We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lori Mitchell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lori below.

Lori, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

When I was just starting out in my illustration career I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go. In art school they were pushing airbrush and “movie posters style”. That wasn’t what I liked to do. I ended up putting together a portfolio of work that people liked, but it didn’t particularly suit me.

What I really wanted to do was illustrate children’s books, drawing in line and then adding watercolor. I could picture the paintings but I did not have this style in my portfolio. I was inspired to write a children’s book about diversity and acceptance because of my daughters skin condition, vitiligo, where you lose the color in your pigment.

I sent the manuscript for Different Just Like Me and a mockup along with two finished illustrations done in pencil line and watercolor. It was nothing like anything in my portfolio. After 16 rejections I was offered a contract with Charlesbridge publishing.
I was thrilled and also scared. How could I have signed this contract promising to deliver a whole book done in a medium I hadn’t worked much in? I loved to draw with line but had not painted much with watercolor. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I would work while my 4 year old daughter slept, sometimes until all hours of the night. If I didn’t like the way an illustration turned out, I would just do it again.

Once all the illustrations were done I sent them in for approval. All the illustrations were approved except one. The publisher has fact checkers for everything. They said one of the flowers in the garden scene would not be in bloom the same time as the others so I would have to redo the whole thing. It took weeks to do the original illustration but I decided to take this as an opportunity to do a better job on the next one. I did my research and made sure all the flowers were right. I noticed that I didn’t really like the direction the main characters was looking in the first illustration so I could fix that now. I also noticed that the flowers looked stiff in the original. Now I had the opportunity to change them. I have both illustrations and when I see the original I am so grateful I had the chance to redo it. The book made it all the way to an appearance on Oprah and has been out since 1999.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I can’t even remember a time when I didn’t draw. I drew all through my school years and went on to graduate from Art Center College of Design with a BFA with honors. After college I illustrated 10 books and I have done thousands of illustrations. I was even invited to be on Oprah with my first book, Different Just Like Me, that I wrote and illustrated.

I love the problem solving part of being an artist. There’s always a new challenge and that’s what makes it interesting. I have done murals, portraits, and fine art. I have done illustrations for children’s books, advertising and editorial. My art has been on the side of buildings, in magazines, books and in museums and galleries. I also teach Pen and Watercolor via Zoom for the Athenaeum.

My latest project was working with the County of San Diego and Fire Station 38 in Otay Mesa. The project started out as an assignment to do portraits for the side of the new building and it transformed into painting landscape. You can read how I navigated this process in the following questions.

When I have time to do my own projects I like to sketch people. My favorite spot to sketch is at coffee shops around town. My sketches are done on location with pen and watercolor and usually take under an hour. My subjects are usually enjoying a casual moment that no one would even think twice about but it’s those little wonderfully simple moments that add up to a life well lived. My sketches remind me to be present and in the moment.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

All through art school my instructors told me to find a style and stick to it. I understand how this makes sense. If you have a recognizable style people will come to you for that style. If you do a little bit of everything, your work will not be as memorable, sometimes you have to break some rules if you want to advance. It seems like when I break the so-called rules, more often than not, things fall into place.

With my first book I had to step out of that box. I had to take a chance and reach a little further to be able to do something unlike anything I had done in school. As an artist I seem to get opportunities to break the rules. On my latest project I went way out of my usual style because that’s what was called for to “solve the problem” and accomplish the desired outcome.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I was recently hired to do portraits for a large mural for the new San Diego County Fire Station in Otay Mesa. The committee that was in charge of commissioning me had seen a mural that I had done for Warwick’s bookstore, the oldest family owned bookstore in the United States. I had drawn 20 authors that had signed books at the store. They were done in pen line and watercolor and each one was blown up to 5 feet high. You can see them on the Warwick’s building in La Jolla, CA.

As we got further into the approval process, without even seeing the sketches, the direction changed on what the Fire Department wanted and they no longer wanted faces, they now preferred landscape. Throughout the mural process I was problem solving and pivoting to create the artwork that would fit their needs. I am not usually a landscape painter but I had been experimenting with watercolor and looking at edges and textures that watercolor could make. I took this new direction as an opportunity to grow. It took another turn when the Fire Department decided they wanted the landscape in black and white instead of color.

I did 8 paintings that would be installed as separate panels, one right next to the other, creating a polyptych. Digital scans of my watercolor paintings were sent to Austria to be enlarged and printed onto panels that were 8 feet high. I had an idea that these would work but you never know until you see the final outcome and I had not really done this kind of work professionally before. The shipment arrived and I went down to see the boxes opened. They were even better than I could have imagined. I was thrilled with the result and so was Gail Goldman, the consultant in charge of the public art on this project. I was on site to see the panels installed and even the construction crew were all very complimentary. That’s where we are now and the firefighters will see the artwork when the building is complete. I had my original watercolor painting framed and they’ll be installed inside the station. I am very grateful for the opportunity and freedom to create this piece that will be up for some time to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lorimitchellart.com/ and https://www.differentjustlikeme.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorimitchellart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-mitchell-b399bb12/