Deborah LaFogg Docherty

Biography

Deborah LaFogg Docherty, AFC, PSA, IAPS/MS
GALLERY AFFILIATIONS
The Plainsmen Gallery, Dunedin, FL
MEMBERSHIPS
Signature Society of Animal Artists
Signature Artists for Conservation
Signature Pastel Society of America
Signature Audubon Artists
Salmagundi Art Club
National Oil And Acrylic Painters
International Guild of Realism
Oil Painters of America
Women Artists of the West

ART AWARDS
2022 First place in fine art in the Endangered Art4Apes International Exhibition
2022 Audubon Artists North America Pastel Artists Association Award in Pastel
2022 First Bank Award at the Kentucky Wildlife Art Show.
2022 fourth place and honorable mention in the wildlife/animal category in the Pastel Journals
International Pastel 100 Competition.
2022 Merit Award in the Daytona One Art Show.
2022 Accepted into the Safari Club International show
2021 Directors Award in the Audubon Artist International Exhibition , NYC
2021 Exceptional Merit Award 2021 International Juried Exhibition Southeastern Pastel Society
2021 First place in the Delray Art Leagues Fall show
2020 Winner of the National Timber Wolf Alliances poster contest
2020 Honorable Mention Valued Strokes Exhibition SW Florida Pastel Society
2020 Pastel Journal Award Connecticut Pastel Society
2020 Artists For Conservation
2018 Finalist Richeson 75 Animals, Birds & Wildlife competition.
2018 Pastel painting selected for Honorable Mention in the Animal/Wildlife category of the
Annual Art Competition held by Artist Magazine.
2018 Pastel painting was selected to be a part of the 13th International ARC Salon Competition
Traveling Exhibition.
2018 Best in show Sugar Sands Park Summer Show.
2018 Award of excellence in pastels/graphics in the Santa Fe Art Festival
2018 Finalist in the Art Renewal Salon Center for the Arts in Wildlife/Animal Category

SHOWS AND OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
Safari Club International show 2023
2022 Society Of Animal Artist Winged Things Member Exhibition
Martin Arts Court House Cultural Center Gallery 2022 Dog Days of Summer
2022 Audubon Artists 80th Annual Exhibition
2022 Women Artists Of the Wests “52nd East Meets West National Exhibition”
Safari Club International show 2022
2022 Artists For Conservation International Exhibition
2022 Featured Artist with the Audubon Artists
2022 Western Spirit Art Show and Sale, Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum WY
2021 Featured Artist on the Pastel Society Of Americas Facebook page.
2021 Planation Wildlife Fine Art Show, Thomasonville, GA
2021 Salmagundi Fall Auction, NYC
2021 Audubon Artists 79th Annual Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC
2021 International Guild of Realism Fall Salon Online Exhibition
2021 The Kingdom, Society Of Animal Artists Exhibition
2021 Connecticut Pastel Society Renaissance In Pastel Show, Slater Memorial Museum, CT
2021 NOAPS Associate Online Exhibition
2021 Marks Of Distinction Central Mass Pastel Society
2021 RAI Regional Open Juried Show, The Ridgewood art Institute, NJ
2021 Richeson 75 International Art Competition, Small Works
2021 International Guild of Realism Spring Salon Online Exhibition
2021 Mountain View Americana Art Show SC
2020 NOAPS “2020 Fall International Online Exhibition”
2020 Artists For Conservation
2020 Pastel Society of Eastern Canada “Les Pastellistes” International Online Art Exhibition
2020 Art Renewal Center Salon Semi-Finalist
2020 Art For the Apes Endangered Fine Art and Photography Online Contest

“One of the first things I remember as a young child were the paintings of Bambi, Flower and Thumper my mom had painted on the walls of my room. I had to be all of 4 or 5 years old and wanted to be just like my mom. So one day when my parents went outside for a few minutes to check on the garden I did a full mural of dogs, cats, trees and birds on the hallway wall. Needless to say I never did that again! But my parents gave me coloring books, paints and crayons so I could continue with my creative adventures.

I grew up on a farm in Connecticut, I loved being around animals and the woods out back even then. In grade school a teacher named Mrs. Harvey took us on a bird walk one day as part of an assignment and I was hooked. I began drawing birds out of my bird guide and had several one women shows in the show cases around the school. I painted and drew everyday during summer break and would often forgo homework during the school year until my parents would find out. I kept drawing and painting every chance I could, getting some tutoring from my art teachers along the way. I went to Europe to see the Louvre, the Museum of the Impressionists, the Prado Museum and the National Gallery. Degas pastel paintings were just a vibrant as the day he created them. This fed my desire.

My formal training in Illustration and Commercial Art began in college. After graduating with honors, we moved to South Florida. Over the years, my craft has continued to develop by studying with many pastel and wildlife professionals I admire. I have a long history as a graphic artist for The Sun Sentinel, a Chicago Tribune newspaper, Deerfield Beach, Florida. I was a Special Sections Designer, and this aspect of my career has helped to add stronger composition to my paintings. For a short time did some writing for the paper but decided it wasn’t for me.

My art combines two great loves: nature and painting. Most of what I paint is from life experience. While I am working in nature, I strive to give people a glimpse of how animals live in the wild, raise their young, court and survive. I appreciate the opportunity to see a secret world so many never get a chance to see and to provide a better understanding of the world we share. Photoshop is a computer program I most often use as a design tool. Creating value sketches before starting a painting really helps things to come together. I use light, color, composition, texture and atmosphere to capture the viewers interest.

My mediums are pastel, oils and acrylics and often involve an under-painting for added luminosity and atmosphere. In pastel it could involve washes of color and turpentine. In oils, I blocked-in colors. In acrylics, I build on layers, going from light to dark. I offer demos and workshops to local art societies and currently teach at Old School Square in Delray Beach Florida. Looking at my paintings today many people think that they are photographs. I take it as a compliment since I’m a photorealistic painter. I get a lot of commission work. It has been exciting and rewarding. My paintings have won National and International awards and have been included in Art museum shows in Florida, Utah, the International Festival for Natural Ecology Convention at the Lanwan Art Museum in Qingdao China with the Artists for Conservation and now has a painting on tour with the Art Renewal Centers Traveling Exhibition to New York City’s Salmagundi Club, Sotheby’s in Las Angles and the MEAM Museum in Barcelona Spain.
I have worked with the Florida National Parks Trust for many years to create paintings to help the parks. I am delighted to have been involved, in illustrating of two children’s books. Woodrat Jill, which has raised money for the National Crocodile Refuge with part of the proceeds go to restoring its habitat in Key Largo, Florida, and Rosie’s Song, a fully illustrated picture book.”