Amy Lay

“I’m first, an artist of the west and then an artist of the world as I explore it. It is my great honor to have been given a dream that has evolved into a wonderful career and a romantic true love. My roots of homesteader ancestors and a deep comfort of the west and the wild things within it, is a foundation that fuels my creative process and my paintings. My style of painting is my strength and my passion”. Vibrancy, a sense of looseness and a comfortable nontraditional style are all ways in which Amy’s Paintings have been described. Residing in and drawing inspiration from a mountain hideaway in the Wallowa Mountains of Northeastern Oregon, Amy fosters an intimate love and fascination for the animals, wildlife and ecology surrounding her. A fourth generation granddaughter of Oregon Trail Homesteaders, Amy lives and paints the lifestyle she loves. Primarily self-taught but grateful for her Art Degree from Eastern Oregon University, Amy’s career has evolved from childhood dream to strong reality. She renders her creations primarily with oil pigment and the organic and confident presence of graphite and charcoal. A bold use of color, powerful yet simple design and an ephemeral quality in her use of medium influenced by years of painting strictly in watercolor has given Amy’s work a highly recognizable and unique signature quality. A unique distinction in the genre as well, is her limited use of reference, relying on memory and creative gesture in her subjects gives her animals a very distinct non-photographic brand. Her work dances across the often thick line between realism and abstraction, traditional and contemporary and because of this, appeals to a very broad clientele and appeals to both the established “old guard” of western and wildlife art, and the growing contemporary genre. Amy’s work can now be found in homes and private collections across the United States and abroad and can be obtained exclusively through several Fine Galleries and select Art Shows.