www.lorraineplaxico.blogspot.com

Although my professional career as an architectural illustrator consists largely of straight lines, my personal affinity is for the organic shapes of nature.  Loose, free-form landscape painting has always been my first love. I’m never happier than when I am outside drawing by a stream or in a field with my boxes of colors. I become immersed “in the flow” and am unaware of anything else.

In 2004, some friends offered me their piece of heaven in the woods for the sketching retreat that birthed a new style of art. I picked up a box of pastels for the first time since I was a teenager, and something magical happened. Strong strokes of the rich pigments reflect the immediacy and movement that come from drawing outdoors (“in plein air”). This medium offers me the freedom of line and color and the expressiveness that is the opposite of the drawings I produce for builders and architects. It flows without planning, I react quickly to the scene and changing light, and am always surprised with the end result. My artwork has been described as musical, peaceful, and with a “dreaminess that makes them almost surreal.”

I especially enjoy working on colored paper, purposely leaving some parts of the paper blank and allowing them to contribute to the composition. I am visually drawn to the dramatic places where very dark areas meet very light ones-like Rembrandt’s portraits and the moody Dutch landscapes. The strong contrast is like a spotlight on a stage. I find it challenging trying to capture the constantly moving light. Although the majority of my work is created outside, the series “After the Storm/ Red Sky” was created from photographs that were taken during an extraordinary atmospheric light show following a spring storm.

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