As I write this it is chilly outside. Freezing cold chilly… OK, not freezing cold, because I am in Charleston, SC, but 48 degrees F, “feels like 42” and windy feels like -10F… I guess its because I’ve been here so long? There is nothing like a toasty fire to warm your bones (and your feet!)… I’m looking so forward to one this evening!
A stunning painting, right? Dee Beard Dean is well know nationwide and has quite a following. Dee’s work is nothing short of amazing, she paints both plein air (outdoors) and does studio paintings. I thought I would feature a few of her winter scenes. I love snow scenes (especially in the heat of the summer!), there is something that feels like home about them. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in Michigan? Dee’s paintings make you feel as if you are there! She has quite a way with light and shadow, wouldn’t you say? I love that little splash of red in this painting…
After the Snowfall by Dee Beard Dean
Yet another fabulous winter scene, where you can feel the cold from the snow but also the warmth from the sun. Again, amazing light and shadows. I love the dark branches with the highlights of white… She’s got great color and brushstrokes in the snow and it’s nice how you can feel perspective in this painting – simply fabulous!
The holiday season officially kicks off and is in full swing. Many of you are out and about today on “Black Friday” trying to find just the right gift… Have you considered the gift of art? It’s the gift that keeps on giving, year after year!
These paintings are available (as I write this a few days ahead) at Galerie on Broad – located at 29 Broad Street, Charleston, SC – you can contact them at 843.410.6332 or email them at galerieonbroad@me.com. Better yet, if you’re in the area stop in and say hello!
In case you aren’t familiar with Dee…
Dee Beard Dean has been painting all her life. She was raised in the Amish countryside of rural Indiana and studied at Grand Rapids College, Kendall College of Art, and the New York Academy of Art. After marriage, she moved to the Florida Keys where she became a professional painter and passed the gift of painting to her two children, Terry Sargent and John Beard, both of whom are now successful artists. Before gaining recognition as a portrait and landscape painter, Dee pursued a career in fashion, designing and manufacturing her own clothing line with a national label.
Dee is a passionate and prolific artist who has studied with many renowned artists and is nationally recognized for her painterly landscapes and her expertise in many media including pastels, watercolors, and oils. Her greatest inspirations have come from painting en plein air where her eye for color and composition, and her elevated senses guide her hand in creating paintings filled with evocative light and dramatic shadows.
Dee founded the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast (PAP-SE), a professional organization of acclaimed plein air artists living and working in the southeastern US. Her workshops are in great demand, offering instruction in this country and in beautiful locales around the world. She is also well known for her portraits and has done many noteworthy commissions. Dee has received many awards at juried art competitions and has been published in regional and national journals. Her artworks can currently be seen at fine art galleries around the country. Dee resides in Charleston, SC with her husband, Dr. Nicolai Chalfa. Her first book, A Painter by Providence, is in publication.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! This is a photo I took last year while visiting my parents… I was up and out early taking photos of a beautiful sunrise (something to be thankful for all in itself!)… I was walking back to the house and saw that my dad plugged in the Christmas tree and the lights in the window… When you look at it you can see the reflection of the sunrise…
I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, my awesome family, for our little beastie wonder, Charlie, for the sunrises and sunsets, good health, good friends and of course, for you!
Dan Gerhartz. Whoa. Just look at this painting Wrapped in Winter… how can someone create something so beautiful? The winter scene in the background is stunning, but when you place a beautiful girl and a horse it is just stunning… you can feel the cold from the snow and the warmth from the girl and horse… Gorgeous!
Dan has a fabulous website, be sure to check out his paintings, they are simply incredible! He also writes one heck of a blog, so be sure to give that a peek if you’re an art lover!
Evening on the Riverwalk is another striking painting (when you look at them all you’ll see they are all striking!) – I love nocturnes, especially with that great warm light, the beautiful color of the snow that looks so real you could actually walk right into this scene. Lovely!
Born in 1965 in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, where he now lives with his wife Jennifer, and their young children, Dan’s interest in art emerged as a teenager. Studies at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois and his voracious appetite for museums and the modern masters such as John Singer Sargent, Alphonse Mucha, Nicolai Fechin, Joaquin Sorolla, Carl von Marr as well as a host of other French and American impressionists have inspired him.
Dan has a particular interest and appreciation for modern Russian art and the sumptuous canvases of the painters Nicolai Fechin, Isaac Levitan and Ilya Repin. As Dan says, their paintings are “completely loose yet deliberate and faithful, not at all flashy.”
Indeed, the powerful and evocative beauty of Gerhartz’s paintings are also due in large measure to looseness, honesty and faithfulness of his style. Dan’s paintings embrace a range of subjects, most prominently the female figure in either a pastoral setting or an intimate interior. He is at his best with subjects from everyday life, genre subjects, sacred-idyllic landscapes or figures in quiet repose, meditation or contemplative isolation.
His mastery of the female figure, the clothed figure especially, is brilliant. He has drawn inspiration from the very old tradition of romanticism and symbolism. His absolutely lavish surfaces, color and lighting are in harmony with his expressionistic brushstroke, application and modeling of light and shade.
His paintings are sensitive yet evocative creations, which dramatize his bold and ambitious technique. He is at his very best when he allows himself to explore the surface in a free and painterly manner, while retaining his sense of other worldliness.
His subjects evoke a timelessness and idealism, yet for the most part Dan has drawn upon his home and community in Wisconsin, including family and friends. His sense of intimacy and honesty with regard to his subjests are a direct result of his closeness and proximity to them. A projection of tranquillity, repose and rich introspection result from his knowledge of the content of his art.
In Gerhartz’s pictures the ordinary or commonplace is transformed into a higher reality and consequently a sense of greater importance. Emotions are a vital part of his express design, while his mastery of anatomy, the human form and complex surfaces combine to make his canvases very powerful visual experiences.
About his work Dan has said, “My desire as an artist is that the images I paint would point to the Creator, and not to me, the conveyor. J.S. Bach said it well as he signed his work, ‘Soli DeoGloria,’ To God alone be the glory.”
earPlanes… these discreet little ear plugs that relieves that horrible air pressure pain that many of us feel when we travel. Have you heard the babies and young children screaming in pain during descent when flying on an airplane? The pain is excruciating. I have the same pain. Every. Time. I. Fly. I seriously dreaded it until I ran across these earplugs years ago… they carry them all over, Walgreen, Walmart, etc. They’re usually in the aisle of the store that contains eye drops/ear drops… They’re good for one round trip flight. I would not get on a plane without them… They come in adult and child sizes. If you know of anyone who suffers from this pain – tell them about these!
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This painting is so striking… it jumped right out at me, and I absolutely love it! The undertones and layers of paint really make this stand out. The fabulous light hitting the building with the shadows not far away… then that fabulous green… especially where the light hits, like on the ladder… STUNNING! I urge you to check out Terry’s work, it really is worth taking a look… if you aren’t familiar with him, I promise you will see some amazing paintings!
Arcangelo No. 3 by Terry Miura
Fabulous, right? This looks like something that was created centuries ago… there is just enough detail… and again, those wonderful layers and gorgeous background! Terry’s website is so good… full of information! Check out the 2014 Workshop Schedule as well as his blog!
After graduating from Art Center College of Design in 1990, Terry Miura headed out to New York City to pay his dues. He began his career as a freelance illustrator, creating imagery for such clients as Time, Newsweek, Rollingstone, and Sports Illustrated, to name a few.
In between illustration assignments he painted and exhibited cityscapes, and continued his transition to becoming a full time painter after returning to the West Coast in 1996.
Miura’s evocative tonalist landscapes explore the relationship between memory, emotions, and identity. “Although they’re still very much representational,” says Miura, “they’re not about specific locations. Well, actually they are, but the locations are found in my and the viewer’s memories. Not out there in the physical world. “
With atmosphere, mood, and abstraction as driving characteristics of his work, Miura has, more recently been revis- iting the complexities of the cityscape as a major part of his repertoire. Urban Aria, his latest solo exhibition at Thomas Reynolds Gallery in San Francisco, illustrates his mastery in this genre.
Emotion and abstraction carries over to his figurative works. It is in this genre that Miura finds most personal expression; “In painting the figure, I allow myself to get lost in the process and take more risks. Only by deconstructing the representational and the objective, am I able to tap into the more subconscious, intuitive voice which for me, is at once mysterious and authentic.”
His works are represented by Sloane Merrill Gallery in Boston, Thomas Reynolds Gallery in San Francisco, Anne Irwin Gallery in Atlanta, Sekula’s in Sacramento, and Holton Studio in Emeryville, Ca.
There is a sleepy town not far from here where it seems like time stands still. It’s called Rockville, SC – and it’s the most beautiful little spot. Truly I bet it looks like it did years and years ago. I mean that in a very good way. It’s not commercial (no stores, gas stations, restaurants). It’s like life the way it should be… the houses are beautiful and so well kept. The oak trees are extremely large and appear to be very happy. Rockville is Charleston County’s oldest surviving summer resort, dating back to 1824! I love places like this… it’s nice to be busy, but it’s nice to be where the pace is slower… and thanks to Ken DeWaard for this shot… I would never have seen it, but since he is way up in the clouds (tall), I saw him snap a photo, but couldn’t see what he was taking a photo of… so I pulled out my viewfinder and lifted my camera up high – EUREKA! I wanna be tall! What else am I missing??
I took this photo last year when I took a trip home to see my family… they have the most amazing sunrises that reflect against the river. I am the crazy fool out in the cold with my camera snapping photos like a crazy person… PJ’s on… and whoever’s shoes are by the door… off I go. I cannot NOT take a photo. It’s not in me. When I see something beautiful that catches my eye SNAP* SNAP… there are some beautiful sunrises/sunsets in this part of the world! Wishing you a beautiful sunrise or sunset!
I think Elaine’s use of color is amazing! She’s definitely not afraid of it! Elaine has some spectacular paintings and a variety of subject matter.The color in the building (Red Corner on Main) is fabulous as are the shadows that play against the light… this looks like a place you could walk right up to and have a lovely lunch sitting in the sunshine…
After enjoying a nice lunch basking in the warmth of the sun you could meander over to Lobsters and Crabs and pick up something to throw together for dinner… Elaine’s paintings are fabulous and make you wish you were there!
Read a blip about Elaine from her website (there is more, so be sure to check it out)!
My paintings express the feeling of awe I have with the landscape. They are more likely to be joyous, energetic, vibrant, complex works as opposed to gentle, pastel or brooding canvasses. I look for the surprise in the composition, whether it be a statement made by a lone figure, a spot of orange found in an otherwise green wood, or an unusual lavender reflection in a river at dusk. It is exciting for me to take an ordinary scene and make it extraordinary.
I have been painting my whole life, and professionally since 1994. I work only in oil. I love painting en plein air (outdoors from life), as well as completing larger works in the studio from on-site studies, reference sketches, and photographs. With commissioned works I generally complete more than one on-site sketch and often use reference photographs as well.
I live and work in the Philadelphia area and love to travel, bringing my painting equipment wherever I go. I enjoy capturing bright warm colors, the long shadows of late afternoon, and creating complex compositions so the viewer has much to contemplate. Paintings can be found in the most unlikely places, as well as the likely ones. I know I have been successful in my work when the viewer feels as though he or she has been there. People often say, “It feels like you could walk right into it!”.
Painting is part of my life’s journey. Producing art is a journey in itself, as I never know when I begin a painting where it will take me.
This is a fabulous recipe that you may have run across before… it’s on the back of the Ocean Spray Cranberry bag (fresh cranberries in the produce department). This is the perfect time of year to pick up a few bags. Cranberries freeze well and you can make your own cranberry sauce (you will not believe how quick and easy it is – you will never run to the store for it again!)…. and the taste?? SO. MUCH. BETTER. THAN. CANNED.
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons shortening
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 cups Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, orange peel, shortening and egg. Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in loaf pan.
Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Makes 1 loaf (16 slices).
To recap:
Mix together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, salt)
Dry ingredients…
Then add the wet ingredients, orange juice, orange peel, shortening and egg, once mixed together add the fresh cranberries and chopped nuts and pour into prepared pan…
Ready for the oven!
Pop it into the oven, sit back, have a tea and wait… ooooh, smell that wonderful smell… it’s delicious hot, cold and it freezes well! E N J O Y !
Judith Carducci is an amazing pastel artist – I adore how she did this interior above. The golden glow of the fireplace and the portions left somewhat unfinished but so very cool!
Monhegan from the Cemetery by Judith Carducci
For those of you who have been to Monhegan, ME, you will instantly recognize this view – spectacular, right? Pastels are a medium I’m not really familiar with, I just know when I see something I like, and I like this… be sure to check out more of Judith’s work, as well as her upcoming workshops!
When I was a child, my art teacher had me copy “Holbein Heads” – drawings by the great Hans Holbein, portraitist to the court of England’s King Henry VIII. That was the beginning of my lifelong fascination with portraiture and my enduring respect for Holbein’s genius. Even now, my teacher’s voice, as she showed me the fine points of his skill, echoes in my ear: “Look for the lost and found!”
This self portrait of the artist on a coffee break, in intense concentration assessing the work in progress (values? edges? gesture? composition…?), is also my homage to Holbein, his strength of characterization and his use of color (especially in the simple rich green background). And it is nostalgic for me – a reminder of my love and gratitude for my teacher.
I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite things with you on occasion… and Jo Malone perfume is definitely on that list! I’m not a big perfume wearer. I’m not one who likes to walk around in a heavy cloud of scent. I am sensitive to other people possibly not liking my choice in perfume, so I keep it light. I like clean fresh scents. A light spritz will do, although with Jo Malone perfume you can use more without being overpowering, which is nice. One cool thing about their perfume, is that some of the scents are unisex. The fresher scents tend to be that way, like the Lime, Basil & Mandarin scent. It’s so nice…
You can also layer perfume with different scents. I haven’t done that yet, and most likely won’t, I’m happy with a spritz of one or the other… But if this interests you, Nordstrom has a Fragrance Combining Menu for Jo Malone fragrances. For example, it shows you can mix the Lime, Basil, Mandarin (top) with Grapefruit (above). I’ve also read that those who wear citrus scents are perceived as being up to 8 years younger than those who wear other scents… excuse me while I go spritz!!
One of my last favorites is the Amber and Lavender… lovely scent, so unique. A clean, calming scent… I like this one a lot in the winter… don’t know why. These photos are 3.4 oz bottles, but they also come in 1 oz bottles which last a long time. It’s wonderful if you visit a store that carries Jo Malone. Nordstrom carries it in the store and online – free shipping and free returns… can’t beat it!
Walt Gonske, an artist from Taos, New Mexico, has some wonderful work and I am thrilled to have run across it! Ahhh, the beauty of the Internet! I have found so many wonderful artists and Walt is no exception! He’s got some nice shapes going on, some fabulous color, nice brush strokes and he kept it loose enough to leave it to your imagination… I like that a lot! Give his website a peek if you get a chance!
Walt’s work reminds me a little of Charles Movalli. Charles Movalli is one amazing painter, and a fabulous person from what I hear. You can spot one of his paintings from a mile away. He has a way of simplifying that is incredible. Matter-of-fact, I just watched a YouTube video on SIMPLICITY by Charles Movalli and it was inspirational! Check it out if you get a chance!
“In the past, I would have an idea for a painting and hold to that idea through to the finish. I could pretty much see the end result before I started. There were no surprises. But now my understanding of the process is that the idea is just the first impulse. From that first impulse forward, improvisation takes over. The end result is not about that first idea, but is instead a record of all those impulses along the way. Each stroke of paint carries emotion and power. I work in a loose, painterly style in part because I want the viewer to see the process and not hide it behind ‘finish;’ for the viewer to maybe even feel how a particular piece of paint was put down.
Painting is not about reproducing nature. I like the notion that art should have more to do with the communication of the artist’s emotions to the viewer through the paint itself.
My goal in the work is not to show what I know, but what I feel. The more intensely I can express emotion though paint about the subject, the more likely the viewer will respond. All I can do is make an honest effort and then accept without judgement. To remain neutral about the paintings and to not judge them as good or bad is very important to moving forward.
My best work comes when I’m able to give up control, to trust my impulses. Then the painting takes on a life of its own. When I don’t know what is going to happen next, the process becomes full of surprise and wonder.
We go to art school to learn the rules about drawing and painting. After many years of developing skills and acquiring knowledge, I know what I will get as a finished product if I control the process. What I don’t know is where it would lead and what would happen if I gave up control. This is what interests me now.
It’s a different way of thinking – or not thinking so much. To remain empty of all preconceived ideas about how a piece will turn out. It’s simply a mind-shift away from repeating what I already know and to allow that unknowable, creative spirit to come through.
That’s easier said than done of 40 years of learning how to do this thing called art. But all that stops one from stepping into unknown territory is doubt and fear. If I’m willing to give up control over my skills and ability to do things a certain way, then new forms and techniques will come to me.”
I know I’ve mentioned it before… but, if you haven’t made your way to Botany Bay you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s like traveling back in time. There is a short, but beautiful walk you can take to the beach. You aren’t allowed to take shells (big fine), which is actually kind of nice because you see what a beach would look like if no one were to mess with it. It’s awe inspiring! This day just happened to rain while we were walking to the beach, but you can see the clear sky peaking through the clouds!
This geranium sits in an office window on Broad Street. It is beautiful year after year… wonder if it’s the same one? Look at that wonderful light! As I write this we are in the midst of an “arctic blast” of cold weather. My fingers feel like they are about to crack… some of this sun would feel mighty nice right now! As you read this I believe our temps are supposed to warm up quite nicely! Woohoo, gotta love Charleston, SC!
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