Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Iverson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Art has been flowing through my life as far back as I remember. In 2002, I embarked on painting as a full time path. Making a living as an independent artist has required moving with changing circumstances on a regular basis. I also had great success by making pendants from prints of my paintings for many years but pretty much retired from that aspect a couple years ago and just paint.
Nowadays, my focus is mostly on sharing my art. I believe art enriches a home, helping to make it a sanctuary. My paintings belong on walls, not in boxes.
I am an intuitive painter, usually starting with a blank canvas and an inspiration, without preliminary sketching. Being out in nature is an important part of my work and my goal is to show the spirit of nature, the life I feel around me as I tramp through the woods, or walk along the ocean.
I started out a more traditional painter, then discovered pour painting in early 2020. The pour painting techniques provide a spontaneity and unconscious movement to my work.
I have been practicing zen buddhist meditation for decades and it has greatly influenced my style and subjects.
My home is in the small town of Corvallis, Oregon. I paint in a little studio, set among mystical white oak trees and wildlife.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have definitely been struggles. The greatest has been, sadly, theft of my art. This is something every artist who sells online faces. As you get successful, you get noticed. And, this means your work is often misused. I often joke, hollowly, that my art sells very well–it’s not often not me that makes the money from it.
This first happened way back in 2005 when I started getting traction on eBay. My sales all by evaporated. Then again around 2019 on Amazon. That was a rough one, with, again, sales falling 90%. And there’s very little you can do. People can sell in the US from other countries where they are not bound to US laws. If you report a listing, you can usually get it removed, but there are so many. And you don’t recoup the money they’ve made. I remember one month, I found 60 listings of one painting alone. That was when I had to decide how I wanted to spend my time. And chose art. I must admit though, there was an incident a couple years ago that got to me when one of the companies/people stealing my work reported my pin (on pinterest) as copyright infringement! I know of other artists this has happened to. I shrugged it off, closed my pinterest account, and kept painting.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I talked about this a bit in an earlier question but I love to talk about my work. I am, primarily, a painter.
I started out a more traditional painter, then discovered pour painting in early 2020. The pour painting techniques provide a spontaneity and unconscious movement to my work.
I am an intuitive painter, usually starting with a blank canvas and an inspiration, without preliminary sketching. Being out in nature is an important part of my work and my goal is to show the spirit of nature, the life I feel around me as I tramp through the woods, or walk along the ocean. Often, the chaos of a pour painting resolves into a woodland or ocean scene.
I have been practicing zen buddhist meditation for decades and it has greatly influenced my style and subjects. The “temple paintings” are a favorite of mine, fantastic little worlds I build with toriis, zen temples, monks and waterfalls. My little cat, Sky, who I lost in 2023, sometimes makes an appearance.
I think what sets me apart is that my work is ever evolving and changing. There was a time in the early 2000s when someone called me “the oak tree lady”, then later, my cats in trees were quite well known, then the chakra paintings. Now, it’s hard to say because I’m in the midst of the adventure.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Nature is my main resource. Second would be meditation.
I do enjoy movies and TV shows, audiobooks and radio plays, mainly mystery, comedy, ghost stories or fantasy. I guess my favorites would maybe be considered classic or standard: Tolkein, Terry Pratchett, PG Wodehouse, MR James.
Pricing:
- $100 or less for small paintings
- $100-500 for medium-size paintings
- $500 up for larger paintings
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zenbreeze.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauramilnor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zenbreezeartgallery
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ZenBreeze
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/zenbreeze
