I was born in Barberton, Ohio, shortly after WWII, and grew up in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, one of seven children in a large and boisterous family. My family lived in the country, where I grew up playing in the woods, or in the apple orchard and enjoying nature. We had a horse and a pony, and an assortment of other animals. During summers at my grandparents’ farm, my sister and I, five brothers and numerous cousins, told stories, put on plays in the barn and built rafts to float on the farm pond, or spent hours watching tadpoles and other wild creatures.
This gave me a love of adventure and a curiosity about the world. I worked my way through college, flying for TWA. If it was a slow way to earn a degree, studying at many different schools, and eventually graduating from Drexel University in Philadelphia, it was also a very interesting one. I traveled extensively throughout Europe; volunteered with a medical team in Laos while the Vietnam War was still on; took a camping trip across Greece with a friend, and a camera safari in Africa. I also visited Brazil, Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia. After my husband and I were married, we traveled in South Africa and Scandinavia. More recently my husband’s work took us to Japan and Norway.
After raising our three children, I decided to pursue my love of painting. As a child I had discovered and loved Monet’s paintings. As an adult I was inspired by Paul Schmid’s book, Alla Prima. Both his work and an exhibit of Dell Gish’s beautiful oil paintings at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, profoundly influenced me. After taking introductory classes in watercolor, acrylic and oils at Shoreline Community College, I took further workshops in acrylic and plein air painting with Ted Pankowski, Barbara Fugate, Catherine Gill and Dianna Shyne in the Puget Sound area; and with William Hook and Sherrie McGraw in Scottsdale, Arizona.
My husband and I live in the Seattle area, where I work out of my home studio.
If you would like to contact me, you can send me an email at lauren.andrews
@comcast.net.
