Bohemian Woman // Artist and Illustrator Lauren Merrick
Meet Lauren Merrick the artist and illustrator behind Bohemian Traders bespoke Boathouse Print. Raised on the beautiful NSW coastline and now residing in the Blue Mountains, Lauren is a creative who draws on her surroundings to create her works. We had a chat with Lauren to share with you the woman behind your favourite print.
Q // How would you introduce yourself, who you are and what you do?
A // Hello! My name is Lauren, I work as a freelance illustrator, am a mum to a 6 month old baby boy, I love cooking and making things, I have about a thousand unfinished projects which I’m sure I’ll finish someday. I live in the Blue Mountains and spend lots of time walking around, rain, snow or shine getting my baby to sleep.
Q // Can you remember when your love of art and illustration first began?
A // I guess it all began when I was a kid and was read to a lot from beautifully illustrated picture books. I was always painting at preschool, much more interested in designing the perfect title page at school, did art and textiles for my HSC, then straight after school I went to Enmore Design Centre and completed a Design Cert IV, followed by the Advanced Diploma of Design and Illustration.
Q // What is a day in the life of Lauren Merrick like?
A // Day to day life is focused a lot around trying to get my baby to have enough sleep! Once he is asleep I spend a couple of hours most days creating work for my calendars, etsy store and any commission work I have. I also drink a lot of tea.
Q // What are your favourite materials to use when creating works?
A // When I finished TAFE I was encouraged to stick with watercolour to establish myself as an illustrator. I stayed faithful to watercolour for 4 years before feeling ready to branch out into collage, acrylic, lino cut, paper cut and stamp making. I feel when I was pregnant I started seeing things differently and feeling a lot braver in my creative practice (it could have been because I was pregnant.. or just because that’s where I was up to in my creative journey). My latest calendars are an example of this featuring lots of different materials while I believe maintaining my signature whimsical style. I will always love watercolour, but at the moment my favourite materials to work with are probably collage and linocut.
Q // What inspires you to create?
A // In short, life. Which is probably what inspires everyone to create! In more detail, nature is a big inspiration for me. I spend a lot of time in nature and my husband and I spend time in our local activists groups trying to protect nature.
Q // Can you tell us your favourite thing to illustrate?
A // My favourite thing to illustrate would probably be plants and making patterns.
Q // Where did you source your inspiration to create the Bohemian Traders Boathouse print?
A // When I designed the pattern for the Boathouse print I had recently seen a moth with the most beautiful wings which inspired me to illustrate moths surrounded by leafy motifs.
Q // What goes into designing a print motif?
A // Firstly I do some sketches of ideas and Em (BT Director and Designer) chooses which ones she likes, then I refine those designs by scanning in the initial sketch and tracing it in Adobe Illustrator, creating a repeat pattern and making sure the file is organised correctly. I send that off to Andy the BT graphic designer and he colours the file to suit the season. That’s pretty simplistic, there are a lot of emails and chats in between.
Q // In what other ways do you like to express your creativity?
A // I love cooking and sewing and I am slowly teaching myself how to grow veggies.
Bohemian Traders Boathouse Collection with Lauren Merrick‘s bespoke print is available online now.
Images courtesy of Lauren Merrick
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