Laura Beaton

Abstract, Artisan, Cards / Prints, Landscape, Mixed Media, Painter, Wildlife / Animals

I am a Toronto, Ontario born award winning visual fine artist who specializes in the centuries-old technique of Chinese Brush Painting as well as mixed media.

I paint in a fusion of styles and mediums to create my paintings in acrylics, mixed media and Chinese Brush Painting because my methods of constructing the art are just as vital as the creativity required to paint with purpose.
Before I ever pick up a sketch pad, let alone inks or paint I develop ideas. I think and think about them. Sometimes they do not make it to canvas, but they often percolate in my mind. The way to describe my process, which anyone who has ever shopped for groceries may relate to, is this: When I walk throughout a grocery store with the idea of cooking a ‘masterpiece’, I look for a single ingredient that inspires me. I then build a complete dinner menu around that one ingredient and plate it as if I’m in a restaurant.

Relative to painting, that single ingredient could be an idea, a spark of an idea, something that I’ve seen, part of a discussion. It could be anything that has ‘touched’ me. Then I get down to the business of creating my art in the same way as I would create a dinner menu, ‘plating it’ for a gallery. This is the flavour of my art.
My intent is to provide that ‘aha’ moment for a viewer. It can be from realizing how relaxed they are by simply looking at it, or ‘I’ve never thought of it like that, until now’.

My works have been called ethereal, soothing, surreal and mysterious and are in private and permanent collections in Africa, China, USA and Canada.