Artist Lori Pratico Captures Energy, Emotion in Portraits

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ven from a young age, Lori Pratico knew she wanted to work in the creative arts. Despite not having the backing of her parents, she gave up a college scholarship in sports and instead dived headfirst into the art world without any formal training.

Pratico, a Philadelphia native living in South Florida, has shifted careers quite a few times over the years but always felt the need to be creative in her work. She started off in the sign business helping to paint billboards and jumped around until she found her calling in portrait painting, where she does commission and original works.

Despite being from a conservative family who valued fitting in and not drawing attention to yourself, Pratico admires eye-catching and eccentric people and aims to highlight their energy in her ongoing series Dare to be Different.

The series started off as 15 portraits of tattooed women. From there, it doubled in size, and people began approaching Pratico in hopes she would paint them as well.

“I pretty much know the second I meet someone whether or not I want to paint them,” Pratico said. “There’s something about a person’s energy. When I meet someone, I can sense if there’s a story behind their eyes … if there’s a story they aren’t sharing with everyone.”

One of her biggest muses is a pink-haired, tattooed-woman named Lori Cataldo. She has painted her four times and continues to use her in portraits. Pratico said she could tell when meeting Cataldo that there was more than met the eye.

“Everyone likes her and everyone thinks she’s awesome. She has a lot of friends, but I just could tell that she doesn’t let everyone really get to know her,” Pratico said. “Each time I paint her, I feel like I’m telling a little piece of that story that nobody knows.”

Cataldo said she feels the same way, describing Pratico as a “soul painter.”

“When I asked her why she chose me to paint the first time she said because there was something vulnerable in my face, and she was right,” Cataldo said. “There was an experience I was dealing with at the time, and she could just tell and capture it.”

Cataldo says that Pratico is able to capture a different side of her than most see. In Pratico’s latest portrait of Cataldo, Pratico requested that she be herself and look raw.

“I cried when I saw [the painting] because she painted all of this brokenness with this beauty in the center, which is exactly what my naked would be,” Cataldo said. “You just get everything and this feeling and expression from her work.”

Pratico credits her successful career to the many mentors she’s met throughout her life. Susan Smith was her high school art teacher and someone she thanks for believing in her.

“I felt like she believed in me and made me feel like my thoughts and ideas had value,’” Pratico said. “I always felt that without that support from her, I don’t know where I would have ended up. I think it’s those people you meet in life that have no idea they’re affecting you that actually affect you the most.”

Smith said she was surprised with the level of skill Pratico had starting off and said her accomplishments are a unique and wonderful example of success in the field.

“It is an especially rare and unique accomplishment that Lori has taken her gifts and parlayed them into a well-rounded, successful career that was not without its obstacles and stumbling blocks,” Smith said. “Her achievements are a tribute to her own natural talent, her drive and determination, and an unwillingness to be dissuaded or compromised.”

Throughout her success, Pratico has been able to give back to her community by donating her time to several different art classes. She teaches a class dedicated to special-needs children. She believes the class is therapeutic for children because it allows them comfort and freedom of expression to draw and paint whatever they like.

“They’re in this environment in school where they’re corrected all day long. They’re behaviorally corrected all day, and they will come to this class and not be corrected and would change completely,” Pratico said. “It’s amazing to see what a child will do when they’re given that freedom of expression.”

Gallery 2014 in Hollywood, Florida, currently represents Pratico. She has many accomplishments under her belt including winning the “Best in Show” award at ArtBravo, having her name added to the American Art Collectors Portrait Artist Directory and winning the Iron Palette Art Battle. To learn more about her and see more of her work, visit Galley 2014’s website and Pratico’s website.

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Christal Hayes is a staff writer for Professional Artist. She is currently a senior at the University of Central Florida where she studies journalism and marketing.