Happy Holiday Season!

I have been very much getting into the holiday spirit these past few weeks. I love this time of year, figuring out and making gifts for everyone! I have been working on a couple of seasonal sorts of things I wanted to share.
First, I did this drawing that I am calling "Neighborhood Tree."

It is kind of my take on a christmas tree if it were decorated with the buildings from my neighborhood.

I also made some new ornaments this year. I was pretty happy with these day and night ones:

And then I did a new version of the tree ones, similar to the ones I made last year:

I think they came out pretty well.

As always, of course, these items are all available in my Etsy shop.

"Black Friday" Etsy Sale

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving everyone! I'm giving in to the post-Thanksgiving consumerism that is Black Friday and am offering free shipping in the USA on everything in my Etsy shop from now until Sunday night. I'm also offering free worldwide shipping on all orders over $10.
Check it out: lauramccabe.etsy.com!

Governor's Island piece finished

I had my studio on Governor's Island until the beginning of October. I made good progress on this piece through that time, but I had to take it back home to finish it up. I finally got it done this past week.

The work was inspired by the historic yellow houses where my studio was housed. The island was a military base for a long time and families of officers lived in the house where I was working. I tried to let the environment of Governor's Island influence and inspire the imagery in my work there. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Here is a detail of the moths:

These photos may not completely do the work justice. I am going to get a high res scan of it done soon. But the piece is about three feet tall so it may take a while for that to happen. I just wanted to get the finished product up for people to see.

New Drawing: "Caged"

Governor's Island Studio

I got the wonderful opportunity to have a studio in an old house on Governor's Island since the beginning of August. The space was given to the teaching artists at the Children's Museum of the Arts, where I work.

I've been super busy since August but I have tried really hard to get out to the island at least once a week to work in the studio. I am working on a couple larger pieces there that are inspired in various ways by Governor's Island.
Here is a detail of one of the works in progress:

I have the space until the beginning of October and I hope to make some real progress on the pieces I've started in the next couple of weeks. I'll update with more images of the work as it progresses.

Teeny Tiny Art Show #7 Opens Tonight!

I'm excited to once again to have my work in the Teeny Tiny Art Show at Three Graces Gallery in Portsmouth, NH.

The show opens tonight and runs through September 26th. You can also see all the work online in the Three Graces online store.

Photos from Silver Circle Studio Illustration Show

Time for an update, finally! I haven't kept up with my blogging lately because I've been busy teaching photography at the Creative Arts at Park program for the past 5 weeks.

The illustration show at the Silver Circle Studio in Putnam, CT ended today. Here are a couple pictures of my work in the show:



The show looked really great and I was very happy to be a part of it! Stay tuned for news about upcoming shows that I will be a part of this coming fall.

Illustration Show at the Silver Circle Studio, June 23 - August 1

I have some work in the annual Illustration show at the Silver Circle Gallery in Putnam, Connecticut starting today. The opening for the show is this Friday, June 25th from 6-8pm. The show will be up through August 1st. If you happen to be in the area, I hope you can check it out!

Illustration Friday: "Trail"

I haven't taken a shot at an Illustration Friday topic in quite a while. But this past week I found myself a bit stuck for what to work on, and that is always a great time to do an IF drawing. The topic this week is "trail." I imagined this bicycle traveling down this twisty, turning trail to... I am not sure where.

Recent work for the Boston Globe

A couple weeks ago I had an illustration in the Boston Globe's "Globe 100" Magazine.

This illustration was for an article about how JetBlue is encouraging its customers to buy credits to offset their carbon footprint from flying. You can read the article on the Globe's website.
Here is how it looked with the article in the magazine:

Drawings as Gifts

Recently, I've done a couple gift drawings for people. The first was a portrait of my mother.

This was done as a birthday present for her. She had requested that I draw her a portrait of her for her birthday. I was a little nervous because doing portraits of people can be kind of a tricky thing and there is always the danger they won't like it. But she seems to have liked it and it was a successful gift!

This second drawing I gave to my boss who left the Children's Museum of the Arts last month. (I work there part-time as a teaching artist).

I took this drawing as an opportunity to play more with ink blotches and letting the ink flow uncontrolled a bit in the drawing. I think the results came out pretty good as well, and I will definitely be playing more with that in the future.

Needham Open Studios this weekend

This blog is a bit last minute. But, I am in the Needham Open Studios today and tomorrow.

If you check out www.needhamopenstudios.com, I am at location #9 on the map. I'm showing small originals, prints and cards. I will be sharing the space with Susan Anderson, Anne Tochka, and Zurdacrafts. (Zurdacrafts on Saturday only!) If you are in the Boston area you should come by and check it out.

Opening at Climate/Gallery tonight

I have three small pieces in the "Never Think Small Redux" show at Climate/Gallery this month. The opening is tonight! The show will be up through April 25th.

Happy (almost) Spring!

Spring is almost here! And it is finally beginning to feel a bit like spring here in Brooklyn. I am very ready for nicer weather. Here is a new springtime drawing I've just finished.
A print, as always, available in the Etsy shop.

"Homemade Brooklyn" in Greenpoint this weekend

I have work at the "Homemade Brooklyn" pop-up shop this weekend in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Come by March 12th-March 14th, 11am-8pm to check out the shop, which will be full of work from Brooklyn-based artists, designers and craftspeople. It is at Kill Devil Hill at 170 Franklin Street, Brooklyn. There is also an opening party Friday, March 12th 6pm-11pm.

New Cat Pillows

I've been working on a fun little project- making new cat pillows! I had to figure out how to block print on fabric for these, and there was a lot of trial and error involved. I am getting the hang of it now. I'm currently trying to save up for a sewing machine, but in the meantime I am getting pretty good at sewing by hand.
These are different than the ones I used to make not only because they aren't silkscreened, but also because they have fun decorative patterned fabrics on their reverse side instead of another cat image. You can check them out as I begin to list them in my Etsy shop.

Work at Fresh stART tomorrow night

Tomorrow night I have two pieces at the Fresh stART event at Arena 1 Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. More info is on the Fresh stART website.

Mountain drawing from today

A new drawing I did today from a group of small 5x7" drawings I am working on right now.


Here's a detail:

Patterns patterns patterns!

Print in the Etsy store, of course.

Shows in February

Happy February!
I am in a couple of shows this month. The first opens this Friday at Three Graces Gallery in Portsmouth, NH. I have eight pieces in the Teeny Tiny Art Show there February 5th through March 1st. You can check out all the work in the show on Three Graces' Flickr page.

I'm excited that some of my very tiny canvases are in this show, as well as some of my smaller works on paper.

Also later this month I will have two pieces in this year's Fresh StART event at Arena 1 Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. I'll post more about that event closer to the event date.

Playing with Silhouettes

Just some quick little drawings I did yesterday.

New Year, New Work

Happy New Year! Here is a new piece I just finished.

I decided to experiment a bit will collage elements. I am pretty happy with the result, perhaps I will continue this experiment in future pieces. And of course, a print is available in my Etsy shop.