Paint and Pals Studio is a group of local artists dedicated to promoting visual arts through enjoyable education. Our objective is to bridge the gap between FUN art and FINE art.

A leading cultural attraction in Mobile County and Baldwin County, Paint & Pals Studio offers courses in painting, drawing, sculpting and other disciplines. We strive to simplify the artistic process, while encouraging our students to trust their own creative impulses.

Alexis Poteat, owner and managing artist, is actively involved in the community. She is a member of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce, Mobile Arts Council, Eastern Shore Art Center, East Hunter Avenue Homeowners Association, Old Dauphin Way Historic Association and Mobile SPCA.

Alexis has experience working with different mediums including glass-blowing, oils, acrylics, charcoal, pastels and watercolor. Her artwork is truly an extension of her personality -- colorful, fun and upbeat. She received her Bachelor's degree from Florida International University in Miami where she studied English Literature and Fine Art.

Ginger Woechan, Creative Director

A working artist since the age of fifteen, Ginger grew up in Ocean Springs Mississippi and attended LSU. She’s participated in ten Peter Anderson Art Festivals. She is also a regular participant in the Eastern Shore Outdoor Fine Art Festival, Arts Alive!, the LODA ArtWalk and the ArtWalk in Ocean Springs.

In 2008, she was commissioned by United Cerebral Palsy to design their t-shirts. She also designed the artwork for the Eastern Shore Center brochures as well as the 2008 LODA Shopping and Dining Guide. In December 2008, Mobile Bay Monthly did an exposé on her work.

Ginger worked with famed Mardi Gras planner Ron Barrett to create the set design for all of the 2009 & 2010 balls in Mobile.

Most recently, Ginger was commissioned by the Eastern Shore Center to design their billboards in 2009 & 2010.

Her work is currently on display at the Cathedral Square Gallery and several businesses in downtown Mobile.

Ginger’s natural talent coupled with her charismatic fun-loving nature makes her a popular teacher.

Linda Scott, Managing Artist Paint & Pals Eastern Shore Studio/ Public Relations Manager

Linda Scott has been painting for over 30 years in oils, watercolors and acrylics. “When I’m painting, I’m not working. When you find what you love, you never work a day again in your life.”

Linda is an active member of the community as an artist and a civic leader. She is married to Daphne City Councilman Ron Scott. She serves on the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Foundation Board for the Daphne Library and is an Ambassador for the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce. A successful businesswoman, Linda has been in the promotional products business for 22 years and co-founded Scott and Associates 17 years ago.

Linda is also a Committee member of the Jubilee Festival and the Fairhope Arts Crafts Festival. Her original artwork is for sale at Paint & Pals Studios, Elephant Juice Boutique and local arts and crafts shows. Linda's artwork is also sold privately on a commission basis. To commission a painting please call Linda directly at (251) 604-5012.

Loran Chavez

Loran Chavez’s paintings are in collections all over the United States as well as several foreign countries. During the Tricentennial celebration for the city of Mobile, Loran created three historical paintings for the permanent collection of the Mobile Press Register.

This award winning artist is a member of several Art Organizations along the Gulf Coast. She is also an art teacher at the Eastern Shore Art Center, Mobile Museum of Art and Paint and Pals Studios in Mobile and Daphne.

Loran has been juried into numerous shows and garnered several awards for her work.
The National Shrimp Festival, Ohr Festival of the arts, Arts Alive!, Peter Anderson Festival, and Eastern Shore Outdoor Fine Art Festival, are just a few of the shows she has participated in this year.

Loran Chavez was born at Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colorado. The oldest of three children in a military family, she traveled a great deal when she was younger. While traveling the country and sometimes the world, her fascinating childhood gave her the opportunity to learn from the many places she called home. She moved back to Mobile, Alabama in 1976 with her parents after her father retired from the Air Force. Because of her travels, she has studied art from the East Coast to the West.

Loran learned her artistic style by trial and error, sometimes studying with other well known artists. Loran’s first adult art teacher, Joan Daugherty gave her the passion for painting that still burns brightly in her today. Bill Morris, a talented artist with extraordinary gifts guided her further in her current painting style.

Loran’s own distinctive painting methods are realistic, with a tendency towards photorealism. She also uses Trompe L’Oeil to further the depth and realism of her work.

Her focus while painting people and animals is to capture the personality of each one. She also paints still life, landscapes and historical paintings. Oil painting is her favorite medium, but she is rapidly becoming more recognized for her watercolors.

Loran is currently working on a historical project involving Lighthouses of the Gulf Coast. She is focusing on lighthouses from Corpus Christi, Texas to the Florida Keys. It promises to be a huge project with lots of history and wonderful stories surrounding the lighthouses and their keepers.

For more information about Loran Chavez, please visit her website at www.loranchavez.com.

Denise Inge

Denise Brunson Inge is the Assistant Director and Treasurer of the Cathedral Square Gallery in downtown Mobile. She is also a member of the Mobile Art Association and holds the office of Secretary for the group, a member of the Watercolor and Graphic Art Society of Mobile, featured artist at Mon Louis Island Gallery in Mobile and a member of the Eastern Shore Art Center. You can find her watercolors at the Pavilion in Spring Hill, the Cathedral Square Gallery in downtown Mobile, the Windmill Market in Fairhope and at Paint & Pals West Mobile Studio.

Denise is a native Mobilian and attended 12 years of parochial school here. Her childhood summers consisted of “crabbing and soft shelling” down the bay at her cousin and her great aunts’
homes, sleeping on the “sleeping porch” and waking up to fried soft shell for breakfast…vacations at “the Gulf” and she and her brothers and sisters swimming in the bay because her “mother felt it was safe because it was shallow!” She is the proud mother of 1 daughter and “The Mimi” to 2 grandsons.

“ Loving paintings and watercolors in particular, I started on my journey in 2002 and the watercolors have been doing their own thing ever since…allowing me to grab on to “their” coat tails for the ride of my life…all the time being inspired by the beauty of my beloved Mobile and the South!”

Lee Brislin McAnally

Lee received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art Education from Mississippi University for Women. Before relocating to Mobile, she taught photography and fine art at Montgomery High School.
She currently teaches an after school art program at Corpus Christi in Mobile. She has an extensive background in art including painting, drawing, printmaking, clay arts, weaving, metals, photography and curating.

Affiliations: National Art Education Association, Alabama Art Education Association, National Education Association, Alabama Education Association, Bay Area Art Educators' Association.

Jessica Chavez Price

Jessica found her calling at the age of 17 when a man spotted her working on a pen and ink drawing and asked her how much she wanted for it. This sparked the beginning of her commission career.

Jessica is actively involved in the local art scene. Most recently, her original costume designs were featured in the fashion show “Costumery” and at the October LoDa exhibit at Blue Velvet Studio.

Jessica spent nearly a decade in Athens, Georgia where she met her husband (Sean Price), was a member of a burlesque dance troop and received her degree. In 2008, she returned to Mobile, where she joined Cathedral Square Gallery and the community of artists at Paint & Pals.

In addition to fine art, her creative spirit led her to a career in cosmetology. Jessica is a master cosmetologist at Allure Studio in Springhill where she satisfies a daily addiction to art and making people smile.

When Jessica is not "painting on people" she is painting for them. Capturing people and pets in gouache, ink and acrylics, portraiture comes naturally to Jessica. Her quirky sense of style, comic timing and passion for beauty all come through in her artwork.

Jessica’s portraits are sold privately on a commission basis. If you have a special person or pet in your life and would like to commission a portrait, please contact Jessica at (251) 508-0177.

Christina Chavez

Christina Chavez graduated from the University of South Alabama with a degree in ceramics and a minor in painting and sculpture. She is known for one-of-a-kind ceramic, metal and mixed-media sculptures and her work has been shown locally in group exhibitions. In April, her artwork was featured at the Visual Arts Gallery at the University of South Alabama. Her next show is scheduled for October at Blue Velvet Studio in downtown Mobile. Her paintings, original sculptures and ink drawings are for sale at Paint and Pals West Mobile location.

Melissa Ott

Local artist and preschool teacher, Melissa Ott, delights in sharing the joy of art with children. Ott has enjoyed painting since she was a child, and with the exception of a few art classes, she is self-taught. She is a graduate of Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Child Development with a focus on early childhood and adolescence.

Melissa and her husband, Ryan, moved to Baldwin County in 2002 from Birmingham, Alabama. Shortly after the move, she got in touch with her creative side again while raising her two daughters. She started painting and selling children’s rockers and artwork on vintage windows.

Melissa joined Bay Rivers Art Guild as an instructor in the 2006 Summer Art Camp, and by 2008, she was not only teaching but directing the entire operation. In addition to her summer efforts for BRAG, she teaches an after-school art class at the Guild for ages five and up, and she conducts an art enrichment program for Spanish Fort Preschool Academy. Melissa was also the Arts and Crafts Feature Writer for Baldwin County Parents Magazine.

Contributing Artist: Kathy Murchison and Mary Green.