30 Apr ARTIST SPOTLIGHTS: LORI PUTNAM

Lori Putnam captures enthralling scenes of the natural world, including iconic Western landscapes and wildlife, in oil-on-panel works that provide viewers with a sense of immediacy. Yet, Putnam prefers to consider her paintings not so much realistic depictions of places and things but rather “abstracted compositions made up of bold strokes of paint that, as you back up from them, coalesce into an impression of realism.”

That feat of aesthetic sleight of hand will be on dramatic display at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, this coming October into March 2026, when Putnam will be one of six contemporary artists featured in a show entitled Concept to Canvas. She’ll present never-before-seen works inspired by her Western travels, each accompanied by her preliminary sketches in pencil, gouache, or oil; handwritten notes; plein-air studies; and reference photos, all ultimately distilled into completed studio paintings.

Barrel of Fun | Oil on Linen Panel | 20 x 24 inches | 2022

It’s a practice of observing and absorbing the world that Putnam began back in her childhood while wandering through the woods and along the streams of Middle Tennessee. “I believe those quiet times prepared me for the work I do today,” she says. Yet, artmaking was not her first professional calling. For some 13 years, Putnam was a graphic designer in Nashville, producing everything from music catalogs to books to direct-mail advertising. Eventually, however, she burned out on that bustle and began finding deeper satisfaction through an introductory oil painting class. “It just felt so good to me the way the paint came off the brush,” Putnam says of those early tactile creative pleasures. Since she had originally started her business on April Fool’s Day, that seemed an auspicious day to close shop in 2005 and start painting full time.

Putnam ramped up her new profession through intensive studies with four of the top Impressionist painters working and teaching today — Scott Christensen, Quang Ho, Kevin McPherson, and Dawn Whitelaw — followed by eight months living and painting in Umbria and Puglia, Italy, in 2008. “I gave myself assignments there every day and came home with about 200 paintings and sketches.” Ever since, her career has gone from strength to strength, with membership in such prestigious organizations as New York’s Salmagundi Club, American Women Artists, Signature Member status in the California Art Club, and Master Signature Member status in Oil Painters of America. Her work has appeared in such institutions as the Tucson Museum of Art; the Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming; the Hockaday Museum in Kalispell, Montana; and the Irvine Museum in California.

Where the River Runs Cold | Oil on Linen Panel | 30 x 36 inches | 2025

Ultimately, Putnam sees her subject matter as “light and shape. I enjoy exploring what I can do to push the medium of oil paint, experimenting with different ways to use it to tell a story without filling in all the blanks.”

Putnam’s work is represented by Cawdrey Gallery in Whitefish, Montana; Del Monte Fine Art in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California; LeQuire Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee; Meyer Vogl Gallery in Charleston and Daniel Island, South Carolina; The Harbour Gallery in Cornwall, England; and Rosslare Gallery in Wexford, Ireland. Her work will appear in the Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition at Herrig Center for the Arts in Bradenton, Florida, May 27 to June 1; Concept to Canvas: Six Contemporary Artists at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, October 25 to March 10, 2026; and Catalina: The Wild Side Art Show at the Newport Beach Yacht Club, Newport Beach, California, on October 26, 2025.

Based in Marin County, California, Norman Kolpas is the author of more than 40 books and hundreds of articles. He also teaches nonfiction writing in The Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension.