Green Fields by Laurie Pace Story Tellers Mirada Fine Art

2

Laurie Justus Pace

GREEN FIELDS 32 x 48 Oil on Canvas

Mirada Fine Art Story Tellers 2016

laurie justus pace “Viewing a Laurie Pace Painting is a rich experience that drips with color and emotion. Her passionate works are alive with movement and texture boldly created with a palette knife. Constantly pushing the edge, she loves working in oils, dramatically carving out the thick paint, fluid with color and bursting with energy.�

Steve Sonnen, Mirada Fine Art

features

GraphicsOneDesign1998-2016

32

As splintering light fractions into thousands of colors, Laurie’s journey in life has encompassed many careers: from runway model to graphic artist, from musician to singer, from teacher to artist. She believes the greatest influence in her life is the beauty God provides daily.

A degree in art, ten years with an advertising agency, and thirty-seven years teaching art have brought her full circle to top honors at international art shows in oil, watercolor and photography. Constantly pushing the edge, Laurie presses in her work to celebrate and discover. Her compositions are fluid, with color and dimension setting the pace for a unique painting journey each time.

Her artwork has been published and featured in numerous magazines, newspapers and books. She has been a featured artist in Western Art Collector, Appaloosa Journal, American Art Collector, Cowboys and Indians and the Dallas Morning News. Her work has been published on the covers of Appaloosa Journal and The Sighthound Magazine, as well as on several yearbooks, publications and music CD’s.

LauriePace.com

http://www.whitetreestudio.ie/ GraphicsOneDesign1998-2016

GREEN FIELDS Laurie Justus Pace http://www.whitetreestudio.ie/

Story Tellers Mirada Fine Art 2016

Laurie Justus Pace Green Fields “And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Green is not a predominate color choice in any of my paintings. That is why this piece is so unique to my work. As I began this painting, I had just watched “The Great Gatsby”. The world of painting is always dealing with the unknown. I work from original photos and sketches, balancing ideas in my head before I even begin. Gatsby’s green light beaconed me. My life in Mount Vernon inspired me.

With Green Fields, I carefully chose my palette and began working out a background that you can see in the photo on the top right.

After blocking the colors off... notably the greens, the browns, the grays and the splash of yellow gold, you can see the charcoal sketching of the horse I wanted to create in this space.

I sketch loosely across the now dried surface working from a photo of a horse from photos I had taken on the ranch of some friends in Mount Vernon, Texas. We had recently moved back to the Dallas area from Mount Vernon when I painted Green Fields. Working with these shots brought back the calm serenity of the ranch and that beautiful spring day I spent in the pasture.

While painting I was listening to classical music that I like to play on the piano. I worked to the tempo and knowing the movements well, I was bold approaching the colors on the horse.

Every painting has an intimacy between me, as the artist, and the subject as the heart of the creation. Often it is like watching a story unfold and sometimes I feel like the observer and not the creator. That is the spirit of the paint that blooms across the work.

My job is to be an Artist... if you can call it a job— it’s more of a calling I think. I love the freedom with color and discovery of stories with every piece I paint.

I found the path of Green Fields to symbolize the simplicity of that early spring morning watching the horses come for attention as I arrived.

My desire is to have my story inspire viewers to appreciate the moment I have captured in the work. I want them to feel like they are standing in the Green Field.

The painting has that wonderful feel of curiosity, calmness and peace. Maybe it can inspire others to follow along with me across that pasture and leave behind the hassle of life and worries stacking up.

During the week, a two-day trip took me from the canvas. I was eager to return and pick back up on the growing relationship. The second layers of color began to show a serious contrast.

Story Tellers Mirada Fine Art 2016

Laurie Justus Pace Fields of Green

The movement of the green and yellow horizontally is showcase the movement on the horse walking in the tall grass. I pushed the reds, rusts and oranges to balance and contrast to all the green of the fields. I wanted motion, but I wanted slow relaxing motion.

I found myself holed up in the studio the further I painted on Green Fields. My husband brought in plates of fruit and later on that night, a bowl of his wonderful lentil soup with veggies. I sat on my painting stool studying the painting as I shoveled spoonfuls into my mouth. In the background played Moonlight Sonata. (Beethoven) As it ended and Mozart began, I knew it was time to choose my ‘salt and pepper’.

Horizon Blue.

I had brought to the game my favorite color of Caramel Brown recently renamed Brown Pink.

I prefer its original name. Much more romantic.

The Horizon Blue was a beautiful contrast with it and broke up the predictable palette that had bloomed and risen on the surface.

If you look closely you will find patterns throughout the painting. I love to pattern things in threes.

See what you can find.

Can you see the pine trees on the far side of the pasture?

Can you feel the warmth of the sunlight of mid-morning?

Do your feet feel the thickness of the spring grass recently sprouting from all the rain?

Is there light highlighting the back of our horse?

The shadows are built on deep russet reds and browns. There are splashes of greens on the horse as it takes in the atmosphere of the day.

As I finish up the painting, I realize that I’ve been very blessed to have found this path in my life and in this painting. It was a paint filled with peace and beauty; I truly hope it invites you into that peace as you view it.

Think of the woods and pastures in East Texas. Embrace the moment of freedom. Feel the strength of the horse in her purposeful stride forward to the gate. There are ‘etchings’ on the horse...through the paint representing the scars we all carry in our journey. She is a horse of many colors because of her life’s journey, experiences and the places she has been ridden and the humans that have loved her.

I cherish this painting because it is different from many of my pieces. It is that unique piece representing a period in my life that we lived in the country, enjoying the slower pace, less traffic and less headaches. There were always horses and cows around us clamoring to eat the grass on the other side of the fence. With this painting, the horse is not insecure in her pasture. She is purposeful and loved.

Story Tellers Mirada Fine Art 2016

Laurie Justus Pace

Green Fields 32 x 48 inches Oil on Canvas

Laurie Justus Pace

32

Mirada Fine Art Story Tellers 2016