour, such as the off-cuts of industrial faux-leather I’ve used in my bags in the past. More often though the less harmful dyes are of course, more earthy. I have used un-bleached cotton and linen in things like my zipped pouches (I’m working on a new range!), which instead of bright white gives a lovely warm beige. Paper from recycled pulp is also often of mixed fibres, resulting in natural melange of soft colours. I also love working with recycled paper for my lino prints and the handmade cards.

Unbleached cotton for one of my hand-painted zip pouches

My pregnancy this year spurred me to make a change to my watercolour paint palette too. After a bit of research I am happy to have found what seems to be quite a varied palette with some rich colours, which is still less toxic to Baby Q and myself. Out went the obvious Cadmium hues and a few of the ‘older’ pigments (they’ve developed safer ones now). You can see a few changes I made in my swatch below. Scribbles look super professional, I know.

My adjusted palette swatches.

It’s not perfectly safe, but at least I’ve chucked out some of the scarier ones. No Vermilion-induced birth defects for us (it contains mercury)! I’d love to hear from you if you know any good resources for checking what are ‘safe’, or relatively safe pigments.

Here’s a recent painting I did for this year’s Christmas cards (the robin one was a very limited run… it’s sold out!)-

My biggest bug-bear is that I miss a bright red. The other hues in my core palette are very lovely, as is Indian Red (or Light Red, as named by some brands), which is the red I’m currently using. You can see the swatch tucked under where I’ve crossed out ‘Cadmium Red’, which I’ve stopped using. Light Red just misses that… pizazz that Cadmium has, and tends to muddy other colours when mixed. Light/Indian Red also varies from brand to brand. So again if anyone knows of any brighter, relatively safe reds, please let me know!

New work

Art, illustration, Uncategorized

In the last couple of months I’ve found that if I can work, I MUST work, for my sanity!

A series of one of my favourite subjects, doors and windows, has been the result of some snatched sketches and painting. The reference photos were taken by me over a couple of years with the theme in mind, so I have a couple of good ‘uns. I’m just finishing up the last one this week, and am pretty pleased with the paintings and also noticed an improvement in my technique. I was certainly quicker, after painting all those bricks and sandstones! Once it’s wrapped up I’ll clean them up and have a limited amount of 2019 calendars made, so do let me know if you’d like one reserved.

Here’s a quick glimpse of a couple (you can see more on my Instagram @illustratorlaura )-

New work illustratorlaura

Small Steps

Creative life, Uncategorized

It’s been very quiet around here, but I’ve been busy. We welcomed our little baby boy, Baby Q, in July!

A common scene at my desk

Over a few months of adjustment I’ve managed to sneak in some illustration work time, and you can see what I’ve been up to over on my Instagram @illustratorlaura.

It’s been tough, having to work around the schedule of a completely new human, who has no clue what a schedule even is. I’m constantly tired, and you can throw any expectation of plans right out the window. Any work is nibbled at in tiny ten minute bites, mostly with an ear out whilst I hold my breath and hope the wee man doesn’t wake up. Luckily there are a couple of hours of babysitting time a week, which is heaven. And yeah: mini human. Super cute.

Having so little ‘me’ time has made me realise that illustrating is such a necessary part of my life, and it’s renewed my drive to fit it in, no matter how drained I feel. I’ve been working on a new series, which you can get a peak at over on Instagram (and I’ll share here shortly).

I’m also a bit nervous about this but I’m doing it anyway: another market! It’s been a couple of years since I was doing them regularly, and it’s a bit of pressure to prepare for it at such a busy time. Markets are always fun though, great to get yourself and your work out there, and I do love a challenge.

If you’re in the Eindhoven area on the weekend 24/25th November (I’ll only be there Sunday 25th) get yourself down to Etsy Made in Eindhoven pop-up market and show some love for local makers and sellers!

Back to work!

Art, illustration, Uncategorized

I’m back in ‘work mode’ after the holidays, finally.

Can’t wait to get stuck in with my ongoing and new creative projects, I’ve so many plans!

I’m trying to share my work more with the world this year, so that people can see what it is I actually do! Some projects are too personal to share, or I can’t share them yet, but here are a few pet portraits I was lucky enough to be commissioned for before Christmas-

Cat portrait, Laura Carter Illustration

watercolour WIP, Laura Carter Illustration

Puppy plaque, illustratorlaura

Dog portrait, Laura Carter Illustration

All watercolour, and the little wooden plaque was gouache.

Do contact me if you’d like me to do something personal for you, human or furbaby!

Happy New Year, and here’s to a creative 2018.

Laura