Elizabeth Roy works mostly in pastels but also enjoy other media such as acrylics, pen and ink and colored pencils. Her work has an illustrative quality to it. Whether it is an animal, landscape or flowers, her inspiration comes from photographs that she has taken. She explains, "I like working with pastels best because I find it's an easier way of expressing myself. The beautiful colors and the ability to easily blend and create such vibrant hues really appeals to me."
Painting now for about 20 years, Elizabeth has a two-room art studio in her home where she does most of her work. "I am almost always working on more than one drawing or painting at a time. I just finished a colored pencil class with Gary Ruuska at the Sharon Art Center in Sharon NH, a medium I wanted to explore for some time which will be convenient for me to use when I travel. I am now exploring with colored pencils on a pastel sanded surface."
Elizabeth studied at the Worcester Art Museum, the Art Institute of Boston and has taken numerous classes at the Southern Vermont Art Center. She has also studied under Robert Carsten, Bill Griffiths, Richard McKinley, Karen Baker, and Frank Federico to name a few. She belongs to the VT Pastel Society, the N.H. Pastel Society, the Leominster Art Association and the Concord Art Association. She has won numerous awards for her paintings. Her work has been exhibited at juried shows at the Fitchburg Art Museum, the Worcester Student Art Show, the Leominster Art Show, the Vermont Pastel Society, the Westford Regional Art Event, 21 Main St. Art Gallery, Chester VT, the Southern Vermont Art Center, and the Clinton Olde Town Day.
She is fortunate to find lots of encouragement and support from her involvement in a group of artists started up here in town by Carol-Panek Clark who meet at each other's houses on Wednesday mornings to paint. The group includes six regulars and others who join occasionally.
Recently, she has also experimented with Chinese spontaneous watercolor painting taking lessons from Lian Quan Zhen at the Vermont Art Center. "Spontaneous Chinese Watercolor was a challenge for me. It was a very different style than my detailed way of painting. Chinese Spontaneous Style Painting is done on Shuan or rice paper with Chinese brushes and water-ink colors made in Shanghai. Three primary colors are poured onto the paper to create a dreamy quality. Using a masking fluid, you may block of areas to be painted before or after you pour your colors, such as trees, birds, fish etc. It is a fun and creative way of painting because you are never sure as to what color will emerge."
In addition to drawing and painting, she also enjoys quilting and owns and operates a home business called 'Machine Quilting by Elizabeth'. When Elizabeth retired from her job as an auto-cad designer, she bought a large quilting machine and started the business at home where she assembles and stitches her clients' quilt tops and backings with a continuous or custom design to complete them. She belongs to quite a few guilds and has donated quilts to many charities including about 50 laptop quilts to the Healing Garden in Harvard.
Recently, Elizabeth had her first giclee made of her 'Blueberries' pastel painting.These are available for purchase in varying sizes and framed. Elizabeth does her own mat cutting and framing and sells her artwork from her home. To contact her, call (978)456-8858 or email her at eliz-roy@charter.net.
