Laurel Astor, Artist
Laurel Astor’s work merges old world European elegance with the vibrancy of landscapes of the American West, and ranges between. Her pastels evoke an experience of simpler times when life was uncomplicated. Classical still life's recall French country kitchens: pomegranates on a shelf, eggs in a blue bowl, a simple teapot on a white tablecloth, a single pear. Her landscapes have a more impressionistic style: aspens in autumn, sunsets over the Great Salt Lake, vivid yet subtle desert hillsides. People comment on her great use of color.
Laurel started working as an artist in 2003, after a peak moment of realization in a Telluride art gallery that she could make a living doing something she loved. A self-taught artist, she initially worked in watercolors until a pastel workshop taught by Karen Thorsen introduced her to a new medium. Laurel came home and started a unique blending technique, and has worked in pastels exclusively ever since.Evolving rapidly as an artist, within a year she had work exhibited in a Snowbird art gallery, and in 2005 was accepted into two major juried art festivals, Park City and Kayenta. She was selected for the Salt Lake Farmers Market in the same year. In the Fall of 2005 she received the top Merit Award at the Escalante Plein Aire event, her first outdoor art competition.
Laurel works out of her studio at her home and maintains a website. She hosts workshops in pastels, and sells prints and cards in Boulder, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah.
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