50 Artists: 50 Years of Art in Springfield: LaVonne Tarbox-Crone

Watercolors With the Glow of Life

For the past 18 years, LaVonne Tarbox-Crone has painted watercolors with a strong emphasis on design, texture, and color. She has created a vast portfolio of art including still life, landscapes, people, places, abstracts, and illustrations.

Along with watercolors, LaVonne creates art with acrylics, pastels, oils, and collage. Her illustrations are featured in the Territorial Seed Catalog and on packages of Abundant Life Seeds. In 2008, she began creating sculpture as well as a series of miniature paintings of scenes with special emphasis on skies and clouds.

LaVonne says that in her paintings she "sometimes like to suggest a story which I leave for the viewer to complete. My scissors paintings are a tribute to my late mother who worked in garment factories and spent years sewing for her family and making quilts. Scissors have many connotations. They are beautiful. They are useful. They can be dangerous. And maybe, for me, they also are a symbol of the cutting losses we all endure in our lives?"

In creating her still life series, LaVonne notes that "the patina of time puts a beautiful face on the walls of ancient architecture.

I find the visual contrast between these remnants of time and the glow of living in such objects as fruit or flowers an endless interaction I love to explore."

LaVonne Tarbox-Crone's devotion to her art is a testimony to her love for life and willingness to express her creativity in an ever-expanding repertoire of art media.

In her own words:

Inspiration To Begin: "I always wanted to be an artist but never had an art class until I was in college. When I lost my son to a tragic accident in 1990 ... painting was my solace then. He had encouraged me to paint … and that was a large part of my motivation. Perhaps I feel my paintings are now a way that his memory is not lost to time. Memories, like a good painting, capture a sense of time and place."

Important Mentors: "When I worked as a school counselor, Marge Orre, our office secretary taught a watercolor class that got me started after many years of not painting. Classes with watercolorist Judy Morris were also helpful to me. Among artists I admire today are H.C. Dodd who I met in Taos a few years ago."

Value of Art in Her Life: "Painting makes me get up in the morning. It has made me a keen observer of life."

Her Artist's Legacy: "I hope my art will bring comfort and pleasure to people who live beyond my life. While my son's life was cut short, his memory (and my legacy) is carried in every painting I create."

For more information about LaVonne Tarbox-Crone and to see additional images of her art, visit her website: www.tarboxcrone.com

To display a larger image of the art on your computer, please click on the photo.

"Market Patterns" by LaVonne Tarbox-Crone

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About The Artist

Birthplace: Chewelah, Washington

Arts Education: U. of Idaho (Art Minor), Portland State (Life Drawing), Classes with Judy Morris

Media of Choice: Watercolors

Favorite Place to Do Art: In my studio at home

Favorite Subjects To Paint: Still Life

Arts Organizations: Emerald Empire Arts Association, Watercolor Society of Oregon (Board of Directors), Corvallis Art Guild, National Watercolor Society, DIVA, Watercolor USA Honor Society

Special Awards: National Watercolor Society Exhibition (2008), Watercolor USA -National Competition (2008), Milford Zornes Award - National Watercolor Society (2006 Nationwide Tour)

Gallery Shows: Internet Cafe Gallery (Sacred Heart at Riverbend) through Jan. 2009

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All art images and photographs of the art are copyright by the artist.