To inquire about a painting or a commission, please contact:  laurie@laurieriley.com

Member, International Guild of Realism

“The International Guild of Realism’s focus ranges from the classical based upon traditional, academic-style painting to the contemporary where cutting edge techniques and a wide variety of subject matter are used to comment on today’s world.”

Signature Member, Artists for Conservation

This is the world’s leading artist group supporting the environment. With members from over 30 countries, AFC’s mission is to support conservation and environmental education through art that celebrates nature.

Associate Member, Women Artists of the West

WAOW is the oldest juried women’s art group in the United States and has been working to change the omission of women in the arts to a wide-spread celebration of their unique offerings.

and

 Associate member, American Women Artists – dedicated to the inspiration, celebration, and encouragement of women in the visual fine arts

 

ABOUT LAURIE RILEY: 

“””Animals are always, by nature, honest. It is this honesty that I strive to capture in my artwork. Be it a mouse or a moose, a dainty dragonfly or a ponderous hippopotamus, it is my hope that the viewer will see and feel the full impact of the spirit and beauty in all beings.

Laurie Riley is a signature member of Artists for Conservation, with paintings in their 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 prestigious annual juried International Exhibit of Nature in Art. She is an exhibiting member of the International Guild of Realism and won “Best of Animals and Wildlife” in their 2019 online exhibition. Laurie was recognized as the featured AFC Conservation Artist of the Month for August 2020.

Her work has also been shown in galleries in the discerning art communities of Sedona, Tubac, and Jerome, Arizona; at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s Ironwood Gallery; in Seattle-area galleries and juried shows in art museums in Florida and British Columbia; and in her private gallery in Port Townsend, WA. Laurie’s work was also featured on the cover of the June 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Association.

In the wild, animals are elusive and often seen only briefly. I strive to provide a closer look. Viewers have remarked that when they spend time with my paintings and drawings, they develop a relationship them, and develop a deeper caring that their kind will remain and thrive on this earth. It is my intention to inspire the viewer to support the preservation of wildlife and habitat, and the right of every wild-born animal to roam free.

Laurie contributes a portion of the proceeds of her art sales to wildlife and nature organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Sarvey Wildlife Care Center, and Artists for Conservation.

Past shows:

• Artists for Conservation shows, Van Dusen Botanical Gardens, Vancouver BC, 2020,21,22, 23, 24
• The James Museum, St. Petersburg, FL  2021
• International Guild of Realism: online shows 2019, 20, 22, 23, 24;  in-person gallery exhibit 2023
• Ironwood Gallery, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
• Baldwin Gallery, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
• Cumberland Museum, Cumberland, British Columbia 2023
• Cultural Center of Cape Cod  2023 online exhibition 
• Rhode Island Watercolor Society 2023 online exhibition
• Sedona Arts Festival, AZ
• Edmonds Arts festival, WA
• San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center juried exhibit online 2022
• Oldfield Art Shows
• Glendale Arts Council (AZ) Juried Show  (Patron Purchase Award 2007)
• West Valley Art Museum, AZ
• Call of the Wild online juried show, San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center 2022
• Prescott Fine Arts Fair, AZ
• Sedona Arts Center – various juried shows (2nd Place Professional 2007)
• Tubac Juried Arts Festival, AZ
• Tubac Arts Center Miniature Show
• Tsuga Fine Arts miniature shows, Bothell, WA
• Gallery North Juried Miniature Show, Edmonds, WA
• Fred Oldfield Western Heritage Center Western and Wildlife Art Shows, WA
• Shoreline Arts Festival, Shoreline WA
• Bothell Live Arts, WA
• Mountlake Terrace Festival of the Arts  (honorable mention 2010)
• Valley Art Show, Duvall WA  (2nd Place 2010)
• Kirkland Art Center Studio Tour 2013

Past gallery showings:

• Sedona Arts Center, Sedona, AZ
• Pura Vida Gallery, Jerome, AZ
• Canyons Gallery, Sedona AZ
• Kinion Fine Arts, Sedona AZ
• Art and Soul Gallery, Bothell, WA

My Process

Many people ask what my mediums and processes are.

Rather than using each of my favorite media – acrylic, color pencil, and scratchboard – exclusively, I prefer to combine them if doing so creates a more real-looking depiction of the animal. Therefore, some pieces are done in just one of these mediums, and others are mixed. Likewise, the surface on which they are rendered varies according to the subject, the medium, and the effect I wish to achieve.

Scratchboard, which is used for extreme detail, uses a prepared hard surface overlaid with white clay, which is then overlaid with a layer of black or colored ink. To achieve the characteristic fine detail of a typical scratchboard drawing, I use a fine scalpel-like blade, and sometimes a stiff fiberglass brush, to scratch through the darker surface to the white underneath. This produces a white image. Some scratchboards are most effective left black-and-white, and tend to look like photography (example: “Emu”). Scratchboard is a very time-consuming process. It can take months to do a large one.

I often create scratchboards with graded color backgrounds by applying my own colors to a plain white clayboard. The result is a background that glows (example: “Bug’s-eye View of a Collared Lizard”).

Usually, I add color to my scratchboard subject. This can be done with images on a black or a colored background. For these, I use a thin wash of acrylic paint. It does not show over the black surface, but the white clay absorbs it. The more layers I add, the deeper and richer the color becomes. Therefore the colors can be subtle or bright (example: the subtle fur color and bright flower color in “Contemplation”).

Any areas that need to be portrayed as smoother than fur, or which need to be contrasted for best effect, I often paint rather than scratching. Skin and eyes are good examples of textures I think are best represented with painting. Therefore, much of my work is “mixed media”.

Some of my work is purely painted acrylic on clayboard. For those, the fine details are done with a very thin brush.

Some of my pieces are done with oil-based or wax-based fine art color pencils. Some are on suede board, some on paper, and some on clayboard prepared with an acrylic background.

In all cases, detail is important to me. Although every painting must look good from a distance, I like the viewer to see more and more detail as they get closer to my paintings.