Judy Lavoie

I  created “Sweet Dreams” with a few new twists – not counting the twisted body of the cute little kitten: The reference photo is not one I took I selected an unusual palette of colors The application of paint was unconventional Watercolor pencils added some finishing touches From the first time I saw my friend Dawn’s photo of this kitty, I knew I had to paint it. Dawn had rescued her the middle of the road when she was ‘no … Read More

  Five of my watercolor paintings are included with those of 20 talented artists from the Knoxville and Chattanooga Chapters of the Tennessee Watercolor Society in a exhibition at The Arts Center in Athens, Tennessee. “The Magic of Watercolor” is presented now through August 23, 2019. An Opening Reception will be held on Friday, July 19, from 5:30 – 7:00pm, preceded by an open panel discussion at 5pm, aimed at sharing information about painting with watercolor. I am honored to … Read More

  “Heart to Heart” is the third in my new series of scratchboards done in what I call a ‘purist’ method. These are a big departure from my previous scratchboards, in that these use no paint! I’ve done a few black scratchboards in the recent past (Pink Lady, Hair of the Dog and The Queen), but each of them used colors to help define the values. In the purist approach, the black surface is scratched to reveal whites, and  the different … Read More

Howard Eppinger “Screech Owl” wood carving  The 21st annual SPRING ART SHOW of the Art Guild of Tellico Village takes place next weekend, so mark your calendar. A large hall at the Tellico Village Community Church will be transformed into a huge art celebration from May 10-12, 2019. Last year was my first time in this show, and I was extremely proud to be among the impressive creativity, enormous range of media, and high quality of the artwork. With the … Read More

I’m celebrating a new milestone with my fine art today. I’ve just learned that one of my paintings has been accepted into Splash 21! What is that, you wonder? Outside the world of watercolor, the “Splash Best of Watercolor” book series is probably not well known. But as a watercolor artist, being included in this publication is a major recognition. The Splash series are coffee-table books with stunning reproductions of watercolor paintings. In the words of publisher North Light, which … Read More

My love of spring wildflowers may be genetic. When my maternal grandmother was a high school senior in 1912 she wrote “We hail the approach of spring… our pulses are stirring as the odor of the arbutus and the violet is wafted on the gentle breeze….” I hope my new acrylic painting “Showy Orchis” celebrates the glory of spring visually as elegantly as young Emma Fox did verbally. My usual step-by-step progress is shown below, but I will divert for … Read More

An art idea hit me like a bullet one day – how about an alpaca painting? I love painting animals, alpacas are adorable, people love alpacas… I should have thought of this long ago! A friend had told me about her pet alpacas a while back, so I contacted her and asked if I could visit for photos. Right away, Beth invited me to come by, and we chose a lovely sunny afternoon. Three alpacas were in the fenced area: … Read More

I’ve wanted improve my skills with “character” paintings, since that’s a subject which challenges me greatly. I had signed up for a 3-day watercolor portrait workshop last year, taught by an artist whose work I love and admire. I bought the supplies and was all excited about the learning opportunity, but sadly the workshop was cancelled at the last minute. The artist had described her method of painting with a limited palette of the 3 primary colors, which I often … Read More

After recently creating a few paintings of fury and feathered creatures on Scratchbord®, I decided to feature some other favorite subjects in my newest scratchboard painting: wildflowers and weathered barnwood. The black background and the process of scratching down to a white surface favor subjects with light values and strong textures; with this in mind, I’ve learned that I need to select my subjects and plan my compositions differently than I do when painting on white paper or canvas. Wild … Read More

 Art is a constant learning process for me. I painted “Scarlett – Red-Tailed Hawk” in a similar manner as I painted “Hair of the Dog,” using transparent fluid acrylic paints on a small 6″x6″ black scratchboard panel, but this time depicting feathers vs. fur. The photos of my work in process highlight some of the steps in capturing this majestic bird. The technical info in the second half of this post may be of particular interest to other artists who … Read More