A Look Back: Cover Artists 2022

L aURe L

Winter 2022 Cover Artist, Susie deVille

What Stops Me in My Tracks

For Susie deVille, unlocking the mind’s power of creativity is essential to finding success in business and happiness in life.

When you’re a Highlands native, you’re born wealthy –wealth that’s measured in Mother Nature’s bounty. That beauty makes for a very rich soul, if you’re an artist/ photographer like the remarkable Susie deVille.

Susie is a gifted artist, coach, and writer. Rather than try to sprinkle glitter on a Monet, I am going to share some of Susie’s own eloquent words in a Q&A format.

When did you and Art fall in love?

As a child I was primed to pay attention to the alchemical power of Art. When I began making my own discoveries through playing in the woods, reading literature and poetry, going to museums to see works of art, viewing handmade artifacts, listening to music, and going to performances, I paid very close attention to what the artist

was doing or had done and the effect it had on me. How did Art show you that being an author, entrepreneur coach, and artist was your true calling?

While the power of Art has been revealing itself to me my entire life, a catalytic moment was in 2006 in an Innovation & Creativity class that was part of my masters in Entrepreneurship program. We watched a Nightline episode which featured the Palo Alto design firm, IDEO, and their design-thinking process.

As I watched the film, my eyes darted back and forth trying to take in every detail, every comment, as if I were experiencing REM sleep with my eyes wide open. And then one of the design leads said, “Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius.”

The top of my head came off.

Name a few photography inspirations/mentors.

I became interested in photography through my dad’s fascination with capturing images. I had a Brownie camera growing up and took a ton of really awful photos. We’d drop the film at the pharmacy on Main Street and pick up the prints a week or so later. Even though the pictures I made were truly terrible, Dad continued to encourage me. He gave me pointers on how to frame my subject and remarked about the power of cropping a scene in your mind so that you and the viewer would see something compelling. Little by little, I began to understand how to direct my point of view in a way that excited me and prompted new ways of seeing and appreciating even the most seemingly mundane objects.

And about the Photograph Capture on Whiteside Mountain?

I spent last winter working on my book at the family house on top of Whiteside Mountain. On Christmas morning, I was writing in my journal while seated at a table near the wall of windows in the living

room. As the sun peeked over the distant ridges, the room began to be filled with the most impossible pink and orange hues. I looked up and gasped. I grabbed my camera, ran outside, and began clicking away.

Susie is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build wildly successful businesses by rediscovering their creativity and leveraging the power of their true nature. An author, coach, and entrepreneur who built and sold a highly profitable real estate firm, she has been researching innovation and creativity since 2005. She is the founder and CEO of the Innovation & Creativity Institute. Her first book will be published in 2022. Visit InnovationAndCreativityInstitute.com for more information.

by Donna Rhodes

Scan to read more about Susie deVille

Susie deVille

Igniting Artistic Passions

For Linda Sabic, art is a dynamic process that will not be denied, and she can’t help sharing her passion with others.

“Art is the magic that turns a collection of nothing into a soulsatisfying something,” beams Linda Sabic, accomplished watercolorist and art educator.

“Watercolor is sometimes a delicate medium,” Linda says. “I am drawn to its softness and fluidity. Even though it seems to have a mind of its own, it challenges me to explore it’s capabilities. Oddly enough, I find it a peaceful medium.”

For those unfamiliar with watercolor, it moves, it shifts, it blends and resists in its short-lived liquid state. For Linda, that is what makes it so fascinating.

From an early age, Linda knew art and teaching would be in her future. Her mentors recognized her calling and nurtured her gifts. Because she was drawn to early childhood education as well as painting, it was only natural she fuse the two when it matched age groups she taught.

She also instructed high school seniors in Watercolor Conservatory Classes as well as 2-D Art and Wet Mediums to seventh and eighth graders in the California School of the Arts.

Her educator’s philosophy is to guide each student in the discovery of their inner artist.

Linda says, “Igniting each student’s passion as they gain a sense of mastery is at the core of my instruction and continues to be in my adult classes today.”

As vaccinations and masks make home gatherings viable again, Linda expands her highly-popular Art-home paint parties.

She and The Historic Toxaway Market and Mountain Café partner in wine and watercolor gatherings. Sip, chat, and paint.

She’s currently teaching at Mountain Falls during the summer season and hopes to offer more classes soon at Burlingame.

In addition, she welcomes commissions of pets, memorials for pets, botanicals, and more.

Gratitude is key to Linda’s success as artist and educator. She says, “I owe my achievement to God‘s guidance and the support of Chris and Robin Pickel of The Historic Toxaway Market and Mountain Café.”

You can see Linda’s work online at instagram.com/lindeeartstudio. Email her at lindeeart@gmail.com or visit lindeeartstudio.com.

by Donna Rhodes

Linda Sabic

Woman with an Ibis

Take a closer look at the artistry and profound mystery embedded within our Mase Lucas covers.

In celebration of The Laurel ’s 20th anniversary, we invite you to take a retrospective tour of Mase Lucas’s Laurel contributions over the years.

She’s known for her transcendent paintings of iconic horses like the one on the Laurel cover of May 2006 (you can find it in our online Laurel archives – thelaurelmagazine.com/archives).

While you’re revisiting it, look for the Mase feature in the April 2019 issue. The April 2004 cover, Woman with an Ibis, shown here, provides an opportunity for readers to critique Mase’s exceptional work. And her latest cover, Two Lambs, is a perfect representative of her strength as painter and creative master.

Take a few moments to enjoy Woman with an Ibis. What part of the painting first pulled you in? The ibis? Follow its curved bill as it swings your eye around head and neck in a serpentine, backward S. Continue, up and around the bird’s curvilinear back. With your finger, trace the tip of the bill to the end of the tail. Feel the motion in

your arm as if the line were a calligraphic pen stroke.

As your eyes travel around the rest of the painting, see how shapes relate, how colors repeat (creating continuity), how the woman’s eye and the ibis’ eye form a relationship – or do they?

When finished, recount three or four elements/ideas you take away from the painting.

Compare your observations to mine:

The textural feel of the painting struck me first. Edges were soft and inviting. The only tension I felt was the juxtaposition of wild and human. That gave the painting, for all its softness, just the right amount of edginess. Is the ibis going to fly away? Will it strike at the woman? What’s its connection to her? What keeps the ibis there?

I felt a loving look from the woman, Madonna-like. Her body is relaxed, arm draped across knee. She’s focused on the bird as though it were a child. Her expression registers empathy. The background, while abstracted, has a warm, impression of sun and flowers. Perhaps

it suggests nurturing/balancing the world and all things in it. Everyone has a life metaphor or theme. My theme is compassion blended with safety, perhaps why I saw mothering in the images. Another viewer might think the painting is simply a portrait of a woman who likes waterfowl. A few might feel a vague reference to Leda and the Swan. The intrigue of art is that its message/story is unique to every viewer based upon their catalog of experience. Now that you and I have made our observations, here are some of Mase’s comments about her work.

Content: “Early on, my subject matter was almost entirely the figure and I’m so glad for a chance to revisit Woman with an Ibis. This painting is a quintessential example of the work I was doing at least 20 years ago, and well before that even. But horses captured my heart and eventually my work became identified with equine themes.”

Style: “I don’t think my style has changed much, although my recent work attempts to show some of the preliminary drawing. I like seeing glimpses of the history of a painting. And it keeps the work from becoming too precious. For me, leaving in some of the workup is a reminder that first and foremost a painting is about the use of paint on a substrate, of mark makers. More than subject, that is what

I find most compelling.”

Conceptual expression: “This goes to the heart of creativity. I will excerpt here from every artist statement I’ve ever written regarding my own work: My work generally expresses commonality and narrative. Commonality if there’s more than one identifiable subject, which is usually the case; and narrative because there is an implied story going on usually outside the picture plane, unstated and open to interpretation.”

by Donna Rhodes

A Woman of Many Talents

An unusually nimble mind and unexpected heaps of spare time have deepened Beth Townsend’s artistic portfolio.

This past Christmas, Beth Townsend (realtor with McKee Properties) created boxed sets of notecards for her clients –eight different, original paintings reduced to greeting card size.

The gift was a tremendous hit. Recipients cheered, “Wow! I never knew you were a painter!”

She answered, “I didn’t either!”

Painting was Beth’s 20-year well-kept secret. Painting marathons came when time presented itself. But that was only twice in the 20: the first, when she was recovering from an ACL injury, and the second, during Covid quarantine. In those times, she cranked out about 20

significant paintings.

How is it that she could switch back and forth from analytical left brain (real estate business) to the right (painting/creativity) after long absences? ‘

Twas a seamless transition, really. She had a medical test indicating her right and left brains are of equal dominance. They snap to attention when called upon. Most unusual.

When asked if left and right brains sometimes fight each other, she says, “Well, yes, on occasion. But it makes for a dramatic painting, even though I might scrape the canvas and start all over again…and again.”

“Revenge of the Swallowtail” is an example. A favorite sport of Jolene, Beth’s quick-jawed boxer, is snapping butterflies in midair. Beth played with scale in an animated scene so the Swallowtails are gigantic – and they retaliate. The chaos feeds an edgy, yet comical energy. Beth’s right brain presents the emotional; her left brain tends to the details.

Growing up, Beth was more athletic and artistic than studious. Give her a tennis racket and a box of art supplies and she was in heaven.

Thus, her physicality and creativity united artfully, producing a wide variety of painting subjects from brightly colored, stirring scenes to serene landscapes, creatures, both wild and domestic, glorious flowers, and fanciful, yet poignant popcorn clouds.

In college, Beth studied Landscape Architecture. The aforementioned sports and art complemented her fascination for land,

nature, sewing (her grandmother was an accomplished seamstress), baking, and decorating. Those pursuits built a deep interest in a picturesque mountain home lifestyle. It eventually fashioned a life for her in her own charming cottage/farmhouse.

While Beth has limited time for art sales and commissions, she continues to entertain both sides of her brain when a window opens long enough to pull out the paints. But the good news for us: There may be giclée’s in our future.

Stop by McKee Properties to see a painting or two at 619 Highway 107 South in Cashiers. Call her at (828) 421-6193 or email beth@ cashiers.com.

by Donna Rhodes

Beth Townsend

Painting Joy

fresh paintings in the store.”

She takes pride in working with each commission client, making sure they are 100 percent pleased with her work, guaranteed.

When Carla Gignilliat spreads her joy across a canvas, viewers tap into it and feel the love – so much, in fact, that galleries have trouble keeping her landscapes in stock. Born in Wisconsin, raised in Iowa, Carla has a vast artistic resumé. Immersed in art growing up, creating things of beauty were second nature to her.

But, in true level-headed manner, she wanted to practice a trade that promised a reliable income. In short order, she’d earned a Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology.

She adored working with babies. Her focus was everything from the neck up: tolerating food and textures, bottle feeding, motor skills for feeding and speech, and cognitive skills like how to play and

problem-solve.

After working as a speech pathologist for a dozen years and establishing a family, she says, “I felt a calling to pursue artwork more consistently. I had been taking art classes in Atlanta before having a family. After realizing that trying to create artwork at home with two very young children was almost impossible, I took the plunge and rented a small studio to engage in art more seriously.”

She’s been in her studio for five years now.

Even though she took a few art classes along the way, Carla considers herself a self-taught painter and marketer.

She says, “I spend a lot of my time preparing artwork for ACP Interiors in Highlands to make sure they have a rotation of new and

Since the age of five, her husband has been a fan of Highlands. He introduced Carla to the Plateau in 2009. Four years ago, they purchased a place in Scaly Mountain.

Carla fell in love with the vistas and landscapes became her major focus.

She says, “I miss helping people and problem solving, but nothing compares to what I’m doing now.”

See what Carla is doing by visiting carlagignilliatart.com, or by emailing her at cgignilliat@gmail.com, or seeing her work first-hand at ACP Home Interiors.

…creating things of beauty were second nature to her.

With the support of ACP and diligent marketing, her commission list is long and gratifying, and a delightful reason to go to work in an artist’s studio every day. Even though she’s no longer practicing speech pathology, she’s content.

For cover artist Carla Gignilliat, an abiding sense of mystery and reverence lies at the heart of her works.

by Donna Rhodes

Carla Gignilliat

When your mom is a stunning fashion model (a 1950s Coca Cola Pin-up Girl), you know your world is destined to be out of the ordinary.

Penny Pollock, daughter of that mid-century icon says, “I emulated my mom. She had a style like nobody’s business, and a personality to go with it.”

Penny benefitted from her family’s travels to fashion hubs – New York, Paris, and Rome. That exposure, plus being surrounded by exotic textiles (many worthy of framing), gave her a leg up in the fashion realm. It’s no wonder fashion, fabric, and design came naturally.

Another family mentor, her stepmom, designed maternity-wear. She owned the nation’s largest maternity clothing chain (250 stores). Bolstered by her family’s fashion success, Penny enrolled in the University of Denver Art Program.

After that, she says, “I immersed myself in my passion, which I knew was always Fashion. So I went to Switzerland to study clothing design.

“Perhaps Switzerland wasn’t fashion-central, but the curriculum did take me to all the European fashion districts.”

When asked why she didn’t go to schools in France or Italy, she said, with a twinkle in her voice, “If I were going to be that far away from home, my father insisted Switzerland would be the safest country.”

Her fascination with the exciting world of fashion fired up Penny’s artistic talents and her gregarious nature.

She says, “It gave me exposure. I am outgoing. I thirsted for diversity of people, places, things, and ideas. I can’t get enough of it.”

Later in life, while managing a successful fashion career, she took a class at The Bascom in encaustic painting.

She says, “I was very involved in the ceramic program at The Bascom, when I decided on a whim to enroll in an encaustic workshop with Sue Fazio also at The Bascom – and absolutely found my medium. Encaustic painting is a process dating back to Ancient Greek times. It is a process of melting beeswax, tree resin and pigments (colors), and burning them together to create magical results on treated wooden boards.”

When the wax melted, so did Penny’s heart. It was an awakening. Her studies, her work, her history swirled together, just like the fusion of pigment and wax. She’d discovered her ultimate medium-match.

And yes, folks, Penny plays with fire.

Penny’s love for engaging with people of all cultures, particularly strong women, also blended beautifully with the encaustic process. She did several series of female portraits, each image rife with symbolism and loaded with story. Those stories became blogs, thus feeding Penny’s desire to reach out to friends she has made around the globe and closer to home.

You can see Penny’s work at The Bascom Visual Arts Center

during their Pop Up Show through July 26. In additon to The Bascom, Penny also shows at Cashiers Showhouse, August 31st, St. Augustine Art Center, St. Augustine, Florida; her home studios by appointment in both Highlands and Atlantic Beach, Florida.

One of Penny’s proudest moments is when she was chosen to show in It’s Liquid Exhibition in Venice, Italy, this past April.

To see more of Penny’s work go to pennypollockart.com. To email her concerning commissions and further inquiries, contact her at pennywave@yahoo.com.

Cover Artist Penny Pollock’s entire life has been a sequence of inspiration and discoveries.

by Donna Rhodes

Penny Pollock with Leif and Layla

Tamplin

Paintings Keep the Love Alive

Carol Tamplin’s paintbrush is the extension of a very talented hand. That hand is hot-wired to her heart, a heart which expresses the ancient love connection of pets and people. Hand and heart are a magical combination that makes Carol the Plateau’s in-demand pet portrait artist.

“Paintings keep the love going, especially when a furry family

member makes its way to the rainbow bridge,” Carol says. “I am honored to paint treasured moments and memories of beloved animals. There’s something very soul-satisfying about what I am called to do.”

But Carol hasn’t always been a painter. “I grew up in a small town in Georgia,” she says. “I always dabbled in art, but my parents were

practical. They sent me to pharmacy school. I followed their pragmatic lead, schooling, marrying, raising a family. But when my kids grew up, I signed up for art classes.”

“My first teacher got me started in oils, and I’ve stuck with it,” Carol says. She likes its extended workability thanks to a slow drying time.

While Carol specializes in pets, a variety of other images catch her eye. Visit her Instagram site and see fish, hens, tigers, goats, bears, squirrels, foxes, cows, still life, sheep, deer, landscapes, birds, quail, butterflies, flowers, and more.

While considering herself a painting hobbyist, her repertoire

is vast and her technique solid. She welcomes commissions of the remarkable creatures who fill your life with joy and make your family complete.

Contact Carol at caroltamplin@yahoo.com.

by Donna Rhodes

For Cover Artist Carol Tamplin, the profound bonds between people and their pets can be found at the heart of her art.

The Essence of Wild

Peggy Marra lost her way for a while – but she’s now back to Where the Wild Things Are.

Most wildlife artists use ordinary pigment and oil. Peggy Marra pours the essence of wild into her paint. You can see it in the portrait of an eyes-afire bull elephant. He swirls in a tornadic cloud of dust as he charges the viewer, eye-to-eye, trunkto-nose. The canvas is huge, adding size and drama to an already chilling moment.

Peggy often poses her animals in a head-on view so that the soul of the animal – revealed through its eyes -- are a dominant focus of the painting.

It’s no surprise Peggy is a sought-after animal-portrait painter. She has been drawing forever and painting since 16. She and her husband opened an art gallery in Montreal. It wasn’t long before they opened another, and a third in Boca Raton, Florida. She felt like she worked 25/7(sic). Her own painting got neglected. It was time for a change. Twenty years ago, she moved to Sapphire.

Peggy says, “I began painting again, inspired by the multitude of wildlife living in the area.”

She started painting bears and local wildlife. She also took personal photo tours out west. She says, “I love to paint wolves but have also had surprising success with mountain lions, grizzlies, red foxes, bison, bobcat, elk (Western and Carolinian), raccoons – even coyotes.”

One of her favorite things to paint is people’s beloved pets. To catch the character of the animal, usually dogs (but also cats and horses), she likes to take a multitude of photos and spend some time with each animal to get an idea of its personality.

“To me it is important to catch that personality, because that is what makes him/her special,” she says. “I love to see the happiness of the owners when I present them with the finished portrait. A few times people have actually burst into tears – I’m always glad and

relieved to hear they are tears of happiness.”

Her work is available at the Summer House in Highlands. She will also be showing at the Art League of Highlands-Cashiers Fall Colors Show in October. You can contact Peggy through peggymarra.com, at peggymarra@gmail.com, or by calling (828) 577-3415. Studio visits are by appointment only.

by Donna Rhodes

An Instant Obses-

In addition to loving her day job as clinical nurse, Sue Gouse, was passionate about sewing, gardening, stain glass, decorating, and jewelry-making. Grateful for God’s gift of talent, she used it to make others healthy and happy.

Initially, painting wasn’t on her love-list. She believed fine art was for real artists. But one day in 2005, she drove her friend to an oil painting class at Blue Valley Art Gallery in Cashiers. Her life changed forever.

Upon arrival, she looked around the gallery, shrugged her shoulders, and said, “Well, shoot, I’m here …” She took a seat

with her friend and loaded up a paintbrush. When her brush hit the canvas, the heavens opened up, the angels sang, and Sue saw the painterly light. In the 17 years since, her paintbrush has racked up about a million miles on canvas. Yep. She’s a real artist.

The week following her Blue Valley epiphany, she and her husband headed home to Savannah. She left her paintings at the gallery to dry. Not long after settling back into her Savannah routine, the phone rang. Gallery customers were inquiring about her paintings … and their price.

“What? They want to buy them?” she said, mouth gaping wide with

surprise and a smile. Velda, gallery owner, helped her price them and make the sales.

That day, out of the blue, Sue became an instant pro. Her new career bumped her up another level. She says, “I was invited to join a gallery in Savannah. I didn’t just join. My husband and I eventually took over the gallery and ran it successfully for 13 years. I had lots of repeat clients and also expanded my work to include paper and canvas giclées. I did weekend art shows in Savannah along with shows in Highlands and Cashiers.”

And this all burst forth from an instant obsession. Still thunderstruck every time she sells a painting, Sue is thrilled when anyone expresses joy in one of her pieces. “It’s been a wonderful ride. I am grateful that I live in two wonderful places and get to travel and

paint their beautiful scenery.”

Visit Sue’s website at suegouseinspirations.com for contact information about commissions, sales, prints of existing work, show schedule, new works, and more. Also view her paintings on Facebook, Instagram and at the Cashiers Leaf Festival October 7-9. And make note of her trademark confetti-style.

by Donna Rhodes

Scan to learn more.

What some would label an obsession is simply Sue Gouse’s exuberant embrace of her inherent artistry.

All Three and Then Some

Despite a generous life that has her pivoting between local projects, Carol Misner has still found time to cultivate a beautiful artistic style.

Carol Misner is one of those exceptional people whose puzzle piece has just the right tabs and blanks. She fits in everywhere. Dedicated to mathematics, art, technology, gardening/botanicals, business, and more, she contributes generously to the Highlands community: in the classroom, garden clubs, art organizations (The Bascom, Mountain Theatre Company), charity (former Mountain Findings president), and more.

particularly of interior design, make sure giclees of her work are enjoyed internationally.

My renderings bring the outside in.

In fact, her influence goes far beyond Highlands. Distributors,

You may know Carol from a recent Laurel article featuring her and Ann Huckstep – or previous articles about her painter/illustrator work that focuses on regional botanicals. The plants she paints are old familiar friends that decorate the mountainside. On a substrate she brushes layer upon layer of a monochromatic acrylic wash to create rich, deep images. Her backyard is a reliable resource for inspiration. She says, “My

renderings bring the outside in.”

How did her work become so in-demand? When she committed to painting (after a long career in mathematics) she was given some good advice: “Develop your own unique style – something to which you alone can lay claim … and then sell it.”

She dug down to her core, asking herself, “What do I love?” She loved the balance and perfection of math (and its relation to Nature). She loved botanicals. She loved working in a monochromatic color scheme. And, to make this math analogy a bit tippy, when she added these three elements together, she discovered they were more than the sum of their parts. The answer wasn’t three. It was all three – and then sum!”

Even though she’s rendered hundreds of botanical paintings, each creation is one-of-a-kind. Many have gone into print. Those are primarily the ones distributed.

See Carol’s work locally at Acorns. To learn more about her botanicals, commissions, or firsthand viewing of her work at carolmisnerstudio.com, email c_misner@yahoo.com or call (205) 516-7961.

by Donna Rhodes

CarolMisner

Cover Artist Ken Bowser

For cover artist Ken Bowser, watercolor is a medium that’s somehow both timeless and immediate.

Watercolor is known for its immediacy. Ken Bowser, who closes The Laurel’s 20th Anniversary Celebration with his holiday cover, explains its appeal.

…it’s the initial splash of color that makes the statement. There’s no un-do.

“Watercolor is a direct medium. I load my brush with a proportionate amount of pigment and water, then apply it to paper. My mark is made. The color is true, clear and bright. With oils and acrylics, you can scrape, paint over, layer atop layer, but with watercolor, it’s the initial splash of color that makes the statement. There’s no un-do. Some artists find that daunting. To me, it’s pure magic.”

Ken has painted 6-plus decades (largely in water-based mediums) and is still going strong. Over the years he’s enjoyed plein air (and still does on occasion), but he says you have to be multi-dexterous to manage it: juggling umbrellas with one hand, articulating a brush and managing water in another, and thwarting blasts of wind, showers, and sun with a third hand (that spare hand which mothers, teachers,

and artists seem to possess). Sometimes he surrenders and shoots photographs to paint in his home studio – even when his heart is out-of-doors. Ken says, “Subject matter often helps determine the medium used in a painting.”

He started painting in his mid-20s in a community art program. “Once a week a fella would lead an oil class. A couple of years thereafter a younger teacher took charge. In him I found a wonderful watercolor teacher whom I stuck with the rest of my life.”

Ken and his wife, Beth, a glass artist, traveled and studied Southwest Native American artwork in Denver, Santa Fe, and the mountains of Mexico.

He says, “It was a touring adventure as well as a painting education.”

For nearly four decades Ken served as a United Methodist minister in Ohio. When asked if his artwork of Nature and landscapes related to his ministry, he thought a minute and said, “The creation factor is

the connection. God’s gift of beauty is a sermon in itself.”

You can see Ken’s work in The Bascom, Tsartistry Gallery in Franklin, and Gallery One in Sylva. Inquire about a visit to his studio (bowser@dnet.net). He occasionally teaches; he’s an active member

To me, it’s pure magic.

of the Highlands Cashiers Art League; and he participates in Studio Alive.

by Donna Rhodes