{"id":80930,"date":"2025-06-08T20:23:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T00:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?p=80930"},"modified":"2025-06-08T20:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T00:24:15","slug":"shop-talk-elise-okrend-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Shop Talk:<\/strong> Elise Okrend"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_80932\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80932\" class=\"wp-image-80932\" src=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Shop-Talk-3-Elise-Okrend-IMG_0374-copy-2-e1749428548245.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"462\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-80932\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elise Okrend<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A native of New York City, Elise Okrend earned a BA in Fine Art and enjoyed a successful career in design and print production before she and her husband, Phil, founded MixedBlessing, Inc., a greeting card company. Designing cards led her back to her first love: painting pastel landscapes.<\/p>\n<p>Elise has maintained a studio in the River Arts District for more than eight years. \u201cI have always considered my art studio and gallery as a place of comfort and beauty, a sanctuary from the stresses of the world,\u201d she says. Natural light in the space along with a soothing water feature provide the backdrop for paintings she describes as \u201cvery blended, creating a dreamy and ethereal atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her studio survived the hurricane, and visitors express gratitude that the space radiates positivity and hope. \u201cA month before the storm, watercolor artist Amy Massey joined my studio in the space adjoining mine,\u201d Elise says. \u201cOur work has a synergy, with natural elements that bring a warm, healing environment to all who visit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Elise Okrend Studio &amp; Gallery is located at the Wedge Studios, 129 Roberts Street, Asheville. Learn more at <a href=\"http:\/\/EliseOkrend.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EliseOkrend.com<\/a>, or follow on Instagram (<a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/eliseokrendart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eliseokrendart<\/a>) and Facebook (<a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/eliseokrendpastelartist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eliseokrendpastelartist<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A native of New York City, Elise Okrend earned a BA in Fine Art and enjoyed a successful career in design and print production before she and her husband, Phil, founded MixedBlessing, Inc., a greeting card company. Designing cards led her back to her first love: painting pastel landscapes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":80932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-galleries"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shop Talk: Elise Okrend - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A native of New York City, Elise Okrend earned a BA in Fine Art and enjoyed a successful career in design and print production before she and her husband, Phil, founded MixedBlessing, Inc., a greeting card company. 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Designing cards led her back to her first love: painting pastel landscapes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Laurel of Asheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thelaurelofasheville\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-09T00:23:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-09T00:24:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Shop-Talk-3-Elise-Okrend-IMG_0374-copy-2-e1749428614389.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1019\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amy Pryor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AshevilleLaurel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AshevilleLaurel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amy Pryor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amy Pryor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00\"},\"headline\":\"Shop Talk: Elise Okrend\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-09T00:23:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-09T00:24:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":210,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Shop-Talk-3-Elise-Okrend-IMG_0374-copy-2-e1749428614389.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Arts\",\"Galleries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Shop Talk: Elise Okrend - The Laurel of Asheville\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/arts\\\/shop-talk-elise-okrend-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Shop-Talk-3-Elise-Okrend-IMG_0374-copy-2-e1749428614389.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-09T00:23:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-09T00:24:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thelaurelofasheville.com\\\/updatestage\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13d76582350fe4093b37d2b69174af00\"},\"description\":\"A native of New York City, Elise Okrend earned a BA in Fine Art and enjoyed a successful career in design and print production before she and her husband, Phil, founded MixedBlessing, Inc., a greeting card company. 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