Lorraine Hynes

My Featured Work:

My Story

“If I could spend the entire day painting, I would be happy.”

My name is Lorraine Hynes, and I am an oil painter.

My preferred method of painting is traditional still life in oils. I generally spend numerous hours observing and developing an appealing composition. in my studio which includes the proper lighting and specific objects. I utilize oil paints to develop the most accurate, vibrant colors as well as a strong and balanced composition. I enjoy the outdoors and strive to paint plein air but my true love is still life in oils. 

My art journey began in the decorative arts. When I had time from work, I took decorative art classes from Mary McLean of Norfolk, MA. The decorative arts consisted of ample instructions, following the artist’s design, and gathering the specific acrylic paints. It was in the decorative arts that I began to improve my understanding of the value of darks and lights and perfecting color with acrylic paints. These basic skills gave me a much greater understanding of the visual balance of painting. To this day, I recognize the impact of starting with the decorative arts gave me a wonderful base to improve my current work in oils.

Color is the driving force of my paintings. Experimenting with colors is very exciting and as a result, I strive to paint with vibrant tones. I am also very influenced by many artists painting in traditions of old masters and classical representation of color, light, and dark; this often shows up through objects such as by silvers, metals, copper, and glass. Each of these materials give me great opportunities to work with value and various light sources. It is a challenge to get the right texture and warmth of these materials but when it works, it is so thrilling. Recently I completed a large 30 x 30 (in) piece depicting a metal container flowing with red strawberries. This artwork displays my love for color—with the vibrant shades of red in the strawberries—and my use of polished materials and the metal container. The combination of these two elements pushes me to develop my color and value skills.

So much of the world around me motivates my art. Antique shops and second-hand stores are filled with admirable metal and glass materials. I often get inspiration from walking through these shops and finding materials to use in my still-life. This practice has left me with cabinets filled with antique and secondhand items that I purchased just to paint. I am an avid gardener which gives me plenty of inspiration as well. The sight of flowers, like daylilies and roses, motivates me to form their colors through paint. Though antiques and plants frequently show up in my work, I do not limit myself in artistic inspiration. Truthfully, everything inspires my art.

One of the greatest obstacles to my art was a simple one: working. The hardest thing is having the desire to paint but being occupied with a busy job. Often my work hours would push me to get home late in the day but I found painting for at least an hour at night was so relaxing. Since retiring in 2014, I feel very fortunate to dedicate so much of my time to painting.

In the business world, I am a very organized and structured person; I am the opposite in my artwork. My studio is rather cluttered, to say the least. But one perk of this clutter is being able to dive into painting whenever the desire strikes. It is really nice to smoothly go back and forth from a piece, without having to set up and clean up every time I paint. Though the area is cluttered, it is a real advantage to be able to grab the supplies I need in seconds instead of scrambling to find them. I tend to work on my paintings in the evening and strive to plein air paint whenever possible. If I could spend the entire day painting, I would be happy.

Painting gives me great pleasure and satisfaction and I find the entire process so enjoyable. That enjoyment is intensified when people connect with my work or have an interest in purchasing my artwork. Tackling artistic challenges motivates my work and I strive to always improve. I continue to take classes and attend workshops and feel there is room to learn from other artists. It is always a joy to develop my skills in something I love to do.

Best Regards,

Lorraine Hynes