Lana Layne
www.yourhautecouture.com
www.lanalayne.info
www.about.me/Lanalayne
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Frida Gustavsson at H&M f/w 2013
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Redefining, what use to be considered an art that represented defiance and associated with society’s unwanted.
We all have heard and ventured downtown on Thursday nights for Downtown Art Walk. A night that attracted a scene of people with all alternative motives for joining in on the festivities. Either it be another night for organized bar crawls, art connoisseurs that sipped on wine to view various elaborately presented art pieces, or the foodies that had the hunger to discover and consume every food truck in sight.
Summer is here, and it is time to venture west for a whole new adventure. Being a native to LA, art was and still is all around me. Art isn’t defined by the confines of a picture frame. It is the energy of the people on the street and the clothes on their backs, the unexpected graffiti mural that is planted on a bus bench, to the artisan crafts hand made by the man sitting on the corner selling his craft for survival.
What if I told you there is a place that encompasses all of Los Angeles’ electrifying unique culture? I’ll let you on in a little secret…there is a whole new way to put the cliche Sunday Funday to work.
Cahuenga Corridor Street Market, that launched May 6th is heading full force every Sunday through summer. A all day event that all attendees are bound by similar interest. To be exposed to the unknown and underrepresented.
Cahuenga Corridor Street Market differentiates it self from the rest, collaborated “by artist for artist.”
An array art in many forms that represents the city I grew up in unique culture. Music, street graffiti art (once looked down upon) that is getting exposed and appreciated by all despite previously preconceived notions, clothing designers, and artisan crafts. This street market goes far beyond just a its name, it is a place for exposure, knowledge, and collaborative inspiration.
This day long street market is seriously one created for everyone, families, tourist, or just another native Los Angelinos like me rediscovering the beauty of LA all over again.
Don’t miss out on this new eyeopening event, where LA is truly viewed through a new lens. Inspire your senses, and get exposed to why we live and breath LA.
For more information visit:
Like them on Facebook for new weekly updates:
https://www.facebook.com/CahuengaCorridor
And tweet them :
@ccstreetmarket
start the digital design of my new business…
6 months guys….6 surgeries done. 2-3 more to go.
Never in my life I thought that I would almost be inducted into the 27 club with amy, jimi, and the greats. Flat lining twice on my 27th birthday, was schedule in my birthday event planner’s handbook.
Tragedy can come at the most unexpected times in life, leaving the hospital I was scared to look at myself. All I saw when I looked was an unrecognizable face on what felt like my broken body.
She was a monster to me, she was swollen so bad that it was hard to look at. Her mouth was wired shut, with 4 jaw fractures and 2 metal implants. She had a arm in a cast because with the drastic fall she also snapped and fractured her left arm, also with another implant.
So much screaming and freight , when I realized that “she” was me. At that moment all the medicine wore off, and I saw what was reality. A broken beyond repair it seemed, staring at a stranger that was suppose to me.
I hid, I cried and all I wanted was my old self with all the flaws that I was born with. My fears haunted me and kept me awake with flashbacks of not the accident but seeing what reflected back in the mirror. I was scared that what I saw staring back, would never leave. The person that I was , always going to be a vision of my past.
Fast forward to today right at this moment. I am overwhelmed, I am grateful, I am anxious, and I am still in the unknown. Today I have hope. What I failed to realized that the stranger staring back at me when I first got out of the hospital, was suppose to guide me to finding my inner strengths, passions, and beauty despite what the traditional society expectations of beauty is.
I am human, I still struggle. I avoid cameras at times, I don’t smile as much in pictures. With time though, that smile will reappear, it comes out know every now and then.
The human spirit and soul is a lot more resilient than we give it credit for. I was blessed with a strong fighting spirit that just won’t give up. Therefore, I am thankful.
I am so happy this summer, busy but happy. However, sometimes with happiness we need to be reminded what it took to get to this point of bliss. All the upsets. All the heartaches. All the roadblocks.
Remembering all those, allows me at least to appreciate the beauty that is my life currently.
Man it has been a tough tough year, and it will continue to be tough for a while with surgeries.
Yet I am hopeful, take that with a grain of salt. I am human there are days where I get up and I don’t feel like myself. I look at my past and saw a girl who love taking pictures, and now I find myself hiding. In time that confidence will come back.
The accident left me more than physically broken and traumatized. Emotionally and mentally, it affects me more I am not going to lie.
Guidance self preservation and the will to live , keeps me going.
I share a song that everyone can relate to, don’t take it for the obvious lyrics dig deeper and apply it to yourself. Life isn’t worth living if I didn’t have roadblocks, to only appreciate the blissful life that I am living in this moment, this second, this current heartbeat as I write this.
The older I get, and the more I do. Designing on the tech end, I realize that the basis of all my new art stems from my original background in my 2nd degree as a studio artist. Photography and Drawing/paint were my emphasis with a dip into musical production. It is calming to look back on the traditional art I use to create compared to the digitalized art I create today.
Ten years ago, most of my tech/digitalized art did not even exist today. Whereas my traditional art that I started from seemed to go back centuries.
The world is changing fast, and the perception of art is evolving. I must not forget to nurture the traditional forms to inspire me to create innovative art that intertwines new and old.
Some have asked, a few months ago I was in a huge freak fall that caused me to break my jaw in three places that shattered all my teeth, and fractured my left arm (which I am suppose to have surgery on again soon). How I can be so upbeat, truth is it’s really difficult and scary at times. I still have nightmares, flat lining twice on my 27th birthday in the ICU still haunts me.
Imagine not recognizing yourself in the mirror…that was something truly hard to overcome.
What gets me by is the blessings that I am still breathing, the support of amazing friends and family.
Young girls that depends solely on their looks to get by, my advice one day it could be all gone then what do you do?
It is important to make yourself beautiful inside to match the outside, so when the outside is gone….you still have something to feel a sense of self worth. Enriching your spirit/faith, and educating yourself is truly one of the most important lessons I can pass on.
It’s proven to be true, my arm was wired shut and I had a robo cop arm brace thing on….and the unexpected happened the last thing I would ever think when I felt like I looked so miserable somehow kept my spirit I fell in LOVE.
So, I made it a point not to sleep tonight because I am a. scared b. stressed about the oral surgery tomorrow. About the pain, and the outcome…plus I go to the hospital monday so they can prepare for the redo of my arm surgery cause the metal rods broke through my skin…gross I know.
Like I said previously I’ve been rearranging my small very limited space of a room. Usually I have a separate room as a closet , make up , and office. Now its all in one bedroom so i have to get creative with decor and storage….making vintage dresses wall decor and what not. In addition going through storage that my parents put away of my belongings from years ago (i feel like a hoarder) …and dumping out the unnecessary.
Besides that and blogging what seems to be like a million blogs(sorry folks for over saturating your news feeds, give a gimpy girl a break).
I started to draw …reminder i double majored in studio arts. Post college did not do anything drawing painting or photography related (well photography , cause i was in front of the lenses). Somehow as of late , my brain which is a muscle….muscle memory decided to rear its head no pun, and I have been creating art i haven’t tried in years.
I love charcoal , its so easy to manipulate and flowing. I love how it smudges. I love the black and white high contrast it gives. It feels more dramatic yet so simple. So i took an hour created “distorted faces” mostly charcoal with some watered down and mix medium in some pastel. Rendered the edges slightly on my pixalator….so here is tonights recovery doodle.
I zoned out with my charcoal and sketch book for an hour in between
