Vice President/Treasurer CCAL Committee
I never thought I would become an artist. I started painting about 10 years ago as an experiment. I had no idea what I was doing or if I would be any good at it. After a short-lived experience in acrylic paint, I decided to try watercolor just to see what it was like. That trial quickly turned into my passion when I discovered watercolor was my preferred medium. How the paint blends and the impact of water on the paint pigment developed my creativity. Watercolor as a medium is not for everyone and can be challenging and takes time and patience. Learning how much water to use and how your colors will blend are some of the struggles I have had to work through. Learning that it is okay if your colors run together or blend on paper – this is one of the great things about watercolor. Letting the paint, water, and paper do its own thing can at first be frustrating but incorporating a “drip,” “smudge,” or an unintentional blend of color into your painting will make the piece unique to the artist.
Shortly after this trial I started taking painting classes, attending workshops and developed my own style. To keep growing as an artist I still attend classes, workshops and a monthly Watercolor Salon where other watercolor artists meet monthly to talk about art and critique each other’s work. I love and still attend my monthly Salon and am inspired every time.
After entering my first art show, the I-70 Corridor Art Show and then the Bennett Days Art Show Jamie Zerr-Lockwood and I started talking about the need to promote art on the I-70 Corridor. Knowing that there are artists in the area but outside of a couple art shows there was not a venue for us to get together and foster each other’s talent, a way to encourage each other was needed. This need resulted in Jamie and I creating The Corridor Creative Arts League (CCAL) in January 2020. We started as a small core group of 5-6 individuals, we kept things going through the pandemic shutdowns, and our little group of artists wanted to see how far we could go. In 2022 we partnered with the Anythink Library in Bennett and that is when attendance of our meetings grew, workshops filled up in record time and word was spreading about CCAL.
It has been a great experience for all of us, but what is on the horizon is even more exciting. CCAL has officially partnered with the Bennett Arts Council to schedule and facilitate their art programming for the area, CCAL is also plans and manages the I-70 Corridor Art Show and then the Bennett Days Art Show, and we have now become a non-profit organization. As a founding member of Corridor Creative Arts League, I am excited for what will come next for us.
Artwork by Laurie:
Corridor Creative Arts League 