Meet Gabriella Le Blanc: Self-taught, figurative artist.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gabriella Le Blanc and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabriella, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I am originally from Los Angeles, California. I grew up there for most of my life. As an only child who was home-schooled for most of my upbringing, I had a lot of time to dwell off into my own world of fantasy and built images and events up in my head. I was always drawn to arts, drawing and painting early on felt natural and easy, plus I was good at it, very good for a young kid. My mother is Finnish and father was American. they divorced when I was 6 years old, but continued to live together. Me and my mother did do a lot of travelling together, she wanted to find another home somewhere else so we travelled and lived abroad for short periods of time. We lived in Hawaii, Florida and Paris, France. Growing up we also moved around a lot even in California. I was constantly changing neighbourhoods and scenery. I think that all that moving around and being shown different ways of living has definitely shaped my world of what is ideal and made me curious and open to change. Being a quiet, shy, artistic child, home-schooled and hanging out mostly with adults made me want to be older than I was. I developed an appreciation early on for things only adults would understand. I never truly liked hanging out with kids my own age and felt awkward about situations where I had to play or make conversation with them. I preferred the company of adults. My mother and father were always very over the top, strong personalities that made me believe anything was possible. If there is a will, there is a way sort of mind set. They both loved fashion and appreciated aesthetic and the finer things in life. All of these factors have shaped my interest and guided me to realize my own passions. I loved fashion and in my early teens I would constantly sketch my own version of runway looks off of Vogues webpage. I didn’t even realize it then, that what I was doing was basically illustrating and didn’t even know that being a fashion illustrator could be an occupation! This passion and realizing it early on was already a trait of mine that I could never truly shake off. I was adrift for a long time in my late teens after moving to Finland and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life anymore. It was only recently (3 almost 4 years ago) that I rekindled my love of drawing and painting and decided to just start doing it. Teaching myself through articles and videos online and trying through trial and error, seeing what works and what doesn’t and ultimately finding my own style is what lead me to this point. I still dream of taking a step further in my career and taking courses or attending fashion illustration school just to challenge myself, but I have never been happier than I am now, since I started to paint again and create my own artwork and illustrations.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Through trial and error is how I learn what I like and don’t like. I prefer trying things in action, seeing how ideas are brought to life with different mediums. I started with oils, which to many may sound challenging. I quickly found myself preferring to work with oils, compared to other mediums. I do enjoy aquarelle and ink on occasion, depending on the outcome I desire from my work. With oils I’ve found a love with water mixable cobra artist series. I use mediums to achieve buttery and smooth outcome, but the option of having it watered down creates lovely texture, similar to aquarelle. I have always been fascinated with fashion illustrations and my artwork, even the figurative paintings, are all inspired by fashion illustrations. I have extended my artwork from fashion to painting figures and the woman silhouette. I love minimalism and simplicity in color use and shapes, fast, swift brushstrokes and exaggerated lines and details. Love of femininity, and a light and delicate aesthetic are what I constantly want to bring to my work. I have been struggling for some time to find my own voice and what it is I ultimately want my brand to emit. Fashion vs. women and silhouettes. I thought I would have to only have one or the other, that having both would look messy together or not make sense. Through creating more women I realized that is my voice, my brand and what I want to showcase in addition to creating fashion art. They all symbolize the same thing, timelessness, elegance, beauty, love, joy and femininity.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Helsinki has a lot to offer. Finland in general holds so much of what I like to call quiet beauty. In addition to having nature, fresh air and a certain kind of untouched feel to it, there are so many lovely spots in Helsinki to check out. The best months to travel here would be from May-September. The warm, endless summer nights are a treat just itself! some of my top picks to eat out are: – Restaurant Elite in Töölö. Its like being transported back in time. This place has served as a meeting spot for artists since the 1930’s and in addition to having a classic Finnish menu they serve great cocktails and even have a smoking room (if your into that) – Yes Yes Yes in the Heart of Helsinki is a modern twist on vegan. The atmosphere is posh and super cute, great cocktails and intimate. – Cafe Esplanad, another classic in the Heart of Helsinki. This place gets packed during the summer months with people lined up to eat classic Finnish salmon soup and the biggest cinnamon buns I’ve ever seen. I visit at least once every summer (if not more). Helsinki usually has a ton of small local pubs and places to sit outside long into the night during the summer. – Grotesk offers an outdoor lounge with music and drinks. – Skiffer Liuskaluoto is just a 5 minute boat ride away from the shore and serves pizza along with drinks at its docks. The perfect spot to take in the Helsinki shoreline and quaint Art Nouveau buildings. My favourite thing to do when visiting the inner city is to stop by antique and vintage shops, which Helsinki has plenty of. In addition there are a ton of second hand stores which are worth checking out.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There have been many people in my life that in their own way, have knowingly or un-knowingly inspired me towards my current path. A young designer Sarianna Niskala is one of these lovely, inspiring souls whom with I was fortunate enough to cross paths with. Her enthusiasm and inspiring way of connecting people together is something I cannot be thankful enough for. We met through my cousin and she helped to push myself forward, encouraging me and helping me to realize that its possible to achieve my goals as an artist and illustrator.

Website: https://gabriellaleblancart.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriellaleblancart/

Image Credits
Roosa Varpu Karhu Creative & photographer | Helsinki She photographed the images of me in the white shirt and of the book table only. The rest I have taken myself.