This plein air watercolorist opened her first brick and mortar studio on Chartres Street in late 2021, helping build her reputation – and providing delightful subject matter right outside the door.

-By Angelique LaCour

While vacationing in New Orleans nearly a decade ago, watercolor artist Lyla Clayre became obsessed with painting, completing 21 plein air pieces in just six days. So inspired by the city’s iconic architecture and Louisiana’s lush landscapes, after earning a BFA in Illustration from California College of the Arts in 2014, she moved to New Orleans.

“I've been working full time as an artist since January of 2017,” Clayre said. “I spent two and a half years leading up to that working with local artists learning the ins and outs of running an art business. At first, I began showing at art markets and in group shows while building my portfolio.”

In those formative years, Clayre became a regular exhibitor at Festival International de Louisiane, The Arts Market of New Orleans, The Bayou Boogaloo, Luna Fete, YLC Wednesday at the Square, Freret Festival and the Po Boy Festival.

In 2019 she was featured in a solo exhibition curated by Femaissance in The New Orleans Arts Council’s SALON at Canal Place. In 2021 Clayre placed third at the Alexandria Museum of Art’s inaugural Farm to Forest Plein Air Festival, juried by Phil Sandusky.

In late November 2021, the watercolorist made the leap to a permanent brick and mortar location – which has become home base for subject matter and for sales. Clayre says the move has reaped many rewards. Since the Quarter boasts the best foot traffic of any neighborhood in the city, the gallery stays busy, with visitors and locals alike drawn to the artist’s interpretations of the street on which they’re strolling.

Much of her artwork is painted on location in the tradition of Impressionist painters, allowing her to accurately capture the feeling of place, light and time. Clayre can sometimes be found painting just outside her gallery with an easel set up on the sidewalk. The 800 block of Chartres where her studio/gallery is located is one of the most picturesque in the Quarter, so she never runs out of ideas or perspectives.

In Clayre’s Spring 2023 collection, the color pink is prevalent, since it’s a vibrant staple in the Quarter’s palette. Various hues of the shade pop out when you enter the Studio. The collection includes Pretty in Pink (featuring Clayre’s favorite building on Chartres Street, just a block away), Watermelon House, Uptown Pink, and Pink Alligator.

There’s also the Pink Pothole, a visual joke that will amuse locals. In it, a small raft of blossoms from a stunning cerise crepe myrtle tree float in a Chartres Street pothole.

Another one of Clayre’s best-selling prints features a large sign, “Please Pay Musicians,” that hangs on a nearby balcony. The bright yellow sign and distinctive hand lettering was created by popular Jazz Fest signmaker Nan Parati for Bethany Bultman, the founder of the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic. Clayre’s painting shows the sign in the distance, still easy to read but taking a back seat to fanciful iron work, balcony gardens, and one of the Quarter’s oldest magnolia trees.

This painting, like all of her work, captures the luxuriant timeless beauty of the neighborhood and pairs it with a convivial quirkiness that refuses to be pinned down. Which is, of course, her goal.

“Watercolors as a medium encourage improvisation and spontaneity,” she said. “Which lends itself to a place like this that is constantly shifting.”

Lyla Clayre Studio
824 Chartres St.
LylaClayre.com
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11-6
Sunday – 12-6