In part two of our series on Elizabeth Graeber I mentioned her affinity for portraiture and in part one I talked about my first impression of her work from illustrations of U.S. Presidents (each of the 44 were hung at The New Creatives exhibition earlier this spring).  Well, now you too can make out with J.F.K. by purchasing a copy of her book, The Presidents of the United States of America, for sale on Lulu.

In our final installment of The Illustrator, we share the remaining photographs from our visits with Elizabeth and give you a better sense of her artistic style.  Almost everything you see below is available for purchase in the form of an original illustration or reproduction (such as her books), plus she’s available for commissioned projects.  The principal lesson I take away from Graeber is artistic effort.  She drew and watercolored almost four dozen portraits for one project, yet it only represents a small fraction of her overall body of work.  I don’t know many photographers who have 44 portraits in a consistent style, let alone hundreds.  It takes hard work and dedication.

Elizabeth in her kitchen, holding packets of six bird prints that are available for purchase off her Etsy store.

Drawings and watercolors from her forthcoming book, Salt and Pepper Shakers (original illustrations available on Etsy).

Graeber has an endless number of illustrations, after a few minutes there was a pile of them on the floor.  Below, Margo and Richie from the 2001 Wes Anderson movie, “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

Another illustration based on this painting of Queen Elizabeth.  The back room of her house faces west with a huge window throwing late afternoon sun into the room.  It’s her artistic den.

Not everyone she draws is a based on a real person or fictional character, often it’s someone conceived in her imagination.  Personally, I’d love to see Elizabeth paint a series of men and/or women with handlebar mustaches biking in tweed or seersucker.

She’s also contributing drawings of Baltimore for an upcoming book called GRAPHIC USA.  Which I believe is a follow up to GRAPHIC EUROPE, an “alternative guide to 31 European cities” and a fun kitschy travel companion illustrated by numerous artists.

If you enjoyed this series make sure to visit Graeber’s website or follow her work on Flickr to discover other books and illustrations she’s done, plus don’t forget to purchase a copy of Worn Magazine to help us continue profiling other DC artists.  We need your support!

Photo Credits: Joshua Yospyn/Worn Magazine (please ask permission to use our images)

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