Lisa Seaman

I primarily paint landscapes, national parks, birds, pets, and fish. I typically use a palette knife because I like the chunkier style, the forced looseness, and the minimal rinsing water required. My main medium is acrylic on canvas, wood, or panel, and I’m starting to get into plein air painting with oil. My work is impressionistic, textured, and colorful.

Painting is meditative for me. I like the feeling of getting lost in the art. I like the feeling of waking up in the morning thinking about what I’ll paint next.

I find painting takes courage. When I’m feeling more tentative, I like to do small multiples. I often make hand-painted greeting cards as a way to get started.

I also do some mixed media painted paper collage. I create stencils for birds and fish, leaving the collage portion to peak through. I like to make pairs of birds or fish looking at each other, each on a separate block.

I’ve retired from my high-tech career as a User Experience Researcher where I worked to make company websites easy to use for customers. In college I majored in geology. I didn’t consider myself an artsy kid, more of a sporty kid, but looking back, I’ve always liked to make things. As a child, I loved making Barbie houses and props out of shoe boxes. And through the years, I’ve done pottery, knitting, crochet, photography, watercolor, and now acrylic painting. I’ve taken art classes from many teachers, both in person and online, and I’m always continuing my education and trying new things.

Painting has opened my eyes to the world around me. I see colors, shadows, clouds, plants, landscapes, and especially pets’ eyes in new ways. I’m motivated by curiosity. Ooh, I want to paint this, too! And what will it look like?! I have to paint it to find out!