Elayne, a Baton Rouge native, is a romantic realist with a passion for capturing the beauty she sees in life. Her graceful paintings are done directly from life, realizing that nature is the best teacher. Her chosen medium is painting in oil but loves to work in pencil and enjoys gouache as well. Her forte is painting the still life in oil with her traditional landscapes coming in a close second. She finds endless still life compositions in her own kitchen, home, and gardens. She is astounded with Louisiana landscapes, especially the ones that encompass the live oak. From the Southwest fields of wildflowers, to the Carolina hills and cityscapes, to the magic of the Northeastern states in seasonal dress are where she finds her inspiration.
Her figure sketches keep her drawing skills sharp, and her sound compositions are attributed to her learning from the old masters, Vermeer, Corot, Chardin, Constable, Peter Paul Rubens, and William Trost Richards, among others. She has painted for over 38 years and has studied with professional Arts in the Parks award winning artist Barrie Van Osdell. She studied with Carol Peebles and Auseklis Ozols of the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts and won each of their Faculty Awards. She paints full time and teaches Plein Air classes with Lagniappe Studies Unlimited, affiliated with LSU. She is presently serving as president of the Baton Rouge Art League for a two year term.
She is a member of Oil Painters of America, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, the Baton Rouge Art League, Associated Women in the Arts and the New Orleans Art Association. She has won many awards nationally and regionally. Her work is owned in private and corporate collections. She has had many one person shows and participated in many group shows. She is represented by the Elizabethan Gallery in Baton Rouge, John Collette Fine Art Gallery in Highlands, North Carolina, and the Monticello Gallery in Dallas, Texas. And she exhibits at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts.
Elayne was juried into the Louisiana's Governor's Mansion Competition where her work was displayed for two years. Wade Henderson of Cox Television televised and filmed an interview with her. The production named "Delta Hands" has run for several years. She has been invited for the second time to show at LSU School of Art Summer Invitational at the LSU School of Art Gallery in the Shaw Center. She has had her work shown in the Louisiana Art and Science Museum in Baton Rouge, the Zigler Museum, the Masur Museum, The Barnwell Museum of Art, The Woman’s Hospital and the Baton Rouge Little Theater, and among many other establishments.