Lorie Merfeld-Batson
b.1965

     Lorie Merfeld-Batson grew up in Illinois and began studying art at a young age, apprenticing  under nationally known oil painter Gerald Merfeld, then taking classes at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and the Palette and Chisel.  Her love of the landscape has roots in the creeks and fields she grew up with in rural Illinois  where she dreamed of having her own horse; and now living in southern Colorado with her family she regularly paints plein air and travels by horseback into the mountains to gather material for painting.
     
     Affiliations include Oil Painters of America, Signature member of Pastel Society of Colorado, and a founding member of the Sangres Art Guild.  Lorie is also involved in several plein air art groups and has won numerous awards including first place recently at the Pastel Society of Colorado's Mile High National Show.She paints in oils and pastels and occasionally watercolors and finds that switching mediums keeps a freshness in her approach to creativity .

"Art is a lifelong learning process and each blank piece of paper or canvas is an exciting new possibility!"