Lyla Clayre is a watercolor painter with a love of old architecture. She spent nearly 10 years making plein air paintings in New Orleans, and opened her brick and mortar studio in 2021 in the heart of the French Quarter. She is now pursuing an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art in Tribeca. 

Describe your art in three words. Loose, textural, impressionistic

Describe yourself in one word. Sensitive

What do you love the most about creating art in New Orleans? What particular part of your immediate environment, in your neighborhood specifically influences your work? I love the feeling I get when I'm walking or riding my bike around the city and I see a house framed by a huge oak tree, or a porch overflowing with plants, and it looks like something out of a dream. I have a never ending list of places that I want to paint in New Orleans. It's something about the combination of colors, architectural details, and the wildness of the plants that creates a very unique and magical visual experience, and I can't get enough of it.

Describe your creative process. Are there any rituals or rites of passage you exercise before you begin a new piece? Working on location I draw my inspiration from direct observation. I see shapes and make marks with my brush, and I love to play with the tension between realism and abstraction.

Where do you draw inspiration? The people and places around me inspire my work. I try to capture the light and colors and feeling of what I'm seeing in the moment as I paint. Working on location inspires spontaneity as things are constantly changing. I often meet people in the neighborhood as they're out walking, and the interesting conversations I have add to the experience. 

Who are your artistic influences or gurus? I love the Impressionist painters. It was studying Art History that originally sparked my passion for painting, and Monet's use of color has always fascinated and inspired me. My work is also very influenced by my Waldorf education, which involved a lot of wet-on-wet watercolor painting and discouraged outlines and the use of black.

Lyla Clayre Studio, 823 Chartres Street 

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