Though Lisa worked as a hairdresser, her curiosity about painting stole her heart. She came into the art world later in her life, and after forty years she closed her business, received her fine art degree from Finger Lakes Community College, then made her way to Main St. Atelier in Tarrytown, NY. Taught there by Camie Salaz and Emily Denise with influences from Ken Salaz’s landscape classes, the old master method of teaching was just what Carlyon had been looking for. Working from life she learned drawing and painting over the next two years. Her teachers credited her natural ability with form and color to have perhaps begun through hairdressing.
Life in a small town in the Finger Lakes with close friends and family provide a plethora of material for the imagination of the artist. Drawing upon experiences and colloquial expression, Lisa enjoys telling stories through still life and narrative painting. To her, a work of art is hatched in the act of living and observing life which she hopes will connect within the heart of the viewer. By interpreting and arranging the threads she’s pulled from the fabric of life, she endeavors to bring meaning to a work by including elements that support the narrative and enrich the story.