Lorraine (Kovenz) Bushek Oil Painting Studio

Portland Artist Lorraine Bushek - Medium: Oils

Lorraine Bushek

Lorraine Bushek Biography

Lorraine began drawing and painting as a very young child. Both her grandfather and mother were artistic although neither pursued art as a career.

Lorraine studied art at Oregon State University and worked as a graphic designer fresh out of college. In 1980 Lorraine put her art career on hold and went to work at Portland General Electric in the System Control Center in downtown Portland. She was the first female power dispatch at PGE. She retired in 2000 with the goal of traveling and resuming oil painting. She is still doing both.

Lorraine is primarily an oil painter working in the grisaille method. She studied under Nelson Sandgren at OSU in the 1960’s and with Thomas Kenneth Conway in the 2000’s.

At the easel

Lorraine’s work explores the relationships between light, form and subject. With influences as diverse as the Dutch Masters of the 17th-18th century and today’s plein air style, she varies her work between realistic still lifes and relaxed, light-hearted animal portraits. The variations and relationships generated from both opaque and transparent oil paints fascinate Lorraine. With either subject-still lifes or portraits-she starts her paintings in the grisaille method, employing a single color to wipe out paint until she feels she has the under-painting perfectly laid out. It is at this point she moves to full color. Lorraine prefers a limited classic palette using when painting a still life and a contemporary palette when painting animals.

A native Oregonian, she lives in Portland with her husband, two cats and two-plus rescue rabbits (although that number is ever-changing).

Volunteer:
The Rabbit Advocates https://rabbitadvocates.org/

Professional Organizations:
Art in The Village Gallery, Multnomah
Lake Area Artists https://www.lakeareaartists.com/
LOCAL 14 www.local14.org
Women Artists of the West https://www.waow.org/
Oregon Society of Artists https://www.osartists.org/