Celebrating arts and culture in our community
Featured in The Springfield Beacon (November 14, 2007)
Lorraine Austin: A living testament to the strength of the human spirit.
By Austin Berger
For the Beacon
The word “resilient” may not do enough to describe Lorraine Austin. But you will be hard pressed to find another word to describe this 33-year-old Eugene resident.An old-schooler at heart, Lorraine doesn’t tell her age. Whatever it may be, she seems to have youth and vigor in abundance, making a constant triumph in the face of daunting circumstances.
Inspiration to begin: Lorraine found her muse back East, working as a secretary in her 20’s. Her boss seemed to have an attention span that left a lot to be desired, wandering off at the slightest action happening outside his window. “Whenever I had to take down a letter for him, it would take so long…so I drew eyes,” says Lorraine.
Her doodles soon became a full-blown hobby, trading in eye sketches for oil paintings.
Oils turned to watercolors when she moved out to Lane County in the mid ‘70s, having bartered watercolor lessons in exchange for organ lessons.
Lorraine says she enjoys the unpredictability of watercolors, in where “mistakes” dry up and can turn into something beautiful. A longtime member, Lorraine fondly remembers the Emerald Art Center back at its tinier, humbler beginnings. “It was so cozy, so small…It was like a home away from home.”
Ten years ago, her art, as well as the rest of her suffered a devastating setback. Getting ready for work, she suffered an ischemic stroke on the left side of her brain. “I couldn’t talk. I understood what I said, but nobody else could… I was like a baby.”
Lorraine says that the stroke left her “laughing,” and instead of being “morbid” about her situation, she approached it with a light heart. She has spent the last ten years steadily making an astonishing recovery. She threw away her cane and eventually learned how to walk on her own, despite a fall that shattered her confidence for a time a few years back. After that, she fought tooth and nail to get her drivers license back. Soon enough, she was back to painting watercolors with the same diligence as she once before, if not better.
Mentors: The stroke did take an irreversible toll on Lorraine. Although she regained many of the functions of the right side of her body, she lost function of her drawing hand. “One day I was in physical therapy, and they gave me a paint set…I thought it was all over for me.”
Barbara Nechis, a renowned watercolor painter and instructor, encouraged her to do something she never thought possible – to paint with her left hand. Five to six years later, she’s finally felt comfortable in doing watercolors again, all with her left hand. She also credits Rebecca Mann, another renowned watercolor artist for her loose style of beauty, a style Lorraine aspires to.
Art and Quality of Life: Lorraine's art has left her quite busy. After painting watercolors for the past twenty years, she has been sharing her knowledge for the past one and a half years, teaching watercolor classes at both the Emerald Art Center and the River Road Parks and Recreation Center. “I’ve met so many people…it’s been great,” she said.
Although finding her niche in watercolors, Lorraine is also pursuing different styles such as "negative" painting where you essentially paint everything, but the thing that you are painting. She also plans on selling her individually hand-painted cards, humorously titled “trash” -- but they could be anything but.
Her legacy as an artist: Lorraine's legacy, in a sense, has already been made by adding her own fully copyrighted 3-color wheel system. By utilizing the basic red, blue and yellow, she is able to generate palettes for certain tones: delicate palette, standard palette, opaque palette, etc.
She’d like future artists to plan ahead as far as their finances. “It’ll cost you a fortune,” Lorraine warns, but the benefits are great.
Lorraine Austin's legacy, if anything, is by her own life experience -- a living testament to the strength of the human body and spirit.
Prints of Lorraine’s Austin work, and soon her handmade cards, are for sale in the Emerald Art Center Gift Shop.
"Before" by Lorraine Austin
"After" by Lorraine Austin
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About the Artist:
Hometown: Malden, Mass.
Media of Choice: Watercolors
Favorite Place to do art: At home
Favorite Subjects to paint: Flowers
Arts Organizations: Emerald Art Center (member/teacher)
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