"Capturing A Joyful Moment"
by Bonnie Kelso

Tuesday night VAG members were treated to a cheerful presentation by guild member and watercolorist, Peg Lozier. Peg has 13 years of experience painting in watercolors and it shows. She has won numerous awards for her stunning portraits and narrative creations. As a young child, Peg poured over Mad Magazines and Norman Rockwell Illustrations studying the many different characters. Considered the “entertainer” of her family, facial expression became a natural fascination of hers. Over the years, she has created many commissioned portraits of people and animals. Her delicate layers of pure color combined with her skillful drawing techniques with the brush, produce rich skin tones (or fur) that radiate with life.

Peg has always loved images that can tell a story. She considers herself primarily as an illustrator. She talked a little about how she will romanticize her compositions to tell the story effectively. For example, a photograph she took of a man wearing a John Deer cap at a popular road stop, was successfully transformed through her watercolor painting into a fruit vendor in Paris simply by altering his hat to a beret and relabeling a crate. She mentioned how Norman Rockwell was often criticized for making his scenes too perfect and wonderful; that they didn’t represent life as it really was. That was when one of our guild members interjected that he knew Norman Rockwell, and that he did in fact paint things that he experienced. He often would have to use models later to reconstruct the scene, but that the inspiration of the moment he was recreating was indeed authentic. Peg agreed that these incredibly happy moments do happen, and it’s just a matter of capturing their essence in a single image.

Peg lives here in Las Vegas and is still perfecting her craft. She has begun to work in other mediums such as colored pencil, acrylics and oils. Her excitement for what she does is contagious and we were pleased that she was able to share her work and energy with us. Her presentation triggered an open discussion among the group members about products and techniques which was very helpful.

Peg’s work can be viewed on her website (www.peglozier.com) and her commissioned portraits start at only $299. Peg also sells uniquely hand painted furniture and you can shop for them online at www.peggitha.etsy.com .