Laurie Johnstone
A Stonington CT native, Laurie's work is intimately tied to the landscape of the place she calls home. One in a long line of sailors and lovers of the sea, Laurie finds inspiration in the ever changing weather and the temperamental sea which she can see out her studio window. Laurie didn't discover her talent or drive for creativity until later in life, having already had a successful career as the manager of an art gallery. It was while working at the gallery that Laurie began to study art academically and with an eye for technique. Her appreciation for art drove her to, finally, pick up the brush herself.
Learning and growing is a part of Laurie's process; as her skill and taste changes she will revisit old subjects over and over again, gleaning new insight each time, fleshing out her understanding of not only the technique but the world around her. Her work is almost meditative in approach, the painting and repainting of similar views and stretches of coastline like a mantra - a revisiting of the familiar until it becomes near abstracted.
Her work is characterized by low horizon lines, and smoky atmosphere, often a lone white sail of a boat the only thing to indicate life within the vista of the overwhelming blue. The true wonder of her work comes through in the colors, the way she plays them off of one another. Through her careful layering she brings to life the intricacies of the coastline, stratification of sand and trees all silhouetted against a dreamy blue-grey sky. Recently, Laurie has been playing more intensely with texture, building up the coastline into an almost three-dimensional element, building upon layers of acrylic to create an almost topographical landscape.
Painting is Laurie's meditation, an escape from the ravages of the every day. It is about the process and the journey rather than the destination in her works, an examination of the intricacies of the landscape seen through the eyes of someone who loves it.
