Ittsē: The Jet Set Collection

I’m so excited to share The Jet Set Collection, the makeup palette I curated for Ittsē. I’m a pretty laid back person and don't do my makeup every day. However, when I do decide to do my makeup I love having fun with it. As an artist I view makeup as another way to be creative and love how different colors or applications can give you different looks. This palette was curated to give you variety, to take your look from a day of exploring to a night out with friends. 

I used one of my favorite cities, San Francisco, as the inspiration for the colors. The soft pastel colors of Pacific Heights, the golden sand color of the Palace of Fine Arts and the dark tones from the bay. Like the city, this palette is full of color and diversity.

Ittse palettes are fantastic because they are so easy to travel with and are so versatile. If you fall in love with or overuse one color, it's easy to replace without having to get a whole new palette. I included the bronzer and blush in the palette to make the palette even more travel friendly. You only need to add concealer, mascara and lipgloss to round out your cosmetics bag. And living out of a suitcase, I can tell you it's awesome!

Shop the palette here!

Galentines Day Gift Guide

Pink Luggage Print // Red Phone Case // Perfect Man Chocolate // Tipsy Scoop Ice Cream // Always Tinder Card // Lips Phone Case // Unicorn Card // Pizza Cat Mug

Valentines Day is right around the corner and wether you're in a relationship or not can affect how you feel about the holiday.  At the very least it's a great excuse to tell the people in your life you love them and appreciate them - especially your girlfriends! I've put together a few ideas of how you can say thanks for being my best friend, partner in crime and sister from another mister! 

2016

2015 was full of change, love and adventure. I kicked the year off by buying a one way ticket to Argentina and left in March.  I traveled all over South America and met my boyfriend on the way. I got to explore Peru with my family and had the pleasure of working with some amazing clients on some of my favorite projects to date and even got featured on Career Contessa! I am so excited for what this new year has in store and already have some big plans and new destinations. 

I’m a big believer in writing your goals down and sharing them with others.  When you put your goals out to the universe they seem to manifest. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s worked for me so far! :) Also, sharing your goals and telling other people what you have planned and would like to accomplish helps hold you accountable. So I’ve decided to share my professional and personal goals for 2016 with you here. I hope you help hold me to them!

Professional Goals:

Blend my love for art and travel - My two greatest passions in life are art and travel, however they aren’t necessarily connected. My art is mostly people and fashion inspired and doesn’t really reflect my travels and I haven’t done much traveling for art sake. This year I would like to change that and figure out a way to merge the two. I’m not sure what this will look like so stay tuned for lots of experimenting!

Work a live-illustration event - I would love to meet all of you and paint you in person! What a better way to do that than to team up with one of my favorite brands or companies for a live-illustration event?! 

See my work in print - This year one of my goals is to collaborate with and illustrate for more brands, companies and magazines. This might be a long shot but I would love to see one of my illustrations featured in a major publication this year. A girl can dream right?!

Wholesale my prints and offer more products - Last year I began selling phone cases featuring my artwork, and this year I’m eager to see my artwork on more products. I already have a few projects in the works for the new year that I’m so excited about sharing with you! I’m also looking forward to teaming up with a few shops and boutiques and have my prints available in store! If you’re a online or brick and mortar store interested in carrying Lauren Taylor Creates prints email me at laurentaylorcreates@gmail.com

Personal Goals:

Run a Triathlon - I’ve swam 1.6 miles in an open ocean race, biked 40 miles down Death Road in Bolivia, however I can’t run a mile.  This year I’m whooping my booty into shape and pushing my physical limits. I’ve signed up for the Tritonman Triathlon in San Diego in February. I’ll be doing the race with my best friend who is a personal trainer in Chicago. While I can’t train with her in person since we are in different states she has put together a workout routine to get me ready!

Dive Master Certification - I got Open Water certified about three years ago while living in Hawaii and absolutely fell in love with diving. I immediately continued my education and got Advanced and the Rescue certified.  While I don’t plan on becoming a scuba Instructor or working as a Divemaster, I think it would be an amazing experience and excuse to log a ton of dives. 

Learn Photoshop - This one is a mix of professional and personal goal. I’m proficient in Photoshop and I’m able to do basic editing however anything beyond that totally confuses me. If any of you have any recommendations on how to learn (online class, workshop, etc.) I would love to hear from you!

That is what I’m working on! What are your goals for this year?

Sister Phone Case Collection

I'm excited to announce a new phone case collection! Together with my sister, Julia from Gal Meets Glam, we designed five phone cases for sisters and best friends! So even when you're apart, you're always connected!

Available now at casetify.com/laurentaylorcreates

Holiday Gift Guide: The Traveler

Playing Cards // Charm Necklace // Passport Cover // Ring // Phone Case // Sunglasses // The Big Trip Book // Cities Calendar // Skincare Kit // Purse // Flats // Kindle

The first Holiday Gift Guide of the season is for the traveler! That friend who's always off somewhere new! What do you get someone who really only values experiences? Well how about a few things to make their travels a little bit easier or a gift to help them remember that amazing trip they just took! I know I personally want one of everything! Family and friends take note! ;)

The Portrait Series

I'm excited to announce that my new collection The Portrait Series is now available! 40+ original paintings along with Giclee prints and a few new phone cases are all up at laurentaylorcreates.com

This collection is from the #100DaysofPortraits series I did on Instagram as part of #The100DayProject.  

To read more about what inspired this collection and to see the rest of the paintings that didn't make the cut, click HERE! 

Check out the new Collection HERE! 

Travel Journal: Spearfishing in San Bernardo

Several months ago, I spent some time on a catamaran in Cartagena, Colombia. The captain, his friend and I sailed out to San Bernardo overnight and dropped anchor in front of a small island covered with palm trees and surrounded by the clearest blue water I’d ever seen. 

After making lunch, we selected a random spot to try spearfishing. We saw loads and loads of colorful reef fish and swam around for over an hour, but had no luck finding anything worth spearing.   

Later that day we made our way over to Casa en el Agua, the notorious floating hostel (It’s not actually floating, but because it’s built up in the middle of water, it looks like it is). There, we met a local who agreed to take us spearfishing for snapper in the mangroves - at night. We returned to the catamaran and waited for the last light from the sun to fade away. The sky and water became pitch black, and there was no moon in sight. We met up with the guide and set out for the mangroves.

As we rode in the dark, the stars lit our way. There were billions of them. You could even see the milky way. The water glowed too, as bioluminescence floated on the surface. We maneuvered our way through the narrow waterways in between the mangrove bushes. Our guide directed us to a spot where we should find snapper. We hopped into the water and swam along the mangroves with our eyes peeled, in search of the fish. No dice. We all climbed back inside the dingy and went to the second fishing spot. Still nothing.

 As we dropped into the water at our third location, the moon slowly began to rise over the island. It was massive, bright and full, a magical sight I will never forget. Swimming around one last time, we finally saw a large snapper.  I loaded my pole spear and shot at it. I stunned the fish, but it easily shimmied off the spear, so I loaded up and shot it again. Unfortunately, the spear was too small to hold the fish. Being wounded but not dead, the fish quickly swam away. We all reluctantly climbed back into the dingy, a little disappointed and hungry, and made our way back to the catamaran. The moon was completely full in the sky now and shown so bright you could no longer see the stars. I looked up, closed my eyes and smiled. While it was technically an unsuccessful night, it was an experience I will never forget!

Shopbop Friends & Family Sale

Nixon Watch, Heather Hawkins Necklace, BB Dakota Bradford Jacket, Mother Skinny Jeans, Dolce Vita Booties

It is still hot hot hot here in California! I'm longing for the days of cool morning walks and painting by the crackling fire in the fireplace. Luckily I can get my fall wardrobe ready with Shopbop's Friends & Family sale! For three days only Shopbop is offering 25% off on tons great finds for fall. Shop my favorites above or head over to Shopbop's website and be sure to use the code INTHEFAM25 to get the discount! 

#100DaysOfPortraits

A few months ago I joined #The100DayProject, an annual challenge that encourages you to create something for 100 consecutive days.  I was in a creative rut and thought the challenge was the perfect way to break through it as well as push my artwork to new limits.  I love painting people so I decided my project would be 100 days of portraits.  

Projects like this are always easy in the beginning but as time wore on and as I was moving around and traveling the project got hard to keep up with.  I don't paint every day. I try to, but some days I don't have time or just don't feel inspired.  I broke down and didn't finish the project in 100 consecutive days.  At one point I went a few days without posting a painting and wondered if I should even bother finishing.  I was posting my progress on Instagram, but would anyone really notice if I stopped? Would they care? 

Then I realized that Instagram was only a tool I was using to keep track of what I was creating.  I wasn't doing this for anyone else - I did it for me.  I did this project to improve and test my creative limits. Who cares if I didn't complete it in 100 days, I was going to complete 100 paintings.

After that the paintings came flowing out of me. I still missed a day here or there, but it was never in my mind again to not finish.  

I now have a new collection of portrait paintings and loved playing around with different styles and techniques.  

Here are a few of my favorite illustrations from the project! To see all 100 paintings, click HERE!

And stay tuned because many of them will soon be available for purchase as originals, prints and phone cases!

To learn more about #The100DayProject and The Great Discontent click HERE!

Hello Fall

Kate Spade Dress, Kate Spade Heels

Time to pull out the boots and chunky sweaters because today is the first day of Fall!

Drawing Inspiration: Vintage Magazines

Over the past two years I’ve developed a passion for painting people.  I’m constantly scrolling through Pinterest searching for beautiful faces, interesting poses, and unique fashion looks.  One of my favorite sources of inspiration is vintage fashion magazines.  I especially love the look and feel of the 1950s.  The women are so effortless and classy.  The fashion is incredible and dreamy.  It is so easy for me to take thee looks and turn them into illustrations.  

Check out my Pinterest page to see more of what inspires me and more of my work! 

What inspires you to be creative?

Packing List for Cartagena

Cartagena has become one of my favorite cities in the world! With 16th century plazas, a tropical climate and colorful colonial buildings it’s hard not to fall in love! 

Nestled on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, this port city is the perfect warm weather getaway.  You can walk around the historic walled center surrounded by brightly colored buildings, sip fresh fruit juice from a rooftop terrace, or take a quick boat ride to one of the beautiful islands off the coast. 

Essentials:

A bikini or swimsuit (or bring a few! - I basically live in mine!)

A cute coverup

Comfortable Sandals for exploring the historic center

Wedge heels for a night out

Shorts

A few light blouses

Light airy dresses or skirts

Hat

Sunnies

Sunscreen 

Art Supplies on the Road

When I decided to take my business on the road, I knew I would need to be selective about how much and which art supplies I brought with me.  I am living out of one suitcase and one carry-on - that’s it.  That leaves very little space for things that can take up quite a bit of room, like paper.  So I brought only what I thought I needed. And in some instances it’s worked out perfectly, in others I’ve sorely missed having a Blick Art Supplies Store within driving distance.

Here’s a comprehensive list of what I have on the road with me:

In My Brush Bag:

1/8” Windsor & Newton Cotman Angled Brush

7” Connoisseur Kolinsky Round Pocket Brush

Mechanical Pencils

Kneaded Erasers

3 Pigma Micron 005 Pens

1 Pigma Micron 05 Pen

Pallet Knife (to remove the paper from the block)

1/4” Windsor & Newton Cotman Flat Brush

3/4 Connoisseur Goat Oval Mop Brush

Holbein Collapsable Water Dish

Paper Towels

Plastic Watercolor Paint Tray

Paper:

Moleskin Watercolor Paper Journal

Sketch Journal

Arches Hot Pressed 140lb 9x12 Paper Block

Arches Cold Pressed 140lb 9x12 Paper Block

I already had a collection of watercolor paint tubes and didn’t want to invest in new watercolor paint, so I decided to bring them with me.  The tubes are small so they don’t take up too much room and they last a long time so I don’t have to worry about running out.

In My Paint Bag:

Utrecht Alizarin Crimson

Sakura Koi Carmine

Grumbacher Cadmium Orange

Sakura Koi Yellow Ochre

Sakura Koi Lemon Yellow

Grumbacher Sap Green

Utrecht Viridian

Sakura Koi Chrome Light Green

Utrecht Cerulean Blue Pure

Grumbacher Cobalt Blue

Utrecht Phthalo Blue

Grumbacher Thio Violet

Windsor & Newton Raw Sienna

Grumbacher Raw Umber

Sakura Koi Burnt Sienna

Grumbacher Burnt Umber

Van Gogh Ivory Black

Utrecht Paynes Gray

Utrecht Cobalt Teal

Windsor & Newton Permanent Rose

Grumbacher Cadmium Red Light

Sakura Koi Pale Orange

Windsor & Newton Masking Fluid

One of the most important things I’ve come to realize is that it can be very difficult to find supplies outside of the United States, and if you do find what you’re looking for it can be really expensive.  I naively thought I would be able to buy more paper and what not with relative ease in Buenos Aires, but what I hadn’t counted on was how difficult it was for businesses to export products into Argentina.  This severely limited the brands and quality of the products I did find.  So, if you are going to go traveling for an extended period of time, really really think about what you actually need.  Be selective but not so much so, that if you left something behind you wouldn’t be able to live without it. Lucky for me I had a couple friends come visit, so I loaded them up with everything I was missing! :D

What item can you not live without?