www.loiswoolley.com
Lois Woolley is an award-winning painter acclaimed for her sensitive and engaging portraiture. She approaches each commission with warmth and insight, striving to reveal the qualities her sitters like best about themselves. Her paintings, rooted in traditional realism yet enlivened by impressionistic color, are executed primarily in oil or pastel.
Raised near Washington, D.C., Lois’s early passion for art was nurtured by family visits to museums and summer classes at the Corcoran Gallery. She continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York, training with Robert Beverly Hale, Robert Brackman, Daniel Greene, and David Leffel. Eventually, her career led her to Woodstock, where her affiliation with artist Hongnian Zhang further developed her technique. Together, they co-authored The Yin-Yang of Painting (2000), a book presenting Zhang’s color theory and methods.
Teaching is another integral part of Lois’s career. She approaches students with the same sensitivity she brings to her portrait work, encouraging each one to develop the skills needed to reach their personal artistic goals. Her instruction in figure drawing, anatomy, color, and composition is shared with her students at every level.
Lois’s public commissions include portraits of a Harvard dean and a Hospital Workers Union executive. Her work has been featured in New Art International, Northlight’s Pure Color: The Best of Pastel, The Pastel Journal, and Hudson Valley Magazine. While most of her paintings are in private collections, her reputation continues to grow through exhibitions, commissions, and teaching.
