Cloud 15 Painting

I am Lauren Lamenza Naylor. Making art helps me breathe. I've been drawing and painting since I could hold a crayon, probably around 1964. As a teen, watercolor was my first love. I began in the working world as a commercial artist, doing illustrations for technical manuals, and then educational software. Throughout, I continued to draw and paint what I wanted outside of my jobs, but my training and habits made me feel constrained in my work. Years later, after raising my two boys, I returned to school to become an art educator. It is here, in the past three years, that I've had a rebirth artistically, the breadth of my years of experience as a human on this planet contributing to my work, which is still evolving. My passion is process, my goal is to break free of the constraints imposed on me in the past, and convey freedom and tranquility. I often draw and paint with my whole body, and listen to music, sometimes translating the sounds I hear into lines and strokes. My background as a dancer and synchronized swimmer infuse my work with motion.