Inspired by the likes of Matisse, Picasso and Dufy, Laurie Zeszut is a self-taught painter. She first began her career when a friend encouraged her to attend a watercolor class after seeing the handpainted wrapping paper Zeszut had created for a birthday present. She had to fit her penchant for painting into the small bits of time that opened up in her life as a mother who was also juggling a career. It may be the very thing that has given Zeszut her confidently bold style. Breaking the tendencies of the expected, gathering enough personality and character to set the stage for a play, Zeszut uses her gouache paint on black paper to startling effect. These are Alice in Wonderland scenes, full of a lively and breathtakingly helter-skelter style that can't help but light up a room. It's a style that cheers without being frenetic, soothes without being dull. Far from it. There's a kinesthetic and visual power to Zeszut's paintings that makes her work a rare blend of passion and serenity. Though her objects may be outsized, her patterns asymmetrical, she nonetheless has the ability to infuse her landscapes with a palpable joy. Of the subject matter of her paintings, Zeszut says: "I have an idea and I go with it. I make it up as I go along—a whole painting expands from one little idea." Those ideas have led Laurie Zeszut to a career as an accomplished and sought after contemporary painter, one who has caught the eye of collectors worldwide and earned her accolades and awards. Laurie Zeszut has chosen to enchant. Her paintings allow us to share in that enchantment.