Excerpt from Port Orford News feature:   ART...OFF THE WALL

By Brenda Fanning Foster

When Elaine Roemen built her studio, she made a welcome center for all visitors. Walking up a few short steps, you are invited to enter the house, through the studio.

It is an eclectic, colorful, art studio housing frames, blank canvas, finished paintings, art magazines and books. Surrounded on three sides by trees, light and openness, it is an unusually delightful experience. The beauty of the artwork hung from high walls, resting on tabletops, and balanced against door frames, competes with what Mother Nature offers, through the large panes of window glass.

It is hard to view her work and not be impressed with her use of color, and personal technique, which immediately takes us to places she discovered, and wants to share. There is a softness to even her bold colors, which almost allude to a pastel quality, although her medium is oil. While most of her current works are of horses, local seascapes and landscapes, she also works on personal commissions.

With her Masters in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute, and a BA in Art Education from New York University, Elaine worked for many years as an art therapist. Since moving to Port Orford, Oregon 2002, she has devoted full time to being a studio painter and working with the Port Orford Arts Council.  Elaine feels that the coastal residents truly appreciate the work of local artists, and their enjoyment and praise of her work has inspired her to continue to create the kinds of paintings gallery visitors enjoy viewing and buying. Visitors will be treated to familiar scenes of Rogue River's Lobster Creek Bridge, Elk River, Coos Bay, Headland Trails in Port Orford, along with many local places she captured in her colorful, brilliant interpretation.

Elaine's work can be seen at The Hawthorne Gallery in Port Orford,OR and the Second Street Gallery in Bandon, OR.