Why I Started This Post

For those who may be wondering how this blog has come to be, I will start from the very beginning.  I was in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Castle A.F.B in Atwater California in 1986.  I took a few art-related classes at The University of California at Merced.  The faculty at the college introduced me to the Arbor Gallery on Main Street in Merced.  I became a member and began exhibiting there when I met Lori, who was also exhibiting.

Lori had a showing at the gallery one of her paintings.  The moment I saw it, it spoke to me like few other modern pieces have ever spoken to me. I do not remember how much she wanted for it, but it was not a low price, but the time I didn’t have the money to purchase.

The piece stayed in my mind for quite awhile and finally I had the money to buy it, but by then it was no longer at the gallery.  I contacted Lori and she said I could have it for a bit less than I was expecting.  She brought it over to my place and we talked over tea for a very long time.

For me it was such a personal piece, I hung it in my bedroom so I could gaze upon it.  The painting was just the most beautiful thing hanging in my sunny bedroom surrounded by my Greek and Turkish antiques.  It fit in somehow in an almost magical way. It hung there for a few years and then I had orders to go to Panama.  I had it packed up and put into storage with all my other stuff.  it stayed in storage until around 2006.  In 2006 I moved to Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  I found it among the things that I had in storage and was so pleased to see it once more.  This painting is the one that I have shown in my previous post on this blog, that I call Peaceful Sleep.

Peaceful Sleep by Lori Stanley

I moved into a new home in March of 2012 and decided to hang it in my living room.  I was laying on my sofa late one evening and was looking at Lori’s painting.  I thought to myself, that I would just love to be able to have Lori see where my artistic work had gone and see where here work was at this point.  I suddenly realized that I could go online and look her up.  I did a Google search and found a site where people were discussing Lori and her work. I was shocked to discover that she had passed from this world in March of 1996. I have to say that many of the statements on that particular site and others that I have seen online, just did not have a good feel to them and many of them just were not supported by facts.  Much of what I read online was no more than gossip and rumor. I have found no definitive biography of Lori Stanley online.

I was devastated to learn of her passing. I became very depressed about her passing and just could not get it out of my mind.  There were so many questions that I could not find answers to and I just could not let go of the idea of finding out more.  I did a post on my Pottery Blog about Lori
and asked for anyone to help me with these questions.  I shortly afterward was contacted by one of Lori’s cousins, who told me that Lori had indeed passed from this world.  Lori’s cousin and I started a dialogue that is still going on to this day.  There were so many things about Lori.  She was full of Light and love and joy.  She was the type of person who loved to dance barefoot in the warm California rain, swriling round and round like a young child beaming with laughter and happiness.

I am still learning so much about Lori and her short but very productive life.

If you have any images art information  or stories about Lori Stanley that you would like to share on this blog please feel free to contact me.

Lori Stanley Blanket Painting

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• Tagged: Art, Blanket, California, Lori Stanley, Merced, Painting, Peaceful, Sleep