文/Jessa Chiang
微缩插画师Lorraine Loots来自南非开普敦，29岁，每天坚持在3cm*3cm的范围内记录一个小物件，比如一杯咖啡、一个相机、一辆单车，一只昆虫。这个计划开始于Lorraine决定不以艺术家为职业之后，但她依旧不愿意自己的生活远离艺术，于是决定每天花一个小时的时间画个小画，却没想到现在每天“画个小画”成了她最重要的工作。
1.365 postcards of ants这个项目是怎么来的？
2012年末，我在开普敦大学商学院读一个艺术家的商业课程。3个月的时间，不停的在学关于税务、谈判、市场营销、商业计划，让我决心不把艺术当做职业来发展。但我也不愿意放弃画画，于是开始了这样一个限时项目，每天花一个小时的时间画点什么。一个小时就能完成的，只能是微缩画，我的第一个项目《给蚂蚁的365幅画》就是这样产生的。《给蚂蚁的365张明信片》是紧接着的第二个项目。
2.为什么说这些小画是给“蚂蚁”的？
我的画纸一般长宽10cm大小，而里面的图案一般直径在8mm-30mm之间。刚开始画微缩画的时候，有人说：“画得真好看，可这么小，你要拿它做什么呢？”我会告诉他，这些画是送给小蚂蚁的。
3.你是保持每天收集灵感画出今天的经历，还是随想随画？
最开始，我会想画什么就画什么，就是当天的日常，或者当天遇到的感兴趣的东西。后来，人们可以预约画，他们会对题材提些建议，也会特别期待到出画的哪天发布的成品。我很愿意根据人们的建议来画。到今年，我策划得更细致了一些，规定题材要跟开普敦相关，每天开放至少5个意见名额。这样，让我在满足了大家的愿望的同时，也能有选择的空间，保证画画不会变成完成任务。
4.完成这样一幅“小画”一般要花多长时间？
完成原画，一般平均3-6个小时，做成明信片的话需要的时间更长一点。先要扫描进电脑，用photoshop除灰尘点，再把PDF的画面发到印刷厂。印刷厂完成印刷后，从比勒陀利亚快递回开普敦。然后我再编版、签名、标日期、贴邮票、写信息、打包，最后寄出。
5.完成这个项目，最爽的时刻是什么呢？
每天我终于坐下来画画的时候。
6.那最不爽的呢？
得尽量及时回邮件。
7. 2015年你有什么新计划？
现在还没决定呢，是做一个略诡异的计划呢，还是休息休息呢，或者做一个蚂蚁的环游世界探险画系列，还在纠结。
看Lorraine Loots的展览是一个“形式感”十足的体验，画很小，它逼迫你把脸凑近一点，再凑近一点，仔细去看。
画被陈列成月历的样子，让参观者好像在Lorraine过去一年的日子里，用心发觉细微的美好。
另外，我们来看看在展览上的参观者，拿着放大镜看画的人们：
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以下为采访原文：
1、How did you come up with the idea for this series?
In late 2012, I was doing a Business Course for Artists at the UCT school of Business. After 3 months of learning about tax, negotiating, marketing and business plans I had decided that I did not want art to be my career after all. I didn't want to stop painting though, so I constructed this borderline-OCD project where I had to spend an hour a day creating something. The only thing I could finish in that time frame was a miniature, and so 365 Paintings for Ants was born. 365 Postcards for Ants is the second phase of that project.
2、Why did you title the project 'paintings for ants'? What size are you pieces?
The pages I’m working on are about 10 x 10 cm, and the images themselves vary from 8mm to 30mm in diameter. When I just started doing miniatures, people would say: “Oh, that’s nice. But what would you do with something that small?” I just started saying they were made for ants.
3、What inspires your daily creations?
At first, I would paint whatever I felt like: everyday objects, or whatever I came across that day. But as people started booking dates, they got excited about the prospect of being able to make suggestions for what would be painted on their day, and I liked the idea of drawing inspiration from that. This year, I decided to structure it more carefully, limiting the suggestions to Cape Town related themes and accepting no less than 5 suggestions per date. This would ensure that I could still choose something that resonates with me, and at the same time, prevent the project becoming purely commission based.
4、How long does it take to finish a postcard?
The original paintings take me between 3 and 6 hours to complete on average; the postcards take much longer actually. The originals are scanned in, cleared of dust specks etc. on Photoshop, PDF's are sent to the printers, they have them printed in Pretoria and couriered down to Cape Town. Then I edition, sign, date, stamp, write messages, package, and send them via the postal system.
5、The best part of the project is…
That moment in the day where I finally get to sit down and paint.
6、The worst part is…
Trying to keep up with emails.
7、Any ideas what you’ll do for 2015?
I haven't decided yet. Right now it's a toss-up between doing the odd commission and taking some time off, or going on an around-the-world Paintings for Ants adventure.