About Barbara Mayhew Lapp

As a young child in the 1920s I lived in Los Angeles with my grandmother, an artist and teacher, Helen Pearl Coon Fletcher.  I began painting with her at age five in watercolors.  Another teacher who came into my life one summer when I was very young, introducing me to oil painting and color science, was Yvonne Yeager, a Professor of Art at the Chicago Art Institute.

 

At age 15 I was invited to study with Alfredo Ramos Martinez, the Mexican master muralist, at Scripps College in Claremont, California.  His love of bold color, exotic landscapes and paintings of indigenous people, greatly influenced my own work even now that I am 80 years old.

 

My paintings come from my life in California and my travels on many continents.  I am a resident of Morro Bay, California. Here, I am surrounded by my family  and the beauty of this coast.