ABOUT THE ARTISt
Biography
As an artist with a passion for painting and a strong drive for exploration, Laura Viola Preciado approaches her work through experimentation. Whether she is testing new materials or exploring unconventional techniques, she brings playfulness and curiosity to every piece she creates.
Laura has lived in seven different states, each place enriching her creative perspective and deepening her understanding of the world. She now calls Whidbey Island her permanent home, where the natural beauty and calm landscapes provide steady inspiration for her work.
Later in life, Laura returned to school and earned a degree in painting from the Hartford Art School in Hartford, Connecticut. Her years on the East Coast were formative, allowing her to refine her skills and develop a distinctive artistic voice. That period was not only about learning techniques but also about discovering the stories that can be expressed through color, texture, and form.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Laura Viola Preciado has made her home on Whidbey Island, and that environment is evident in her expressive, intuitive paintings. Her recent work draws on the essence of land, sky, and water, reaching toward nature for structure without aiming to replicate it. Through intentional stains, pools, and marks, she shapes compositions that offer a familiar yet undefined encounter.
SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTIST
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I love blue for so many reasons. From an aesthetic point of view, it’s just beautiful. As a painter it’s so versatile, it can be pushed from deep and moody to light and airy. Thematically, it represents water and air, freedom and space. Blues mix with browns to make the richest blacks. Also, I love to swim so I have a personal attachment to anything watery.
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I usually forget to eat and drink when I’m painting but I keep flavored water in my studio for when I remember.
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Lucian Freud! His figurative paintings are so thick and gloppy, amazing! I love the idea of painting a subject and not trying to make it beautiful, just as it is. I sense reverence and passion for paint in every brushstroke. We share that love, it's just expressed differently.
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I experiment with new supplies all the time but right now paint dispersions and pigments for mixing my inky paints.
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Most of my paintings go through this process! I’m always “trying something” with mixed results that require revision. I create problems for myself and then attempt to solve them. Because I try to avoid over-working the pieces, I have many failures. There’s a point when I must pull the plug, but when a painting comes together after problem solving, it's very satisfying.
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If so, what’s the weirdest title you’ve given one? Often, while I’m painting, a song or memory pops into my head and I go with a variation of that. Mostly I don’t want to offer my perspective to the viewer so I stay vague. “Burnt Toast” and “White Shoes After Labor Day” are examples.
