Up Close with Artist Robert Lavoie

Up Close with Artist Robert Lavoie

Robert Lavoie grew up in Swansea and parlayed his talent as a gifted illustrator to become an Art Director of Entertainment & Licensing at Pawtucket-based Hasbro. While being surrounded by Transformers and Mr. Potato Head all day is invigorating, Lavoie exercises his more artistic side by painting stunning milieus with a lesser-known medium called gouache, a thick, opaque Italian watercolor. GoLocalProv.com caught up with Lavoie to find out more about his work and what he has coming down the pike.

I saw your paintings hanging in Voila Gallery in Wickford Village and was told you’re one of very few artists who work with gouache, which known for a being pricey material…

It’s a really old material, and the colors can be expensive, especially blues and reds, but a tube can go a long way, and it can be reconstituted. It’s very graphic; it’s matte and you need to very precise in your technique. It dries almost immediately so what you see is what you get with it, and it’s flat, so adding dimension is tricky and can be difficult.

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How did you discover gouache?

I graduated from Southeastern Massachusetts University and I’ve been an artist for about 35 years, an illustrator at Hasbro for 25. It’s really great, and I’ve always been creating on the side because I can get bored fast, and I hadn’t painted in about 10-15 years but started up again. I used it in school, not a lot, but I enjoy gouache.

The paintings I saw were of working lobster trawlers--quinessential New England. Are you mostly inspired by coastal vistas?

Not exclusively. I used to work on the docks in New Bedford though, so there are a lot fishing boats, but I have also done illustrations for a lot of other industries too, like the auto and aviation industry. My work has been in Car & Driver, Road & Track and many others. But I might do more landscapes. I like Beavertail State Park in Jamestown, and my niece took some beautiful photos of these old, rusting cars which were very cool, that I might use for reference.

Pictured: Above right, Shelby Anne; below left, The Wheelhouse