Randy Lu was exposed to art at a young age. She grew up in a
home where art lined the walls: oil paintings; watercolor paintings; wood block prints, sculptures, etc. Her parents became members of the local museum when it opened and regularly
attended exhibit opening receptions. By the time she was in middle school, she had become accustomed to visiting various museums when special exhibits were on display. She has visited
many fine art collections in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and developed a preference for Western Impressionistic and Far Eastern painting.
She had her first art class when she was six years-old. She still
remembers the classroom decorated with paper mache figures, glue, and torn paper. In middle school, she was fascinated by macrame. Her favorite piece was a large, 3D hanging with
intricate designs woven through large plastic hoops. In high school, India ink and woodblock printing took over. She then turned to charcoal and pencil and dabbled in soft
pastels.
Living overseas in Western Europe and East Asia prior to becoming a
professional artist has had a profound influence on her thought and approach to art. Since she found her niche in non-toxic oil pastels and watercolor many years later, she tends to focus
on several flowers in a bush and not the entire bush or a few leaves on a hedge.
Though she has used actual objects for numerous still life paintings, her
travels in the U.S. and abroad have inspired many of her landscape and animal paintings. She is fond of lush landscapes, ragged mountains, and oddly shaped rock
formations.
She likes to experiment with different oil pastel and watercolor
techniques. In watercolor,, she sometimes paints similar scenes from different angles or using different brush strokes or various amounts of water in wet on wet paintings. In
February, 2018, she began to use bolder color combinations for more dramatic and dynamic landscapes many of which were inspired by her visits to some national parks last
year.