Lauren Ireland

RCAD Alumni 2002 // Illustration

My mission as an artist is to give the viewer a glimpse of old and wild Florida and sometimes a whimsical place to escape to. I grew up here in southwest Florida, beaching, fishing and camping in places that are ever-changing due to hurricanes and development. I want to give people a window into these rustic places that might not look the same in the future. My background is in illustration, painting and figure drawing and I work in oil, graphite, and pen & ink. I have a true love for plein air painting, candid portraits, human and animal anatomy. The influences of cartoons and fantasy art have also played a big role in my development as an illustrator. Mermaids, mystical landscapes, and surreal types of architecture are my fun go-to subjects when I want to switch modes.Along side painting, I have been making couture, eco-inspired jewelry from shells, sharks teeth and other beach findings. I also love taking pictures and have since I was a kid. I photograph all of my own reference shots and I take my camera everywhere.

Some of the artists that I look up to are Alphonse Mucha, John Singer Sargent, Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell, Brian Fraud, Chuck Jones, Charles Schultz, Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, Maxfield Parrish, and Toulouse Lautrec.