Today we’d like to introduce you to Lu Ross.
Life is about following your passions. Two of Fine Art Photographer Lu Ross’ greatest passions are photography and travel. While traveling the world, surprising opportunities present themselves through beautiful landscapes, cultures, and abstracts that beckon to be captured for eternity. A review of Ross’ art pieces reveals a great deal about the artist’s love for nature, color, and abstraction and suggests a passionate and emotional view of the world. Her mission is to inspire love, joy, and peace through her art.
Lu Ross was born and raised in Santiago, Chile where her French-Italian family introduced her to a life of travel and appreciation for the arts. In her earlier years, Ross spent many summer vacations with her family by the coast at the seaside resort of Viña Del Mar. Winter family vacations were usually spent skiing at resorts in the Andes. “I was captivated by the power and beauty of nature at an early age. The time I spent by the sea and the mountains gave me great awareness of nature. I began to notice how the light affected the ocean and created forever-changing hues; how the highlights and shadows created by the rising and setting of the sun on the mountains painted a fleeting yet majestic picture. I was inspired to capture these moments and sought ways to translate this majesty into my artistic medium,” Ross explains.
Like many artists, Ross’ love for art began at an early age. “My mother was a painter,” Ross says, “and as I watched her work, I became inspired by her art and how rewarding it can be. Since we traveled frequently, I took to photography as it seemed to be the best way to capture the world I was discovering.” Ross is an explorer at heart and traveling the world became as natural as breathing.
Ross obtained a B.A. in Mathematics/Statistics at the Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, initially pursuing a career in accounting and teaching when she moved to California as a young adult, where she currently resides. Her love for design led to what amounted to 14 years as a contract web designer and Webmaster. Ross recalls, “Once I realized that web design only partly satisfied my desire for creativity and art, I decided to pursue further education through the New York Institute of Photography.”
Ross’ travels inspire a wide range of subject matter in her work. “As a photographer, I use natural light to capture moments of beauty. I create art to celebrate life and inspire the viewer to connect and experience nature’s peace, calm and joy. I paint with light and tell a beautiful story,” she explains.
Ross captures the essence and life of a scene through the play of light and color – be it representational or abstract – depicting life as it feels not as it is. Her work is characterized by her masterful use of the artistic elements of line, texture, shape, and color. Her favorite subject matter is the beauty found in nature and its interaction with light, especially the magical light found during sunset and sunrise. Her abstract work is often an isolated section of a scene, yet expressive, colorful, and conveys strong emotions.
As an artist, her inspirations include her mother, Claude Monet, Ansel Adams, Art Wolfe, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andreas Gursky, and Jackson Pollock to name a few. “I use a combination of digital painting and photography to create most of my artwork. This allows me to put my own signature on even familiar images,” she explains.
“I use my photography as a visual language to communicate and inspire. I use it as a tool to pay homage to the amazing world we live in, to bring awareness of the beauty all around us and to encourage its preservation. Experiencing nature brings joy and health to everyone that participates. My art is a way of creating this experience; an experience of love, joy and peace that resonates with the viewer. This goes hand in hand with my strong belief in the healing power of art which is my ultimate goal as an artist,” Ross states.
Over the years Ross has sold her artwork at galleries, shows, and museums such as the Wildling Museum of Art & Nature, Alice-Rice Gallery, Art-A-Fair Fine Art Festival in Laguna Beach, Desert Light Gallery, Art San Diego, and Quorum Art Gallery where she is a co-owner and has a permanent exhibit.
Please tell us about your art.
My art is a fusion of my vision and the landscape. As I travel around the globe and gain inspiration from a myriad of settings, I continually research, plan, and capture the beauty I see in both wilderness and urban locations. I normally shoot at sunrise and sunset, when colors peak in their vibrancy, and I study how the light interacts with the landscape. Once the image speaks to me, I capture the moment. Elements of atmospheric conditions, such as fog, rain, falling snow, splashing water, and rainbows evoke the mystical dynamic of nature. I look for contrast, complimentary colors, relationships, repetitive forms, and negative and positive space, all of which elicit in me an emotional connection to nature. It is this feeling that I wish to share with my viewer so that they can be transported to the same place.
Even though, being in the field requires technical precision, the RAW image is merely the canvas from which I continue my creation. Back in my lab, my post-processing work focuses on highlighting the life within the image before it goes to print. While my representational art captures the greater beauty in the world that surrounds me, my abstract collection aims to highlight the magnificence found in the fine detail of each element.
A large number of my pieces are representational, yet I have recently found a love for abstracts in both nature and man-made structures. I seek and explore the fine elements in the wilderness, as well as small remnants of textures, shapes, lines, and color in the urban world formed by natural decay. There is fantastic abstract art in the natural world if only one looks closely.
What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
I believe that the current economy has had an impact on galleries not being able to stay in business and that directly affects individual artists. It would be wonderful if towns/cities had a large “Art Center” where artists could rent studios at a reasonable price and have regular showings at their studio to promote their art. The public would also benefit greatly by having a place to visit where they can enjoy and acquire art. A permanent Art Center would bring the artists and the art lovers together. It would also be a beautiful tourist attraction for the city.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My art can be found at:
Quorum Art Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA
Mojave National Preserve Artist Foundation – http://www.mojaveair.org/product-category/lu-ross/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lurossphotography/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/LuRossPhotography/
Contact Info:
- Address: Quorum Art Gallery 374 N. Coast Highway Laguna Beach, CA 92651
- Website: www.LuRossPhotography.com
- Phone: 9495472860
- Email: info@LuRossPhotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lurossphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LuRossPhotography/
- Other: https://quorumgallery.com/
Image Credit:
All images are mine.
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here
