Lisa Hanawalt

“I don't consider myself a political artist, but I am political just by nature of being a woman.”

“I used to think fashion was something unattainable and reserved only for people who look like models. But looking back, I've always made bold choices, possibly beginning with the silk jungle print jacket, orange shorts, and Nepalese cap I insisted on wearing every day when I was ten.”

“Good cooking is good cooking, regardless of the price.”

“I haven't thought too much about the word 'foodie,' but I definitely lie closer to the 'I just need to eat a thing to fuel myself' end of the spectrum. It's not quite a hobby. I don't feel a need to try all the newest restaurants.”

“I no longer enjoy drawing people's pets. I just want to draw what I want to draw and have people not tell me what to draw.”

“I'm a bad artist. I'm lazy and untalented and bad.”

“Humans are generally much trickier to draw because we're so used to looking at and analyzing human faces. The slightest tweak makes a huge difference in how we perceive that character.”

“I value multi-layered artwork that warrants a second glance, so I try my best to achieve that with my own work. If something is solely pretty or solely disgusting, you look at it once and get the gist and move on. If it's a mix of both, it's potentially more interesting.”

“I'm not a great boss because I don't like to tell other people what to do.”

“So okay, the world through my eyes, what is that world? Well, I see a lot of dirty stuff, and I see a lot of dumb stuff.”

“I'm drawn towards people who have a little pathos and a little dark side, and I feel the same towards fictional characters.”

“Fashion blogs are great, but I also take inspiration from movies, nature, everyday objects.”

“I had to train myself to like spicy foods as I got older because they weren't a part of my upbringing at all.”

“I like that talented chefs are able to keep coming up with new ways of preparing food - it really is an art form.”

“The social aspects of food are really important to me - my favourite food-related memories are meals I've shared with my family and friends. Posting Instagram pictures of your food and then seeing your friends comment on it is just a modern form of that kinship.”

“I'm not a vegetarian, but while I don't want to defend it, I try to be mindful about the amount of animal products I consume. I eat a lot of vegan meals at home, and I'm okay with paying more for higher quality meat and eggs as a tax.”

“I have existential worries inside of me, but I don't always know how to express them all the time.”

“My family always ate dinner at the table, and we would chat about our day while eating. My parents like to have a few glasses of wine and linger after the meal is over, peeling oranges for dessert while talking. It's lovely.”

“I went to UCLA and studied studio art. I thought I was going to be a gallery painter, photographer, or ceramicist. Then, when I graduated, that didn't happen immediately. I didn't suddenly get solo shows in Chelsea, and I realized that is actually kind of difficult to break into.”

“The way I eat in my day-to-day life is, like, very simple to the point of being absurd. Like, my boyfriend makes fun of me because if I'm eating a snack, it's often, like, a pickle and then a hard-boiled egg and then crackers and then maybe a carrot, and it's like I'm eating like a baby.”