Laurie Pace - Fine Artist

The Bellows Between the Notes Around this same period in my life at this beautiful modern home, I borrowed an accordion from my cousin Skate — something I had nearly forgotten until now.   He gave me a quick demonstration and left it with me.  © Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Skate's Accordian Chew, Pat, Rub? An accordion asks you to do everything at once. It’s like chewing gum, patting your head, and rubbing your stomach — all while trying to make music. Its sound is thicker, heartier, carried by air and pressure through bellows that quite literally breathe life into the notes. I was surprised to learn the accordion wasn’t really developed until the 1920s — just over a hundred years ago. Inside, metal reeds create sound as air moves through them, controlled entirely by the musician’s coordination and touch. It takes a different kind of listening — not just to sound, but to breath and balance. I learned quickly how humb...

The Quiet Voice of the Violin.  I am not as knowledgeable about the voice of a violin as I am with piano or guitar. But perhaps that is why this painting stayed with me so deeply. © Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Violin Player Oil on Canvas  SOLD   by Laurie Pace   Movement The flowing sleeves of this young musician caught my attention first — the way fabric moves with the arm, rising and falling as the bow travels across the strings. That gentle wave feels like the music itself, lifting and settling, shaped by the smallest change in pressure or speed. This is an oil painting, a commissioned piece, and I loved every hour spent on it — about four days of complete focus. Painting her felt like listening without trying to name the notes. Just watching. Just following the motion. The sound of a violin can lure us — sometimes to dance, sometimes simply to stay very still and listen. It invites you to notice variance: the diff...

Playing for Papa I had just purchased a 1943 Baby Grand piano when we moved into a home built in the 1950s obviously by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. I cried the first time I saw it. © Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Playing for Papa   SOLD   by Laurie Pace   The house was shaped like a wide, open “U,” turned gently on its side, embracing light and space. The front held a long, curving stone wall with only small windows at each end, giving little hint of what waited inside. A circular drive led you in. The original circular fireplace and built-in seating had been removed before we arrived — a loss that still makes me sigh — but the heart of the home remained. Half walls opened into the music room, where the Baby Grand lived. Ten-foot sliding glass doors looked into the covered inner courtyard, complete with fountains and soaring walls of windows rising nearly twenty feet into the air. Light moved through the...

Music Was My First Language Music was my first language — long before art ever took the lead. As a teenager and into my twenties, I traveled with my guitar always close, tucked safely in its case and resting in my lap on buses and airplanes. It went everywhere with me. It wasn’t a question — it was simply part of who I was. © Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 One of my favorite memories still makes me smile. Coming home from church camp in New Braunfels, Texas, guitar in hand. If the bus wasn’t crowded, the music would start. Someone would sing, someone else would hum, and before long the whole space would feel lighter. Music has a way of doing that — it gathers people without asking permission. Over the years, I’ve played piano, guitar, organ, harp… and yes, even a harmonica I taught myself during Covid. I’ve taught children music and art, and while I’m not teaching right now, the music has never stopped living inside me. Classical, Ir...

Letting Go of Control with a Palette Knife Exercise. This was a small, wild palette knife painting — not my normal way of working, but a fun and freeing adventure. We taped off a page into small sections, about 2 x 3 inches each. Using a palette knife with oil paint, we dragged paint across, through, up, and down the surface. No planning. No fixing. No control. And that was the point. © Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Texture Oil Exercise It was surprisingly freeing because the brain simply cannot take over in this kind of exercise. There is no time to think — only to respond. I can’t imagine doing this on a large canvas and feeling as loose as I did working small. This is also a wonderful exercise in color choice. Mine weren’t the best, but for a first attempt, I now understand the importance of pre-thinking color relationships before beginning. What does this teach us in the studio? Not to try to control everything. I have a lot pulsing through my th...

MR MAN Cartoon Painting with Melissa Cootsana  by Laurie Pace   The Man that entered back here in 2026. Several years ago, in the summer of 2022, I took a workshop with Melinda Cootsona.  We were all seasoned painters — artists with years (and in my case decades) of experience. Melinda’s gift was not just teaching technique so much as encouraging us to push past habit. She asked us to loosen control, take risks, and wander into unfamiliar territory. Magic appeared in unexpected ways. © Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 At one point she asked us to explore cartoon-like characters.   That word — cartoon — did not sit comfortably with me. I was trained as a fashion illustrator. My work has always leaned toward structure, refinement, and intention. “Cartoon” felt foreign, almost dismissive of the language I knew so well. I tried once. I failed. Then I tried again — and Mr. Man appeared. He arrived without a plan. I wa...

© Laurie Pace        Graphics One Design 2026 Hope, Waiting, and Abiding in Him  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” — Lamentations 3:24–26 Today my Inspirations App opened with Lamentations 3:24–26, and as I reflected on it, Pastor Ken shared a powerful reminder that Abraham and Lot chose their areas of land and Lot had first choice but not long term vision and it all was a bad ending.  Abraham's thoughts were for an area that echos Hebrews 11:10... "A city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God."  Abraham was envisioning what was needed longterm. This created the thoughts following.  How is your personal foundation?   We often we find ourselves in seasons where choices have to be made. In those moments, our direction and answers can only com...