Laurel Knight

Laurel has enjoyed artistic pursuits since childhood. She started by drawing detailed portraits of the members of her church on Sunday. Laurel soon grew frustrated with charcoal and pencil for she longed to portray the subjects in color.
She then experimented with pastels. She loved the ability to blend the chalks and quickly capture the subtle color notes of her subject. Her first commissioned portraits were of friends or students at her junior high school. In high school she enrolled in an oil painting class. She was introduced to techniques for still life, landscapes and impressionism. Laurel found that she loved many different genres in painting, but that realistic portraiture was still her deepest love. Her art teacher had her demonstrate to the other students, her skill in depicting a likeness. This ability to accurately draw what she could see was noticed by the teachers, so the National Board of Principals asked her to render architectural views of newly designed classrooms for a brochure they were preparing. After graduation, she married and pursued various artistic careers while raising her four children. While her children were still very young, her marriage failed, so in order to support her family, Laurel enrolled in Cosmetology School where she won state and regional hairstyling competitions. She also completed specialized training in fashion and photographic make-up application. Eventually, she needed to find a career that she could be home with her children, so she purchased an airbrush and trained herself to realistically render wildlife. She was subsequently featured on several television programs including “PM Magazine” where they produced a special on her near photo-representational wildlife portraits. She was commissioned to paint many portraits of people, dogs, wildlife, and landscapes. Laurel then met her husband, Steven and it was a marvelous match, since he was an accomplished wildlife sculptor. The two blended their families, and moved to Bozeman, Montana where their artistic endeavors continued while enjoying the beauty of the outdoors. In 1998, the family moved to San Diego with kids and now also grandkids in tow. They formed a company, Art by Knight, with their son, Travis. The three worked together as decorative artists in homes and businesses doing faux finishing, murals, and custom paintings. Laurel also received academic training to expand her skills in oils, since much of her airbrush and mural work had been in acrylics. She now works almost exclusively in oils, and is presently creating a body of works which incorporates her incredibly varied background and artistic skill.