We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Laurence Delaunay Masters. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Laurence below.
Hi Laurence, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
It’s more of a story than a specific event Back in 2020, when the pandemic hit I was still a French teacher in a school in Boulder, and painting was my second job. Teaching remotely was starting, and I started panicking. It was so stressful and difficult for me to teach in front of a screen. I would stay up sometimes until 3 am to record my lessons online and try to continue to be supportive and creative for my students. Exhaustion and frustration started getting overwhelming when i received a phone call from France where my entire family lives. A tough news was going to add a more stress. My dad was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
So much was going on in my head and my heart. The only thing that could get me focused was painting. Over the summer 2020, I traveled to France to see my family, and especially my dad who was going through chemo. It was not allowed to travel except for emergency visits. I left my husband and two boys back at home to spend 3 weeks with my family in France. One afternoon, after the daily walk 8 had with my dad, he and I had the best heart to hear talk about teaching and painting. He told me…” It’s your life not mine, but if I were you I would quit teaching and I would go full blast into painting. It is who you are and who you are meant to become. An artist.” Coming from my dad, it didn’t take long for me to decide that art was going to be my full time job from now on. But don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved teaching! It was heartbreaking to announce that I was no longer going to be in schools.
After that, things went pretty fast and in Match 2023 the dream came through, and I opened my own art studio and gallery. Lolo’s Atelier wax created.
Laurence, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Laurence Delaunay or Lolo works as well. After nearly 20 years of developing my art, Laurence Delaunay ART took a big turn. My dream came true and I now own my own art gallery and studio in Nederland, Colorado. It is not very big but it is filled with heART! I know how diificukt it can be for many artists and I realize everyday how lucky I am th be here today! The name of the gallery/studio is ” Lolo’s Atelier” which means Lolo’s workshop in French. I have been showing my work in the area for a very long time. You could find my work in a few restaurants, shops and cafes in Boulder and Nederland. It did not happen over night and patience paid! Now that I have a shop I focus on my – now one year old – gallery. I continue showing pmy work in other places but much less than before. You will mostly find my work in Nederland.
I am a painter. I use acrylic paint, acrylic ink and charcoal. I paint on canvas or wood panels. My style is a mix of technics that result in a semi impressionist -semi abstract style. Lose and spontaneous paint strokes, applied with paintbrushes, palette knives and bare hands, give each piece some unique personality. I paint small and big pictures but mostly big ones. Among the many subjects i express, hummingbirds and bears are my most popular animals! I also do landscapes and portraits mostly inspired by colorado scenery and culture. The expression of the animals and the use of colors are my priority in all my paintings. I am not trying to do an excat reproduction of what i see but rather try to represent an emotion or a feeling. The message I try to share through my work is ” Life is beautiful, just take the time to look at it!”
In the “Atelier” you can of course find my latest work but not only. I also offer small reproductions of favorites. This allows me to have enough volume and enlarge my price window. You can find a reproduction for as low as $5!
I also accept commissions- This is how t works- we have a conversation or an email exhchange and you tell me what your idea is and what size of canvas you would like. I give you an estimate, If it works for you, I go ahead and paint for you. If you love it then great, it’s yours! If not, and it happens sometimes because art is art and it’s a question of emotion, and it will always be subjective… Well, no problem! I keep it in my gallery and can try again… I am flexible so you are too…No pressure is the key to create !
The Atelier/gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm, but often you will find me there painting in the back, in my cozy studio no matter the day or the time…You are welcome to come in and say hi!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
It is not easy to make a living as an artist. That is the reason why I kept teaching for so long. Teaching was my vocation but movind to the united states added some componants that I didn’t expect would lead me more and more towards doing art as a profession. I used to teach full time and paint at night when I still had nergy at the end of the day. I would have shows here and there, whenever I had enough work to show. The more I was showing my work, the more I was selling my work of course. But deciding to quit teaching and have a secure pay at the end of the month was not an easy one to make! But i never gave up on painting and took every opportunity I had to to continue painting in the side of my job. Sales increased with the time until Covid hit. It too about 20 years of selling my work to finally realize that I could live from my art. With the support of me=y family and friends I went ahead and quit teaching to entirely focus on my art. I am glad I did it. Some months are better than others but overall it is successful and the support I received from the community is unbelievable! I paint almost daily and my work continues to evolve. I am now looking into growing nationally and maybe internationaly…The dream continues…
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Art galleries don’t always have great reputations because it is often seen as a place reserved for only certain people. My idea is to make art accessible to everyone. I keep my prices at a reasonnable rate because my goal is not to sell one very expensive painting but as many as possible. I would rather offer the chance to poeple to afford an original than to keep it exclusive! That allows me to live from my art and continue exploring my artistic journey …I want to paint a lot and grow as an artist. It is important to stay humble, admit when I fail and start over . I want to connect with people through my work. Anyone who steps inside the gallery/studio helps me reach that goal. I am someone very social and am genuily interested in who people who come in the shop are. I am happy I can show my work and appreciate a positive comment about my work even though people won’t buy. I am very appreciative and thankful to be where I am… So I believe that I am easy to reach out to and that is very positive for my business.
Contact Info:
- Website: LaurenceDelaunayART.com
- Instagram: @LaurenceDelaunayART
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaurencedelaunayART/
Image Credits
They are my own pictures