Curzi Draws Live for Warehouse

Lucia Emanuela Curzi spent a Saturday in November drawing portraits at a live Christmas painting event for the clothing brand Warehouse. Taking place at a Manchester store, here are a selection of Lucia's pieces, proudly shown by the sitters.

Live Portraiture for Frey Wille

One of the many portraits drawn by Miss Led

Two portraits drawn at the live event

Miss Led at work

Working with PR company Pink Umbrella, Miss Led is invited to draw live portraits at the InStyle Magazine launch event for the new Frey Wille products.
Miss Led used her great experience in this environment to create some fashion portraits of people at the launch. And working with new materials and at a larger size than usual, she says ..."the work was challenging but enjoyable. I met some lovely people who were extremely appreciative of having a free portrait".

Bissett Goes Live!

portraits at the Space NK event

Space NK event portraits

a drawing from the Warehouse event

friends hold their drawings at Warehouse

Live drawing expert Jacqueline Bissett draws at two fashion store events.
Taking place in October, the first was for Space NK at their Broadwick Street W1 branch. The event was for the launch of an amazing range of make up called "By Terry" (the make up artist who invented YSL's touche eclat).  Beauty editors from Elle, The Guardian, Top Sante, Psychologies magazines & known beauty bloggers were treated to a makeover then passed over to Jacqueline to illustrate. She says "I met some fantastic people and really talented make up artists and had a fabulous day drawing fabulous people!"
And last month, Jacqueline was invited to a Warehouse event at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol. After having a make-over, lucky customers were then given the Bissett treatment by having their 'new look' beautifully drawn on paper. Jacqueline says "I drew the public for a pre-xmas event and Warehouse staff of course! Had a great day and did about 15 illustrations over 8 hours!"

Miss Led's Workshop

The Miss Led Workshop; Printspace August 2013

Ten lucky competition winners were treated to a workshop entitled 'How to create a mixed media portrait' run by the talented Miss Led last month. Hosted by the Printspace in Shoreditch, Miss Led shared her deep knowledge of live art, techniques and medium. She says of the event "...Was so cool after running workshops for years in so many different settings, to actually present a work based session on my own practice..."
And to coincide with New York Fashion week, Miss Led will be doing another workshop at CASS Islington this month. Watch the workshop video. 

Drawn

Work in progress for the opening night of 'Drawn'

Drawn invite

Miss Led is delighted to be taking part in 'Drawn' at the Printspace Gallery in August. In good company with talents such as Alan Coulson, Claire Scully and Holly Sharpe, Miss Led will also be performing live art on the opening night this Thursday. Here we see a piece she is currently preparing for the event aswell as the invite for the exhibition. The show continues until August 23rd at The Printspace Gallery, 74 Kingsland Road, London E2.

Pintar Rapido London

Cheyne Walk (oil on board)

John Walsom braved the heat on what was the hottest day of the year so far in London to take part in Pintar Rapido. Meaning 'to paint quickly' the event originating in Spain is an art show that celebrates 'the urban spaces we live and work in'. Alongside hundreds of other artists, John completed two paintings, one of which was exhibited the following day at Chelsea Old Town Hall on the King’s Road where the paintings could be purchased by the public. Roger Beckett founder of Pintar Rapido London says of the event;

"Pintar Rapido is going to be a celebration of art and the city backdrop that inspires artists of all styles to create a painting in a day. I want them to capture the spirit of city – from its parks to its architecture, industrial locations to a river scene. The chaos and the calm and the people who breathe life into it. But most of all I want it to be a fun and exciting event for all those who take part."

Art on the Street

This is work in progress for Vic Lee who is finishing off an amazing piece of window art today at Planet Partition, Goswell Rd, London. Say hello if you're nearby!

Ruth Rowland at the Scrapbook Live Event

Next Thursday 9th May sees Ruth Rowland showing work at the Scrapbook Live Event, Griffin Gallery, London, organised by ourselves! Ruth says " I have my pens, brushes and inks primed for some pretty wild and loose demonstrating. Alongside the calligraphic work, I'll be showing some 3D letters created especially for the event, combining type with my own hand lettering in a variety of media. It promises to be an exciting evening with illustrators Miss Led, Jacqueline Bissett, Sarah Beetson and Gail Armstrong all demonstrating alongside me. In total, twenty one artists will be showing work and the evening will be hosted by journalist and writer Garrick Webster with sounds by DJ Dirty Freud." You can follow the event live on twitter at #ScrapbookLive.

DinoZoo 2

Andy Council has been working on a large scale project with Bristol Zoo to promote the return of DinoZoo, a host of 12 life-like animatronic dinosaurs taking up residence at the attraction. Over the last few weeks, Andy has attracted crowds at local shopping centres around Bristol, who have all eagerly looked on as he creates dinosaur masterpieces using only a spray can, a 20ft by 10ft board and his imagination. Andy has also been visiting schools in Bristol and South Wales to get an insight into the young pupils' local community and buildings, through their drawings and ideas. From this material, he has created a host of dinosaur illustrations, whose bodies are comprised of various landmarks relevant to the school’s area. Each dinosaur illustration is displayed within the Bristol Zoo grounds and is there for all to see as of the DinoZoo2 launch last month. Andy said, “My work involves dinosaurs and Bristol landmarks, so the DinoZoo project at Bristol Zoo Gardens is a perfect fit for me. I enjoy involving the local community, both the people and places!”

DinoZoo2 will be open every day until Sunday September 8 2013, and is free with Zoo admission. It will give visitors the chance to get up-close to this amazing new breed of dinosaurs and learn even more about their incredible characteristics.

Miss Led at the Saatchi Gallery

Miss Led with the model

detail

Last week's Live Painting event in the Basement area of the Book Club has culminated in a 'fantastic showcase' at the Saatchi Gallery this week. Miss Led took part in the event; organised by Subism Collective and Liquitex Artist Materials to produce 'Life Shrinks and Expands in Proportion to Ones Courage', painted in acrylic on canvas and sized at 1 x 1.5 metres. Miss Led says "It was amazing. Such an opportunity. And such an accolade to have work at the Saatchi."

Lucia the Shoe Illustrator

After the success of Jacqueline Bissett at the London Selfridges store, it was time for Lucia Emanuela Curzi  to become 'Shoe Illustrator' at stores in Manchester and Birmingham. Lucia says of her experience "... I was live painting at Selfridges in Manchester and painted about 10 shoes, 7 or 8 boxes (or maybe more, I was so busy that (I) couldn't count them!). From 11am to 4.30pm there were so many enthusiastic people that had been in a queue to have their shoes and boxes painted. A couple also asked to paint the soles of their Kurt Geiger' Wedding Shoes and in the previous week I painted a girl's shoe for the prom night." 

This was certainly a fun experience very well suited to Lucia's spontaneous drawing style.

Miss Led in Shoreditch to Saatchi

Next week - 18th April to be precise sees Miss Led doing one of the many things she does so amazingly well - LIVE PAINTING.  It's been 3 years since Miss Led's last live event, and next Thursday's will take place at The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4RH. The large canvas creation will then be exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery the following Tuesday 23rd April. For more info go to the Liquitex Facebook page.

Selfridges Shoe Carnival

Jacqueline Bissett @ Selfridges London

Shoe lover or not, how can you resist having a new pair illustrated! Whether on the box they came in, the bag they are put in or the soles you will walk on, Jacqueline Bissett and Lucia Emanuela Curzi are guest illustrators at Selfridges over the coming weeks doing just this to your shoes!

Selfridges is 'the world’s most iconic destination for shoe lovers', and is celebrating the Shoe Carnival by filling their 'extraordinary shoe spaces with fun, theatre and dance'. Taking place at the London, Birmingham and Manchester stores, Jacqueline and Lucia will be ready to put their style on your soles on Saturdays this month and next; Jacqueline is at Selfridges London on 16th March and 20th April, Lucia will be at Selfridges Manchester Trafford on April 6th, Selfridges Manchester Exchange Square on April 13th and Selfridges Birmingham on April 20th.

Jacqueline says of her first day at the London store on Saturday "(a) German lady was thrilled to have her heels customised on the 'arches' so the lips that I painted could be seen!"

 

Workbook Creative Carnival

The USA Illustration office had a fun adventure in NYC at the end of last year.  Taking part in the Workbook Annual Creative Carnival, the talented Yaeko Abe showed her skills in the live drawing portion of the evening.  Not only was it great fun to see the costumes modelled by live models, but all of the drawings were auctioned off for charity at the end of the night.  A super time was had by all! More information on the event.