Cora Larson has been practicing art for about forty years. After living several other places, she returned to Oregon to raise four children. She has been taking art classes from middle age and has had the honor of taking classes/workshops from over twenty prominent pastel artists from all over the country. Over the years, Cora has been accepted in many juried shows spanning the U.S. She was one of the founding members of the Pastel Artists of Oregon and remains a signature member. Cora is currently a partner of the Gallery Northwest in Roseburg, Oregon. She has had solo shows of her work at Umpqua Valley Arts Center, Mercy Medical Center, Clark Gallery, Ye Olde Art Shoppe, and a two person show at the Umpqua Valley Arts Center with June Kaufman. She has won many awards over the years, one of them a $1000-dollar purchase award at the Coos Art Museums Expressions West Show.

Cora is mostly a pastel artist, but also works with oils and has taught both mediums through the local community college. Cora privately teaches a small class on both mediums. Cora likes to paint people, cityscapes, landscapes, seascapes, waterscapes, and animals. She really enjoys painting animals and has featured a lot of horses and cattle in western works. Animal portraits are a favorite. She is inspired by everything and anything.

“It is all about the light; it could be something you see every day and then the light hits it in a certain way and wow, you just have to paint that. There is inspiration everywhere you look if you can see it with an artist’s eye.” – Cora Larson