Laurie attended Memphis Academy of Art Saturday school as a child, and studied art throughout her high school years.  Samuels graduated in 1980 from the University of Mississippi with a BF in Design.

In 1999, she took a watercolor class and fell in love with painting all over again.  Prompted by friends that she paints with regularly, she attempted acrylics a couple of years ago.  It is in this medium that she has found the freedom to experiment with many elements that have long defined her design and art background.

Many pieces feature abstracted textural grounds superimposed with some amount of realism.  It is within these textures the experimentation takes place with layering, scraping, sanding, stamping, and stenciling, etc.  Once a ground has progressed to the point of pleasing her she then begins to figure out what should be painted realistically on it to complete the work.  It is this process, often not knowing where it is going, in which she has found the most pleasure in her painting.  Samuels is widely sold by designers and privately collected all over the southeast.  She is an active member of the Georgia Watercolor Society, the Watercolor Society of Alabama, the Mississippi Watercolor Society, and the National Watercolor Society. 

Laurie resides in Tennessee with her husband, and her two college age children. Many of the paintings of botanticals and birds are directly influenced  from her love of gardening.