Kigurumi show opens tomorrow night

Endless Field, oil on canvas, 34x48"

Tomorrow night is the opening for my 'Kigurumi' show. If you're in LA I'd love to see you there. Here are the details:

Kigurumi at LeBasse Projects (Chinatown)

Opening Reception :: Friday, July 15th, 7-10pm

923 Chung King Rd. Los Angeles, CA 90012

Sneak Peek

The Fallen, oil on canvas, 34x48"

I've been busy working on my upcoming show at LeBasse Projects (Los Angeles) which opens in 2 weeks time. Here is a sneak peek of one of the paintings for the show. This is my first time working with real models and I had this great (?!) idea to make a large group painting inspired by traditional narrative paintings like you find in museums. The painting resembles an ambiguous, imaginary folktale. My sister and I have been making up stories for it ranging from killing the village maiden to finding a snow white girl mysteriously lying in a field.

I have now discovered that painting so many figures is an insane amount of work! It's like doing 6 portraits in the one painting. I think I spent almost 2 months just on this one work, which is why the upcoming show has less than 10 paintings in it.

Some detail images:

Coming soon...

Not long to go! More info here.

Will write more later. Still painting!! Trying to be calm and not panic.

Momentum @ LeBasse Projects

This is my painting for the inaugural all-female group show 'Momentum' at the new LeBasse Projects Chinatown location.

The show opens on Sat 9th April, 7:30pm. Details on Facebook.

This could be considered a sneak peak of what's to come for my solo show at LeBasse Projects in July. My friend Neil helped organise a photo shoot of Kigurumi girls so that I could paint them for the show. My sister made a short (but adorable!) video of the girls during the shoot:

Kigurumi - Rad friends unite from Suzie Haslam on Vimeo.

Vernissage @ LeBasse Projects

I have a couple of works in the Vernissage 2011 group show at LeBasse Projects. It's a one week exhibition giving a taste of what's to come in 2011. Detail are:

Vernissage 2011

Artists Reception, January 8th, 2011, 7-10pm

Exhibition runs: Jan 8 - Jan 15

There is a preview of the show on the gallery website.

Juxtapoz

Juxtapoz magazine issue 118, November 2010, page 24. Exciting!!

plants from life

One thing I love about older paintings is that they don't look like they were done from photos. I've realised that I like the non-photo aesthetic and so have started trying to draw more from life where I can. Mostly I've been drawing plant-life from small clippings and pot plants. So far it's working well. During the day I go for a walk and scout out the various plants hanging over fences or by the train track, then go back at night (under the cover of darkness :) with a pair of scissors.

If I had my own garden I think I would use it to cultivate plants specifically for the purpose of drawing them.

Sequoia National Park

While I was in the US I took a greyhound bus up north to visit the sequoias. I'm so glad I did it, I have been wanting to visit this park for so long and it didn't disappoint. I was only at the park for one full day but did the major sites - the giant forest, general sherman (largest tree in the world), moro rock and the crescent meadow.


giant sequoia tree


meadow in the giant forest


bear cubs in the meadow


cutie!


deer

Opening Night

I arrived back in Melbourne early yesterday Morning. Los Angeles was awesome. I got to attend lots of show openings which was exciting and quite the experience (next time I'm going to remember to bring some 4-inch heels - I was a bit of a fashion failure at a few of the shows in my t-shirt and 1-inch sandals). I also stocked up on cosmetics and art supplies because they are half the price of what we pay in Australia (!!!). And I got some socks to keep my feet warm in Melbourne's winter weather.

I took lots of photos but most importantly I want to share a few of the gallery space and opening night at LeBasse Projects.















I'd like to thank the gallery owners Beau and Christine for looking after me while I was in LA and really going above and beyond what a gallery needs to. They made my time in LA both comfortable and exciting. And also to Yosk and Nate for letting me crash in their studio for a few days at the end of the trip. Thanks guys!

It was also great to meet the other artists who were sharing the gallery space with me for the show - J. Shea and Morgan Slade, it was great meeting them both and getting to check out their work in person.

The show is open 'til August 7 so if you're in LA there is still time to check it out.

Botanica

Only 2 weeks until the show opens. I'm calling the show "Botanica". It's one of those words that isn't a real word but if you google it everyone uses it anyway. I made this web invite for the fun of it. Next week I fly to LA - exciting!

Right now I'm working on some drawings, mostly in black ink. I'm feeling inspired by wood engravings and all the intricate line work and patterning they get from the carving process. I was going to try wood engraving myself, but found out that they are mostly very small, where as I wanted to do something big. So ink on paper it is.