The artist
Elise Humphries
Loutre et Lys is the name Elise paints under: loutre is the French for otter, lys for lily, and the two keep turning up in her work.
She paints from a studio in Dorset and, for murals, in the rooms themselves. Her subjects come from water and the shore: otters drifting between lily pads, koi turning under the surface, a swallow caught beside a flowering branch, pilot gigs crossing a sea of seals. Each design is drawn for the wall or panel it lives on, so no two are the same.
Murals are painted straight onto the wall. Panels are painted on oak so that the grain shows through the colour. Illustrations are painted on paper, and a small number are reproduced as signed prints.
Every design is her own. Originals, panels and murals are painted by hand; prints are reproductions of her paintings.
To talk about a wall, a panel or a picture, write to [email protected] or start on the commissions page.
The studio
A one-person studio
Loutre et Lys is one artist, one studio and one email address. Elise answers enquiries herself, paints every piece herself and packs each parcel by hand. That is why the shop posts on set days rather than every day, and why a commission comes with an estimated date rather than a promise.