Lou Stanley

 Lou Stanley’s path to working as a full-time professional painter is both long and short: Stanley came to painting after a career in the boatbuilding industry, but with a combination of natural talent and diligent, devoted work, Stanley’s abilities are developing as quickly as time and experience allow in the organic formation of an authentic artist.

“I prefer ‘self-directed learning’ to ‘self-taught,’” says Stanley. “I have had some amazing teachers and mentors, and I would never have been able to progress in my abilities without their guidance and direction. I didn’t go to Art School, and it probably would have been a disaster if I had. I may have taken the long way, but it’s given me a unique perspective and approach which I would never have been able to manufacture, had I tried as a younger person, as I undoubtedly would have.”

Workshops with Joe Paquet, Don Demers and Roger Dale Brown have all provided critical insights for Stanley. A moment during a painting workshop with Paquet in Padula, Italy last fall, Stanley feels, is a fitting metaphor for the entire experience of learning to be a fine art landscape painter. The class was gathered above an old monastery, and as the end of the first day approached, Paquet finished his wrap-up with a quote from Corot. He stood in front of the group and pronounced, “Make glorious shapes, with God-like sentiments!” The next moment, with Golden Hour light stealing across the hillside, and Joe’s arms still in the air, bells all over Padula began pealing, as though in clamorous approval.