Our Story

The name Alora is associated with Light, Grace, Hope, and Spiritual Guidance.

I wanted a name associated with Light since we paint with light in watercolor.

In Greek, Elora means “Light” or “Sun Ray",

In Botswana, Alora means “My Dream,”

It’s Latin roots are: Ala- Wing, Flight, Freedom, Upward Movement, and Alor- to Nourish (my soul)

Artist Profile ~ Lori Phillips Shedlock

I’ve been painting in watercolor since the 4th grade, 1984 ( A magical year)

I’m a child of the 80’s, a teen of the 90’s, and am very much influenced by graphic art, advertising package and logo design, especially clever, negative shape designs. I’m not ashamed to admit that the Guns n’ Roses Use Your Illusion Album covers changed my life. So it’s no surprise that I favor a limited palette. I’m also influenced by stained glass and batik.

Lately, I gravitate towards painting the female spirit in the natural world, building up transparent glazes of 3-4 colors. My digital illustrations (seen on the homepage) are hand painted watercolor gradients, scanned into digital files, then layered and collaged in Procreate.

I’m a former librarian and have worked in both public and academic libraries, including Art & Design schools. For 40 years, I’ve absorbed color theory in pursuit of the perfect limited color palette but ultimately I wanted the freedom to use every color in the perfect combination. I decided to limit my color mixing charts, instead of my paints, to be more modular and better catalogued, in true librarian fashion.

While the act of recording these color mixtures is very structured, it allows me to loosen up in my work, trusting the colors will do their thing. My favorite paintings usually begin by letting the watercolors mingle on the paper, building up layers of value and contrast until the subject shows me where it should be, much like finding cloud shapes. The structure of the mixing cards allows me to playfully discover unexpected, emotion-evoking limited color palettes.