Born in Long Beach CA. , Lara’s father worked at Fluor Corp, and got transferred to Canada when she was 5. After a year they moved back to sunny So Cal,  settling in Irvine where she (mostly) spent the rest of her life.

Art was a quiet constant in Lara’s life. Always encouraged and supported as a child to explore her interests, there were crayons, paint, many books, and a piano in the living room. But music took center stage in her house, with an opera singer grandfather,  a classically trained singer and music teacher mother, and a younger brother who is also a musician. When her mother founded a children’s chorus, she began performing regularly, with concerts and musicals being a regular occurrence. Leads in all her high school musicals led her voice teacher to suggest he could get her to Broadway, but that hard path wasn’t her desire.

Working retail jobs after high school into her 20’s with a one-year break in Tacoma, Washington which gave her perspective and motivation to return to college. Lara married at 29, graduated from CSULB a year later with a BA in English, then had two children and became a stay-at-home mom. She thought about writing, as she wanted to create something just for herself, but instead started building an art business on Etsy. Unfortunately divorce forced her back into the work force and sent art into the backseat - temporarily .

Things took a turn when a cousin was about to have her first baby, and Lara’s mom wanted to give her a hand painted rocking horse. That project became a thing, painting and decorating objects and furniture, employing trompe l'oeil techniques, and working to make things look as three dimensional possible. It is something she still enjoys today when creating commissioned functional art items.

Although her art career has not progressed in a particularly smooth or linear fashion, Lara is now a full-time artist, supplementing art sales by conducting workshops  and teaching classes for adults or kids. Combining her love of music and passion for art, her standout signature pieces are 3-D wall sculptures created on a recycled instrument or case. Old violins, their cases, and tambourines are uniquely modelled into birds, bunnies, turtles and more, utilizing acrylic paint, epoxy clay, and sealer.  

With multiple solo shows, group shows, juried exhibitions, and 2-months as a pop-up gallery owner now under her belt, Lara is thrilled being able to combine all her passions into a singular focus – finally.  Her tenacity has paid off, and as she says, her motto post-divorce has been “Sounds scary. Let’s do it!”