Laurie MacMillan
I always knew that visual aesthetics were important to me. My love of terrain propelled me out of the flat Midwest, to the West with its inspirational landscapes. But I didn’t take up painting to express my love of nature and geology until I was in my fifties, after other careers. Since participating in abstract painting workshops under Rich Stich, Bob Burridge and Jim Armstrong beginning in 2004, I’ve been largely self-taught. I begin each painting with an idea, which develops as the piece unfolds.
After losing our home and belongings in Santa Barbara’s Tea Fire of 2008, we moved to a home with a lovely garden. I began wandering along the paths and working with the plants, and found it to be very meditative and healing. I realized that my new fascination with botanicals was really about the same thing as geology: change. Plants grow and die, and the earth builds up and erodes. I learned from the fire that everything around you is impermanent, which somehow is freeing. My paintings are inspired by this constantly evolving and beautiful world.
MacMillan I “Mountain Pool #2” I acrylic on canvas I 30" x 24”
MacMillan I “Rise and Shine” I acrylic on canvas I 30” x 30”
MacMillan I “Slow Going” I acrylic on canvas I 36” x 24”
MacMillan I “Vertical Garden” I acrylic on canvas I 24” x 24"