Lynne Vokatis | Amsterdam, New York USA
Lynne Vokatis is from Amsterdam, N.Y. She is a graduate of Fulton Montgomery Community College in Johnstown,N.Y. She has an AA in visual fine arts and won the distinguished fine art award for graduates in 1988. She studied under Bill Weldner who she attributes her sense of design quality that she tries to incorporate in her work. She has competed in many local,regional and juried shows.
For many years she painted animal portraits and horses from the Saratoga harness and thoroughbred racetracks.Her painting of the Saratoga Harness track paddock was juried into "Win, Place & Show 1998" by Anthony Alonso, an international Equine artist, and one of her proudest moments.
She is basically a self-taught pastelist. Early on working in very detailed portaits of horses and dogs worked for the subject, but she was looking to expand her artistic horizons. A few trips to the Maine coast was enough to inspire her. The shapes, color and light of Maine inspired her to move into new directions and loosen up her style. She enjoys painting the maine coast. In addition to plein air, she also works in Casein painting, a very old milk based paint medium, introduced to her by Maine Equine artist Kathi Peters, who's work has inspired her to reconnect with her love of horses. Lynne is also a NYS licensed optician/manager or BJ'S Optical in Albany,N.Y.,and it doesn't leave alot of time for plein air, so most of her work is done in her studio room in her home . Her studio time is spent time pouring over hundreds of reference photos,sketches and notes and she likes to do a detailed drawing for her larger pieces. She also loves to paint plein air in her yard and garden.
In addition to PPOM she is a member of SAS Schenectady Art Society & The Arts Center of Old Forge. In February she will try her hand at teaching, doing a pastel demostration for SAS.
