`COLOR GLANCES' BY JACLYN LAWSON

The creation of art can be a pleasurable torture, Jaclyn Lawson says.

"Sometimes it is torture because I can't always put down what I've got pictured in my mind," she said. "The creative process takes weeks and involves a lot of personal rejection of the initial work."

After saying this, Lawson ironically adds: "But I certainly enjoy my work immensely."

Lawson's work can will be on display in a show titled "Color Glances" beginning Friday at Gallery 100. An opening reception will be held at the gallery, 6 N. Sprigg St., from 5-7 p.m.

The exhibit will continue throughout January, with the gallery open from 1-4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Both the exhibit and the opening reception are free and open to the public.

Lawson's exhibit includes landscapes and portraits in watercolor, pastel and fabric collage. Collage art usually involves placing fabric on a piece of artwork but, among other things, a rope, thread or string can be used.

Lawson, who lives in Ballwin in St. Louis County, said she knew she wanted to be an artist when she was very young.

"I really enjoyed drawing and being crafty," she said. "I had other ambitions, but in the background I always had the desire to create things."

Art came to the foreground when Lawson began to study at the Washington University School of Art during the 1950s. After a six-year stint working in graphic arts at a St. Louis advertising agency, Lawson focussed her attention on raising a family. But her art never fell by the wayside.

"I stayed involved in it in a small way," she said. "As the children got older, I got more time that I could spend with it."

Later, she held art classes in her home for 16 years, teaching aspiring artists the dos and don'ts of the "business of art," she said. While she currently no longer teaches in her home, Lawson continues teaching art as a member of the St. Louis Artists Guild.

"There seems to be quite a desire to learn art," Lawson said. "I suppose that the schools are gradually weeding out the arts may have something to do with that."

While Lawson couldn't pick any one favorite medium, these days she spends most of her time with watercolors, graphite and pastels.

"I love doing portraits of animals, people, homes," Lawson said. "But I like any kind of subject."

She said the name of her new exhibit, "Color Glances," suggests no more than it implies.

"I love working with color," she said. "I tried to make the show colorful, especially this time of the year when everything seems so dull and colorless."

Each new piece of artwork she finishes gives her an incentive to go on.

"It's my desire to create," she said. "A musician creates beautiful sounds. A dancer combines movements into a beautiful dance. It's the enjoyment of creation."