lavruss is busy, busy, busy!
I’m almost 42. I’ve been an artist all my life, but only started oil painting in 2003. Now, 6yrs later I am finally having my first showing in a gallery. Never mind that it is a group show, I have been judged worthy of being in it, and I am ecstatic.
This Thursday, November 19, 2009 at The Neighborhood Studio in SE Portland, Oregon. On 42nd and Division. 6-9pm.
I shall dress up and greet the masses. Smooze the smucks. I’m not going to sell anything. That isn’t the point. This goes on my artist resume. A validation. I have arrived. My life has begun.
I have been putting off writing a Bio and Artist’s Statement for years. Today I sat down and wrote both:
Bio
Lavonne Russell was born in Washington State in 1967. She came from a creative family where her father was an old-school sign painter by hand, and her mother a bibliophile. Always interested in anything creative, she has several projects going at all times.
Lavonne attended the Graphic Arts program at Perry Technical Institute in Yakima, Washington at age 25 where she learned airbrush painting/illustrating, sign making, photography, and graphic computer programs. After moving to Oregon, she has been a sign maker in several small shops, assistant designer in a screenprint shop, a commercial illustrator in a marketing firm, and junior designer in a large electric & neon sign company.
Lavonne has designed numerous advertisements, company logos, book illustrations, greeting cards, quilts, murals, and tattoos. She began oil painting in 2003 after the birth of her third son, and prefers to paint florals, nudes and portraits. Lavonne likes sculpting in wood and clay, landscaping, and interior decorating. This is her first Gallery Opening.
Artist’s Statement
I believe my purpose on this earth is to create beauty. I have no political or religious agenda. My goal is not to become rich and famous. I’ve been fighting my shyness and introverted nature all my life; to be in the ‘limelight’ would not be pleasant for me. But my drive to create cannot be ignored. I’ve tried. I hope to leave a large body of creative beauty behind as my legacy.
Before I started oil painting, as I watched Bob Ross on TV, my fingers would twitch, I wanted a brush in my hand so bad. I could feel the spring of the canvas, the creamy texture of the paint. When I finally had the supplies, nothing felt so right. I have been doing watercolour since ‘96 and still find it useful for illustrating books, but oil painting is my true love.
No matter what media I use, there is a recurrent theme of the nude. I believe nothing in this world is as beautiful as the female form. I attend two or more life drawing studios each week to improve my ability to record what I see. I learn something every time I pick up my brush.
