Welcome to Loralart.com!  This website has been created to showcase Loralee Durkee’s art.

My mother, Loralee, has been painting beautiful water colors for many years.

Bio:  Mom grew up in Southern California in the 1920s and 30s. Living in the sunny breezy town of La Jolla "The Jewel" she was often at the beach, immersed in the colors of water, sand and sky.

Flowers grew everywhere, adding their bright tropical colors to her early environment. Learning and loving to play piano added to her rich and stimulating childhood; music remains an important part of her life.

Later she attended Stanford University. Dick Diebenkorn was in the Art Department with her. They finished school quickly to help with the war effort; Mom was in the Navy’s hydro-graphic department working with maps and charts. When the war was over she used her GI Bill to attend the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute.

In 1951 Mom started painting with the “California Group” painter George Post. Others in his group included Rex Brandt, Phil Dike, Emil Kosa, Millard Sheets, and Barse Miller.  George was teaching at the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and with the “30 and 1” artists on the San Francisco peninsula. “The Friday Group” that Mom was in, and George was leading, met each week to paint, usually in San Francisco, starting in the 1950s. With bag lunches and thermoses of Bloody Marys, they would paint in the morning, then picnic while having their critiques, all on the streets of San Francisco. They were fortunate to paint many of the old Victorians in the “Western Addition” which have since been torn down. She still keeps her thick old Polo coat in the trunk of her car in case the fog rolls in!

George passed away in 1997 but kept painting, sitting on his tiny folding stool, almost until the end. His pleasure and joy in painting shows in his fast and bold style. He made it look so easy! This group also took many painting trips over the years. The “Gold Country” in the Sierra Foothills, as well as the Mendocino Coast were favorite destinations along with parts of Mexico and Spain.

Mom continues to paint every week, often with Jerry Stitt in Sausalito. She and I traveled to the Dordogne area of France in 2007 with artist Jann Pollard. We love to paint together and often visit the Napa and Sonoma valleys armed with paints, brushes and a corkscrew!

We enjoy viewing the world through artists’ eyes and strive to capture that beauty and light in harmonious colors and interesting compositions.

Our intention is to share art with others to make the world even more beautiful!

Her works hang in many private collections, maybe now yours, too!

Enjoy the show!

Carolyn Adams

Palace of Fine Arts

Seacliff San Francisco


Contact Carolyn to order 14" by 20" giclee copies.
$300.00 each
(415) 663-8525
caroling108@yahoo.com

Loralee's Gallery



Fort Mason Cherry Blossoms







Golden Gate Bridge


 

Golden Gate Park, Cherry Blossoms







View from Land's End, San Francisco







Stone Quarry, Maine







Chico, California







Autumn Color, Northern California







General Vallejo's Home, Sonoma







Gloria Ferrer Winery







Near Kayak Basin, Sausalito







Officer's House Near Fort Cronkite, Marin







Marin Art and Garden Center







Officer's Houses at Fort Baker







Farm Near Chateau de Monbazillac







Near Biron Chateau







Near Bergerac