Featured Artist ‘LouLou Avenue’

LouLou Avenue is a Dutch-based artist known for her beautiful and aesthetic one-line drawings. Liv Ann van der Laan is the woman behind LouLou Avenue and she is inspired by human expression, music, street style and vintage portrait photography. LouLou Avenue is our featured artist, so now is the chance to get to know LouLou Avenue and her drawings better. 

What is art for you?
Art for me is a way to express myself, I'm a visual person, I love to talk in images that express a special vibe or a feeling.
But art has also been a big part of my life, my parents took me to museums all over the world and on the weekends we painted with the whole family. No surprise, I went to Art Academy.


Where do you find inspiration for your artwork?
In everyday life, nature, my three kids, vintage photo books and traveling.


In relation to the above, who do you get inspired by?
When I was little, we had those beautiful big books about Picasso's lifestyle; "Picasso and Jacqueline". The way he worked in his studio and was inspired by his surroundings, I couldn’t stop looking at it.
I'm also in love with the amazing photographs by Peter Lindbergh; how he catches natural beauty, not only iconic but mostly the purity (Lara Stone for Interview Magazine) in timeless black and white.

How and why did you start doing art and illustrations?
It was just one moment, I was standing in the sea in Sardinia, the island where I’ve lived in my teenage years, a moment of reflection and realized I just had to follow my passion and grab that paint and paper to do what I love most.
So I came back, invested in good materials and started. Somehow all my first works were sold in a few days, so it felt like the right choice.


What is your best advice on how to style your art prints at home?
I like to mix new prints with framed personal photographs and treasures I’ve found around the world. My advice is: don’t take it too seriously and change your walls once in a while - it's really refreshing.

How come most of your work is in ink or charcoal?
I'm a bit of a high-sensitive person, so simplicity and minimalism is kind of my lifestyle. In ink and charcoal, you can put so much emotion in just some pure sketchy lines. I love the texture and the way it's never how you expected it to be - the material is a bit rebellious.


Why did you choose to do one line drawings?
It's a way to express emotions in just one line, simple but not easy - always a surprise where it ends. I made them as a schoolkid. Always dreamy, never focused and drawing in my schoolbooks. So I was excited people liked it as their wall art. I also make more realistic works but always keep the simplicity, and through complexity of emotions in sketchy lines.

Is there a specific art print of yours that has special importance to you? If so, why?
Each art print has its own memory, when I met a special person or had a gorgeous day at the beach, it's often translated into a new artwork.

Shop all prints by LouLou Avenue right here →