About
Yvette Lapayese is a California–based artist whose work centers on the female form embedded in California landscapes. Born in Los Angeles to a Spanish father and Cuban mother, Lapayese was raised with a deep sense of identity and place. Her earliest memories include road trips through the deserts and forests of California in a yellow-and-brown station wagon pulling a 1975 single-axle Prowler trailer. Early exposure to places like Death Valley, el Capitan, and the redwoods left a lasting imprint.
Lapayese holds a Ph.D. from UCLA in Comparative and International Education, a scholar by discipline, but an artist by bone and marrow. The life of the mind—yes, that’s where she dwells. But the soul? That’s a canvas, always. Now based in Laguna Beach, she continues to explore the same landscapes of her youth—this time through oil and brush. She paints on the floor of her garage, listening to rap, country music, and podcasts.
When she’s not painting—knees sore, brush steady—you might find Yvette hiking the edge of a canyon, not peacefully, but listening for the dry music of a rattlesnake. Or in Mallorca, trailing her three sons through old stone streets. Or half-reading a book on quantum physics under the sun in search of answers.