About Elayne Kuehler
Romantic Realist |
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Elayne, a Baton Rouge native, is a romantic realist with a passion for capturing the beauty she sees in life. Her graceful paintings are done directly from life, realizing that nature teaches beauty and truth. Her chosen medium is painting in oil but loves to work in pencil and enjoys gouache as well. Her forte is painting the still life in oil with her dreamy but traditional landscapes coming in a close second. She finds endless still life compositions in her own kitchen, home and gardens. She is astounded with Louisiana landscapes, especially the ones that encompass the live oak painting them in Plein Air. From the Southwest fields of wildflowers, to the Carolina hills and cityscapes, to the magic of the Northeastern states in seasonal dress are where she finds her inspiration.
Her figure sketches keep her drawing skills sharp, and her sound compositions are attributed to her learning from the old masters, Vermeer, Corot, Chardin, Constable, Peter Paul Rubens and William Trost Richards, among others. She has painted for over 38 years and has studied with professional Arts in the Parks award winning artist Barrie Van Osdell, as well as teachers Carol Peebles and Auseklis Ozols of the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and won Facility Awards from them both. She paints full time and teaches Plein Air classes with Lagniappe Studies Unlimited, affiliated with LSU. She served as president for the Baton Rouge Art League for 2005 - 2007.
She is a member of Oil Painters of America, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, the Baton Rouge Art League, the New Orleans Art Association and Associated Women in the Arts. She has won many awards nationally and regionally. Her work is owned in private and corporate collections. She has had many one person shows and participated in many group shows. She is represented by the Elizabethan Gallery in Baton Rouge, Collette Fine Art Gallery in Highlands, North Carolina and the Monticello Gallery in Dallas, Texas and exhibits at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts.
Elayne was juried into the Louisiana Governor's Mansion Competition and her work was displayed there for two years. She was invited to show at LSU School of Art Summer Invitational at the LSU School of Art Gallery in the Shaw Center. She has had her work shown in the LASM in Baton Rouge, the Zigler Museum, the Masur Museum, The Barnwell Museum of Art, The Woman's Hospital and the Baton Rouge Little Theater, among many other establishments.
She has just completed a hand painted rocking chair for the Woman's Hospital's "Rocking for Chair-i-ty", an auction that will be held on August 25, 2007. The chair depicts a message for a safe environment for our children. The chair is named "Rocking for the Future". Tickets for the auction are available through the Woman's Hospital.
Artist's Statement:
Being a Romantic Realist, I plunge myself into the beauty I see in life. For me, and I think for many of us, there is a magic quality about being outside and close to nature, with the radiance of her glorious colors, details, textures - the designs they create; the vastness of the sky and the air that surrounds it all. Painting there is a very serene and an extremely nourishing place to be and serves as a great inspiration to me. My artwork is about peace, caring, order, tranquility, honesty and beauty. I blissfully strive to render these qualities into my landscapes, as well as my still lifes and figurative compositions, to share the good and positive forces of life with all who partake.
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