My Favorite Pieces
I was asked this past week what I thought was my best piece of art or my favorite that I’ve done. At first I joked that it was like being asked to pick my favorite children. I spend so much time with each piece that it really is hard to pick just one favorite. Initially I said my ink drawing “Bend Before I Break” that’s one of my newests from my Sketchy Tree series from this past year.
But since then I’ve been thinking more about the question. So these are the pieces that came to mind immediately as my favorite pieces that I’ve completed – my top 5 I guess you could say.
Bend Before You Break
“Bend Before You Break” is part of my Sketchy Tree series, which is a series of drawings inspired by photos that I took along the trail during my 50 New York Waterfalls Project. The large drawings of this series show trees with exposed root systems washed away over time by the water. This particular scene was along Six Mile Creek in Ithaca near Wells Falls.
Country Lilacs
“Country Lilacs” is one of my favorite paintings I did almost 10 years ago now. I love all the different colors and textures in the weathered old wood, and the glass jar too. I did a similar version of this scene with colored pencils too but with wildflowers instead of lilacs. This is one of those paintings that I still miss after it sold.
Escape to Paradise
“Escape to Paradise” is a painting I did in 2020 for Palettes of Keuka. The palette is probably the largest painting I’ve completed so far – roughly four foot by three foot – on a shaped piece of wood. It took a long time to paint but I love how it came out. The scene is one of the waterfalls in Casadilla Gorge in Ithaca.
Downtown Park
“Downtown Park” is a painting that I made as part of the Summer Mosaic/Kaleidoscope event through 171 Cedar Arts in 2019. It was one of 10 paintings that I made on the theme of Country vs City, looking at the rural and urban areas of Corning and Elmira area. I really like the lighting in the painting. It feels like the first time that I captured how the bright summer sun hits the grass as the sun is just starting to set. And also, those water ripples.
Haybales
And a final piece of artwork that I thought of as one of my top favorites is Haybales. The colors and textures all came together to paint this rural scene of bales of hay laying in a field.
I hope you enjoyed taking a look at some of my favorite pieces of art that I’ve done! Do you have a favorite – either from these five or others that I’ve done?
About the Artist
Laura Jaen Smith is an artist who lives and works out of Horseheads, New York. Her inspiration comes from observing the beauty she sees around her. After a decade living out west, she returned back to New York State and started seeing the same old places with new eyes. She is most interested in capturing small moments in nature that might otherwise be overlooked.
Visit her shop or ask about available works.
