Sam LaFever

When Sam LaFever is not at sea you will find him in his studio in Leesburg Virginia. Sam has been creating and exhibiting artwork since 1990. In 1987, Sam was licensed as a Merchant Mariner. Such work often allowed for time off during the winter months, and lent itself to a project-by-project work environment for a young captain. When married and children were on the way, it was decided seafaring would not suit a relationship where kids were a main focus.

Sam worked as a fine artist near Annapolis, Maryland during the late 1990’s, creating oil paintings, watercolors and intaglio prints of figurative works, landscape, working sailboats, lighthouses, seascapes, weather and figurative works. In 1999, Sam started a graphic design business, Fish Pond Design, in Leesburg, Virginia. In 2009, he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of Washington. Graphic design was the main endeavor until 2013, when he was able to reinstate an expired maritime license and return to the maritime industry as a captain for a company in Norfolk, Virginia.

Now, as time permits, Sam is in his studio. Currently his main focus in addition to painting is creating digital serigraph prints in small editions of 10 -100 prints. Using software to create prints has completed a cycle for him that started with a fascination of serigraphy. The process of layering color, as in creating a serigraph, or “silkscreen” print is well suited to creating prints digitally. Reducing a composition to its light, color and structural elements provides its own aesthetic and an interpretive approach to composing artwork.