Daily Inspiration: Meet Lael Har

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lael Har. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Lael Har is a prolific painter, full-time artist, and art coach. She began painting as a young girl, learning oils, acrylics, watercolor, and life drawing from accomplished art instructors. Painting began as a way of making meaning and processing experience.

With a scholarship, she participated at The College of Design at Iowa State University for a summer art program. After graduating with a BFA she moved to Boulder to begin a career as a graphic designer. Lael entered the art trade as a professional, inspired by meeting her mentor, painter Dvora Kanegis, and spending the next 4 years studying acrylics and the business of art. In 2009, Lael took charge of the studio now named Lael Gallery & Studios in North Boulder, and more recently has grown the studio into an artist community.

Lael is an art coach, who has taught and showcased her work along the Front Range for over two decades. Lael has taught hundreds of students and has sold over 1000 paintings in the last 2 decades. Her largest painting “A New Day”, is an 8-by-24 feet memorial painting and is publicly displayed at the Table Mesa King Soopers. (https://www.laeldesigns.com/about-3).

Lael is continuing a lineage of artists who through her guidance are finding their careers as artists. Lael has participated in OpenStudios, art festivals, galleries, and museum shows since 2005. She continues to use teaching, her world travels, and the rich outdoors of the West to inspire a large collection of work.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As an artist, I strive to be at my growth edge where my work is always evolving. Seeing a retrospective art show or the work of great masters over their lifetime reminds me that growing my skills as an artist and as an art coach is a lifelong journey.

Exposure… growing my reach to new clientele is also a lifelong venture. How do I give back to my community? Through inspiring others through my paintings or helping others to find their creative expression on canvas.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Lael’s love of Colorado’s mountains and aspen groves inspires the vibrant textures and colors in her abstract canvases. The impasto application of acrylic paint creates movement and a sculptural effect in her work. She often paints wet on wet with big brushes, pallet knives, and spatulas.

Her work invites the viewer to step into the painting to experience the energy of every brush stroke. Lael conveys freedom and joy in her paintings with abstract brushwork, texture, and color. Lael aspires to capture movement and aliveness in her work.

Based in Boulder since 2005, Lael has used outdoor adventures to inspire a large collection of work. Her award-winning paintings are collected nationally and displayed locally. Her largest public work to date is the Table Mesa King Soopers mural in Boulder. Lael teaches painting workshops, inspiring others to express their creative voices through art.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I hear over and over from clients who collect my work how much my paintings enhance their space and beautify their lives. Fine Art grows with its owners, changes in different light and engages the viewer over time.

I believe certain paintings have a special someone waiting to find them. Art can enhance design and it can also communicate, change your mood, and inspire. To me Art is healing, both in the process of creating and in its appreciation.

Pricing:

• Original painting sizes 12×12″ to 72×72″
• Original painting sizes 11×14″ to 60×72″
• offering: commissions, prints, calendars, and workshops

Contact Info:

• Website: laeldesigns.com
• Instagram: @laelart
• Facebook: Lael Gallery & Studios