Featured Artist Laura Hunt

Artist Laura Hunt shares a fascinating collection of landscapes and narrative figurative paintings with a personal and emotional edge. See more of her work on her website.

 

 

My early years on a central Texas farm, while idyllic in many ways, was devoid of art education. Drawing was my only creative outlet. Once the larger world of art books, galleries, and museums opened up to me, I drank up knowledge wherever I could.

 

 

My English degree became a valuable asset in my marketing and graphic design career. During this time, I explored textiles, pastel portraits and figures, cut paper illustration, and greeting card design whenever possible. When a major life change in 2013 took me to where I could gratefully say goodbye to my marketing career and embrace a full-time studio practice, I took the leap.

 

 

Faces and figures have attracted me since the beginning of my art journey. The subjects I paint are usually ordinary people caught doing life—beautiful in their ordinariness. The lived moment of each one is noticed and honored. These characters invite the viewer into the narrative, prompting understanding, questioning, and empathy.

 

 

Similarly, landscapes serve as characters in their own story as I explore my personal relationship to the land. As with humans, each landscape has unique characteristics that draw me in. Some are iconic or quirky, like Cadillac Ranch. Others are deeply personal, like Enchanted Rock which I visited often as a young camp counselor.

 

 

Composition is paramount in my work, guiding the viewer’s eye through the painting. I use color to express mood, whatever the subject. High contrast often appears, with sunlight forming the contours of a figure or a high desert mountain. Once the work reaches a sense of completion, I seek ways to disrupt it. I make marks, scrape edges, de-construct parts, and sometimes adding an image transfer. These final steps move the art beyond mere representation, while injecting it with emotional content.

 

 

While acrylic paint is my foundational medium, I relish the complexity and playfulness of patterns, marks or image transfers into my work. I prefer canvas applied to a rigid panel, although for larger pieces, I choose stretched canvas for its lighter weight. Pastels and monoprints on paper have recently attracted my attention, as well as digital art using Procreate.

 

 

Inspiration comes from many sources. I sketch from life in a tiny sketchbook to record interesting postures at public events. I dig up grainy black and white images of kinfolk and characters. Or I may sneak a picture of someone in a compelling pose to later use as a reference point. Images of friends and family willing to pose for me go into my reference library, as well as pictures of the places I visit.

 

 

My many artist heroes include the Abstract Expressionists for their treatment of paint as paint, David Park for his expressive figures, Alice Neel for her courageous portraits, and Edward Hopper for his spare and lonely landscapes. They and others motivate me to follow my heart and forge ahead.

 

Laura Hunt invites you to follow on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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