About the Artist

 

Lili Anne Laurin

Biography

Lili Anne Laurin’s art career has taken a circuitous route to her desired destination as a

full-time artist and art instructor. She was born in Montreal, Canada, where early

exposure to the works of Canada’s most famous artists Tom Thomson and the Group

of Seven cemented her desire to be a painter. Having a love for music but not much

talent, she was redirected to study painting by her piano teacher who recognized that

her talents were better served under the tutelage of Helmut Gerth (a well-known

Montreal area watercolorist and teacher). Laurin was fortunate to begin with a teacher

who believed in strict adherence to painting from life and those early years kept her

grounded in continuous field study as she focused on landscape painting. Leaving

home at 18 years of age Laurin learned to balance her need to support herself with her

love of paining.

In 1996, Laurin, while working as Public Relations Manager for the Montreal Opera

Company and studying part-time for a Bacherlor of Fine Arts Degree, immigrated

permanently to New Jersey with her husband and young son. The bucolic scenery of

Basking Ridge, NJ and its surrounding countryside became a rich source of inspiration

for her growth as a landscape painter. Her artistic development continued through

workshops with many of America’s most accomplished artists and teachers, among

them Kenn Bachaus, Howard Friedland and Matt Smith.

Twelve years ago Laurin left the rivers of New Jersey with its heavy canopy of trees and

peek-a-boo skies for the spars dry landscape and wide open skies of Arizona.

Although She lived and painted in the desert she developed a particular affinity for one

of the most beautiful and iconic areas of the Copper State, the Grand Canyon. Shortly

after a painting excursion at Glen Canyon, she returned to her home studio to paint an

almost dreamlike interpretation of Lee’s Ferry at the mouth of the Colorado River. The

resulting painting “Lee’s Ferry Landing”. garnered two awards, the Southwest Art

Award of Excellence and the honorific Tuscon Desert Art Museum Purchase Award at

the 2017 American Women Artists National Exhibition - Under a Vast Sky.

Laurin is regulary juried into prestigious national exhibitions and received the Realism

Award of Excellence for Opuntia at 2023 Oil Painters of America Wester Regional

Exibition. She recently moved to the Sedona Area where she continues to expore and

paint her surroundings including more frequent excursions to the Grand Canyon. Laurin

is also teaching workshops in Oil and Gouache at the Sedona Arts Center and the

Mountain Artists Guild of Prescott, AZ.

Updated July 2026Art Education

Art Student’s League- New York

Michael Burban - Anatomy

Joseph Peller - Figure painting

Workshops

Raymond Evertte Kinslter - Figure Painting

Paul McCormack - Portrait painting in oil and watercolor

David Shevlino - In Studio Figure Painting

Kenn Backhaus - multiple workshops in Plein air and studio painting

Thomas Kitts- Plein air to studio

Howard Friedland - Plein air Landscape Painting

Frank Serrano - Plein Air Landscape Painting

Matt Smith - In Studio Landscape Painting

Koo Stark - Egg Tempra

Ruo Li - In Studio Seascape Painting

Greg Beecham - Wildlife Painting

Scott Talman Powers - Plein air Landscape Painting

Bill Cramer - Plein Air Grand Canyon Painting

Michael Hernandez - Online, Gouache

Douglas Fryer- Advanced Painting Exploration

OPA National Exhibitions

2026 National Salon: Exhibition of Small Works

2020 OPA 29th National Exhibition

2019 OPA 28th National Exhibition

2014 OPA 23rd National Exhibition

OPA Regional Exhibitions

2024 OPA Western Regional

2023 OPA Western Regional - Realism Award of Excellence

2021 OPA Western Regional

2016 OPA Western Regional

2013 OPA Eastern Regional

2026 NOAPS Associate Online International Online Exhibition - Award Best Use of Values

2026 NOAPS Best of America Small Works Exhibition

2023 NOAPS Fall International Online Exhibition

2023 NOAPS Best of America Small Works Exhibition

2023 Arizona Artists Celebrate the Natural World - The Wild Side Gallery, Phoenix Zoo

2022 NOAPS Associates Online Exhibition - Merit Award

2022 American Women Artists’ 2022 Spring Online Juried Show

2017 Women Artists of the West 47th National

2017 Sedona Arts Center Plein Air - Best in Show

2017 American Impressionists Society National Exhibition

2017 American Women Artists National Exhibition - Under a Vast Sky

Southwest Art Award of Excellence and Purchase Award for Permanent Collection of the

Tucson Desert Art Museum.

2016 Scottdale's Artist’s School- Member’s juried Show - Honorable Mention

2013 Greenhouse Gallery Salon International Jury’s Top Sixty Award and Judge’s Honorable

Mention - Judge Max Ginsberg2013 Plein Air Vermont Festival, Bennington, Vermont

2012 CM Russel National Show and Auction (sold)

2012 Canford Plein Air Paint Out, New Jersey People’s Choice Award

2011 Cranford Plein Air Paint Out, New Jersey

2010 Greenhouse Gallery Salon International Jury’s Top Sixty

2003 Somerset Art Association, Bedminster, NJ - Best in Show

Shows

2024 Featured Artist - Sedona Art Gallery

2022 A Brush Above the Rest - Gallery Artists’ Show Highlands Art Gallery

2012 Feminine Mystique - 3 person show - Highlands Art Gallery

2008 2 Person Show - Highlands Art Gallery

Published Articles

Featured in Southwest Art Magazine - September 2018 “Artists to Watch”

Courier News - NJ 2003 “Artists’ Colony (article on founding members of Studio 7 Co-op in

Bernardsville, NJ

Memberships

Oil Painters of America

American Women Artists - Member with Distinction

National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society

Northwest Watercolor Society

Gallery representation:

Highlands Art Gallery, Lambertville, NJ (highlandsartgallery.com)

McBride Gallery, Annapolis, MA (mcbridegallery.com)

Gallery at Sedona Art Center (sedonaartscenter.org)

Instructor in Gouache and Oils