Images That Breathe...

   

Announcement(s)

Tohono Chul Exhibit

Happy Anniversary Arizona! Tohono Chul Park, Tucson's highly esteemed botanical garden, will be featuring a special exhibit in honor of the State's Centennial. Lisa's original painting of a two-tailed swallowtail, the state butterfly, will be part of this juried show which opens January 26 and runs through April 22. All 78 of Lisa's butterfly paintings can be seen by choosing the Sky Portfolios of her gallery page.

Eye to Eye with a Butterfly

This one-woman exhibit of 78 paintings was enjoyed by thousands of Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Visitors from August 15th - October 25th, 2009. The exhibit photo album is now available in the gallery. See individual photos of all 78 butterfly paintings in the sky labeled portfolios of the web gallery.

   

 

 

 

 

Watercolor: Lisa McLaughlin’s medium of choice

Beloved for its subtlety, the transparent qualities of watercolor allow Lisa to layer paint in the same way that Tiffany worked with glass and light. Daytime is reserved for mixing and matching color. Sunlight is true color. All of Lisa’s artwork is created entirely by hand. For example, the fur on the muzzle of the moose was painted one hair at a time. A highly detailed painting typically requires over one hundred hours to complete. Each species is researched for its defining characteristics.

Lisa's work—in her words

“For me art is passion and requires respect for the observed. Accuracy, focus and tremendous attention to detail are essential in creating paintings that reveal the vitality and spirit of the natural world, which, for me, is the ultimate design. I strive for art that is as wildlife itself: whimsical and energetic, soulful and true-to-life, free of embellishment and complication—images that breathe”

A brief background sketch

A professional designer and illustrator for eighteen years, Lisa McLaughlin studied art at the Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY College at Buffalo, and Salisbury College of Adelaide, South Australia. Upon graduating, she literally hit the trail, hitchhiking and backpacking her way through the Australian outback, New Zealand, Indonesia and Tahiti. She has since traveled extensively through Europe, the Mediterranean, Japan, Mexico and the American west.

 

Lisa’s many clients have included ProLiteracy America, Cornell University and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

 

(For more information, please visit the contact page for an expanded resume.)