A Visit To Anna Laurini’s Studio

I’ve been a fan of Anna Laurini’s street art since I first spotted it in London around 18 months ago. I admire her work, it feels really vibrant, alive. I love how Anna has developed a seemingly simple idea into such a wide range of representations. Her work is unmistakeable too – that’s neat.

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Anna has always struck me as accessible. Since I began following her on Instagram – I have observed that she regularly responds generously to comments on her work. Recently Anna has been offering some of her paste up art for sale, so I asked to buy one and the next thing I know, I am invited to visit her studio.

I find myself among a huge number of large canvases, both finished, and works in progress. Anna has a show starting in London at Lights of Soho later this month and she’s busy making final preparations. It’s a pleasure to see so many of her works in one place, and to get a sense of how Anna works too. Although she is clearly busy, Anna makes me a lovely strong coffee, and talks at length with me about her work, and about creativity in general. ‘You’re the only person who can do what you do’, is probably my favourite snippet from our conversation.

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Before I go, I’m invited to purchase a paste up from a neatly organised folder. I pick a recently finished one made using a page from The New Yorker.

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As a parting gift, Anna surprises me with this lovely piece for me to give to Keira. Thank you Anna, for this gift, and for the chance to learn more about you and your work.

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You can see and buy some of Anna’s work here, and her solo show ‘Profiles’ is at Lights of Soho from January 25th to March 11th. I leave Anna to her work and head back into London. As I wander down the Charing Cross Road, I find this.

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Signals : Part Three

I’ve just started experimenting with some new liquid watercolours, made by Winsor and Newton. My intention with these paints, is to use these primary colours to mix and blend other colours, shades and tones.

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I’m also experimenting with a more themed sense to my art. I’ve recently started following Anna Laurini and I am fascinated by how distinctive her work is. One of the things I am learning from following her is that there’s so much to explore within what at first glance, might mistakenly appear to be a single idea. My thoughts around the kind of art I want to create have drifted around a lot, seeing Anna’s work is helping me to realise I can explore ideas I come cross in much greater depth and breadth than I previously thought. Less hopping from idea to idea, more exploration of each idea. This will become evident as my work progresses.

Here are the first two pieces of work created with the new paints. I’m fascinated by the range of colour brought forth from just three tubes of paint.

Although there are two works here, together they are titled Signals : Part Three. They are painted onto A4 sized sheets of watercolour paper. One piece has been bought by a friend, and I gifted them the second one. They belong together.

Signature

As you can see, I made a slight modification to my signature to fit the style of these works.