Born in Los Angeles California, Linda Lamore began painting at the age of eleven. Her early influences were her mother, an artist, and her father, an architect, whose passion for the Bauhaus style and Modern Art  inspired her love of abstraction. “Painting has always been something I just had to do, a need, a compulsion.” She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from San Diego State University in 1995, where she majored in painting and minored in sculpture.  She went on to receive her teaching credential and taught art, 3-D design and ceramics for six years. Her longing to produce art full time, and a desire to slow down and feel connected to a community, led her to Ashland, OR.

Lamore has always been intrigued by the way light plays across the surface of colors and how the colors are perceived. Working primarily as an abstract painter, she has developed her own style of applying oil paint with a palette knife to create rich fields of color on canvas.

I started painting with a palette knife primarily to resist the technological prevalence of flat reproductions onto canvas and other digital media. I wanted to create imagery that could only be fully experienced in person, thereby involving the viewer in the process, not as just a voyeur but as an active participant.
 

Refracted Color Fields

At first glance Lamore’s paintings come across as impressionist paintings. They have multiple strokes where the color is built up to capture the effects of light as it plays across the surface of the color and texture. But unlike the impressionists, Lamore is not attempting to capture an impression of a scene. Instead like the Abstract Expressionists, Lamore is unconcerned with subject matter and primarily concerned with capturing a mood and the process of painting. “My goal with my art is to paint a specific mood so that the viewer can immerse themself within it. ”

In this series the fields of color on the heavily painted surfaces appear to refract and break apart, showing multiple layers of color that move and dance across the surface.  She applies layer upon layer of oil paint, making the colors merge and flow.

“By removing all structure and subject matter and just focusing on how light plays across the surface of colors, my refracted color fields allow me to be more spontaneous and fluid.  Hopefully this will allow you, the viewer, to visually step into them and meander awhile.”

 

Mixed Media Paintings

Lamore uses subtle blends of color to give the paintings a peaceful and soothing quality that gently radiates from within. Her geometric shapes are the background that provide the beginning structure. The curved accents of sculpted wood are symbolic and influenced by Asian characters. “Each piece of wood being a physical reminder of the possible strokes that the hand can make. The heat-treated copper symbolizes the fire within each of us that strives to be recognized.” Also, each painting has Chinese characters that give them an additional meaning. Lamore uses small wooden squares to organizing and balance each painting that finishes the structure of the painting.