Laura

Chen

"Kids Playing with Balloon" selected as staff favorites at UGallery 10/2023 "Puppies in their Pajamas" selected for 2023 FALC 28th Annual Juried Exhibition 04/2023 "The House with Red Trim" selected for FALC Show at WakeMed Cary Reflection Gallery, 04/2023 “Three Trumpet Players” got accepted in DAG 68th AnnualJuried Exhibition. 10/2022 "Three Trumpet Players" was selected as featured painting at UGallery monthly newsletter. 10/2021 painting was featured and used as the main image for the Architectural Art Collection at UGallery.12/30/19 Seaside Village was featured in the newsletter from UGallery. 06/10/2021 "Snow Covered Raleigh" selected in Juried Show "SCOPE 19-landscape of the south" https://vaeraleigh.org/exhibitions/2018/12/6/scope19 Solo Exhibition at HagerSmith Design PA. A total of 14 pieces showed from 05/31-07/31. ​ Artist of the month at Chef's Palette, showing a total of 19 pieces. 09/2021 "Joslin Garden" and "Flowers against Blue Barn" selected in national Flowers & Gardens Juried Show at 311 Gallery 09/01-09/30/2017 "The lady with the dog" portrait got accepted in National Juried Show Pets and PEOPLE at 311 Gallery 06/01/-07/01/2017 Review in the Herald Sun by Blue Greenberg featuring "Sense of Scene" Juried Combined solo exhibition at SunTrust Gallery 01/15/2017-03/11/2017

I like to see and identify shapes of color, describing their interaction with light, how light outlines some of the geometric shapes and reveals architectural features of the buildings. I use vibrant colors and bold strokes to intensify and simplify the buildings' forms, to exaggerate the effect of light. I am always looking for color harmony or contrast to describe interesting shapes of shadows cast by the light to capture the mood of the house at certain times of the day. My objective is to make the landscape look more alive and engaging to the viewers by capturing the gesture of trees and describing mood and personalities of the houses. My work falls along a continuum of realism, impressionism, expressionism with a contemporary twist. The process: I like to do a basic 3-value study by sketching out what I want to paint first. This rough sketch, for me, is the best way to tell its abstract quality. Abstract quality is essential even for my realistic/representational paintings. I don’t start painting unless I am happy with the abstract quality of the sketch. This is also the stage that I do a lot of shape design and simplification. I also use this sketch as a reference when I start to paint, as color can be distracting, and it is easy to get carried away with.

Acrylic

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