Game-changing gift
Set one foot into the airy studio space behind Kathy Harris Interiors, and you know you’re somewhere special. Essential oil candles permeate the air. Luxe fabrics, elegant furnishings and cheerfully contemplative artwork are a feast for the eyes. Complete with soft music and the tail-wagging, sniff-greeting antics of her dog, Chip, this place is a true artist’s oasis.
Welcome to Laurel Browning’s office, so to speak. The painter, who works exclusively with handmade wood-backed pieces, acrylic paint and a palette knife, is celebrating her one-year anniversary in the studio, and what a year it has been.
2013 marked Browning’s first yearlong foray into the world of Deep South art shows, a circuit she entered rather timidly.
She’d only taken her first formal art course two years prior, under the direction of Ahmad Austin at Forstall in Homewood. The month-long course, Painting with a Palette Knife, was a gift from her husband, Matt, who had just graduated as a nurse anesthetist, in an expression of thanks for all she’d done for their family during his labor-intensive schooling.
In Austin’s class, Browning felt herself outgrow what had been her vocation up to that point — interior design.
“I get a lot of my inspiration from God’s creation. I love painting in the colors of nature,” said Browning, who was bolstered by the interest friends and family had in buying the work from her earliest efforts. “And though it is a huge time commitment, when Matt saw how people were responding to my work, he’s been nothing but supportive.”
Those early one-off sales gave Browning the confidence she needed to participate in her first art show, Art in Avondale Park, in October 2012.
“I took about 30 pieces and I sold more than I thought I would, which of course made me want to do another one,” said Browning. “That next month, I participated in the Moss Rock Festival at The Preserve, and sold even more.”
As her reputation has grown, Browning has increased her offerings beyond studio work to include commissioned pieces, which now make up a substantial part of her business.
All of her pieces are painted on birch panels custom-built by her father-in-law, John Vincent. Much of the wood comes from leftover workshop projects of Vincent’s, which he supplements with leftovers from lumber yards in Alpine, Alabama. Before Browning approaches them with her inventory of palette knives and paints, her best friend and assistant, Amy Nielsen, preps the panels, painting all backgrounds, most often in muted, subdued tones, and then mounting hardware.
Browning says not a day goes by that she misses the world of interior design, though she’s thankful the path led her to Kathy Harris, and, ultimately, the studio that is now her professional home.
“I started working for Kathy as an interior designer fresh out of Auburn in 1998,” said Browning, who left the business in 2004 when daughter Olivia was born. “But as the artwork picked up, it was just too much for me to maintain in our garden home. I reached out to her, knowing she had this space, and she was gracious enough to let me use it to paint.”
Browning’s work represents a wide range of sizes and price points. Her smallest wood panels are only $20, making it an affordable option for those who like the style and wish to build their collection with the work of local artists.
A recurring theme in her work is the inclusion of a cross, sometimes subtle, sometimes center stage.
“There is a cross in every painting I create to serve as a reminder that Christ is always with you in everything you do,” she said.