Laurie Potter has produced a body of work that reflects her attention to color, form, and detail.  In creating vibrant representational paintings that portray her love of the natural world, Laurie feels that her artwork is an ongoing discovery of how close observation can be combined with imagination and a passion for one’s subject.  After spending several years exploring different materials and methods, she has become adept at painting a variety of subject matter while consistently focusing on rich color and striking compositions.  Laurie’s paintings of wildlife are often noted for the eyes, where she strives to capture the personality, vitality, and mystery therein. Her pastel landscapes and botanicals combine representation and expression in a way that creates a balance between detailed features and more intangible, textural, sometimes symbolic, or metaphorical, elements.  Relying on a combination of field studies and sketches, her own reference photos, and her mind’s eye, Laurie works on her paintings outdoors on location and in her home studio.

            Born and raised close to the beautiful Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, much of her youth was spent observing and enjoying the wonders of nature in the woods and by the waterways of the bay area.  After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Millersville University, Pa, she did several months of traveling around the United States, taking the opportunity to sketch at many spectacular sites along the way.  When she traveled through the Pacific Northwest she fell in love with the diverse beauty of the region and decided to relocate to the west coast where she now resides in Bellingham, Washington. 

            Laurie displays her art at galleries throughout Washington State, in solo exhibits and juried group shows nationwide, and also paints commissions for private collectors.  Her work has been published in “Best of Worldwide Artists Pastel, Vol. I”, received an Honorable Mention in the competitive Pastel Journal 100 Competition, and had the honor of winning the Best of Show, President’s (2nd Place), and Honorable Mention awards at Northwest Pastel Society Int’l Exhibits.  Laurie has received the “Art du Pastel en France” Award at the Pastel Society of America International Exhibition, and her piece was then chosen to go on to be shown at the prestigious Butler Institute of American Art.