"Painting is as much about process as it is about the result or product. For me, painting is pleasurable, and my entire process is designed to be pleasing: from ideation to composition to execution. Painting is joyful, and my hope is that the viewer sees and feels that joy." -- Andre Lucero An impressionistic oil painter based near Richmond, VA, Andre Lucero was trained in a traditional academic setting but in recent years has combined his love for the outdoors with his art. His work includes landscapes and figures and still life all painted from life. Andre reveres Old Masters and their painting techniques. He works with his mentor to use Renaissance painting materials to produce the medium that they both use to give their oil paintings a distintive luminescent quality. Originally from Spain, Andre's ancestors traveled in the 1600s to the region that would later become New Mexico. Family legend is that the first Lucero in North America was along on the exploration because of his skills as a map maker. Andre, himself was born in Tehran, Iran in 1967. His U.S. Military family returned to the states soon after his birth, settling in a Washington D.C. suburb. After earning a BFA, cum laude, in 1989, Andre worked for more than a decade as a free-lance illustrator. During that time, his illustrations appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Playboy, U.S. News & World Report and The Washington Times. While his illustrations were honored with the 1995 Virginia Press Association Best of Show Award and the 1994 Award of Excellence from the Art Directors' Club of Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Andre decided to leave the field of illustration and devote his full attention to his first love, painting.