Signe & Genna Grushovenko. Unique. Retro. Cool. Two for one!

I think it’s so cool that this husband-wife team work together on each piece. I love the retro’ness (is that a word?) of these paintings, reminds me of when I was a kid. Each painting has such life, color and expression.

Check out their work, but also check out their blog!

Read about Signe & Genna, from their website, I love reading about how they collaborate on a painting:

Partners in both life and art, Signe & Genna have been collaborating for nearly ten years.  

Genna begins their process by applying rich layers of pattern and tone to gessoed masonite or linen supports. Signe then selects an inspiration image from their extensive collection of vintage found photos, draws with oil pastel atop the abstract underlayer using the photo for reference, and completes the image with blocky ‘panes’ of oil color.

The final results of their collaboration are multi-layered paintings with deep surfaces, crisp at first glance but rewarding the careful viewer with an undercurrent of complex tonality and colorplay.

And because I’m so interested in the artists themselves, I thought you might enjoy this… from Bennet Galleries website:

Signe was born Kerry Signe Cornell in Michigan in 1974. She spent her first five years in the small town of Houghton Lake until she moved with her family to the equally small town of Washington, Georgia in 1979. Always drawn to the creative outlet of drawing and painting, art was a natural choice for a major upon entering college at Young Harris in the even smaller town of Young Harris, Georgia in 1991. After one year at Young Harris, Signe transferred to the big city to attend LaGrange College. After four years of art study at L.C., Signe opened Gallery 155 in Pine Mountain. A short lived venture, Gallery 155 closed it’s doors in August of 1998. The next month, Artists in Residence gallery opened with Signe as one of it’s founding members. Married to fellow gallery partner and potter Gennadiy Grushovenko in 1999, Signe teaches and paints full time at Artists in Residence and is proud to show her works with successful galleries in Atlanta, Knoxville, Chicago, and Asheville. Over the past five years, Signe has been honored with a number of awards at shows and festivals throughout the southeast and has been featured at the Period Gallery in Omaha, Nebraska, the LaGrange National Biennial, and at the Art With a Southern Drawl exhibition at the University of Mobile, Alabama.  Her recent exhibitions include solo features at the Tucker Gallery in Evanston IL & Gonchary Gallery in Kiev, Ukraine.

Image via Grushovenko.com, used with permission…

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 Mike Kowalski. This painting, Read All About It was selected for the American Watercolor Society (AWS) Show for 2015, and guess what?? Mike received the Silver Medal! Quite an honor indeed!  The show is held this month at the Salmagundi Art Club in New York.

I love everything about this painting. It’s a cool place that I want to go visit and spend time reading through the different magazines or newspapers. I like that he leaves the details to your imagination, very nice! The areas of shade and light – I just think it’s stunning!

Mike’s watercolors are brilliant. They’re well thought out and brimming with life! I am so impressed by artists who can paint with watercolors! I highly encourage you to check out his website… Gorgeous paintings, you just have to see them to believe!

Read a bit about Mike, from his website – I love how he writes!:

A friend recently told me that a good indication of what would make you happy in life would be to look back at what you were doing at the age of four or five. I was happy outside, observing nature. No need of added stimuli, just the sight, sounds and smells of our natural world. I also drew a lot. After over twenty five years as a freelance illustrator I have started pursuing art that………….. makes me happy. I was recently on the coast of California painting early in the morning. The sun rising quickly, shadows changing, wind whipping up from the west. The colors of the surf were yellows, and ochres, olives and innumerable shades of blue. I had only about an hour to get it all down. Those hours painting are what I live for.

Here’s the boring stuff:

Graduated from Utah State University with a BFA in art/illustration. The instruction at that institution was stellar.

Moved to Southern California in the early eighties where I had the opportunity to paint with Dan McCaw ( who also just happened to be on my soccer team ). I learned an awful lot in that time.

I relocated to the San Francisco bay area where I met my wife leading bicycle trips. After the birth of our first child I got a bit more serious about illustration. We moved up to the Seattle area where I began to concentrate on architectural illustration.

I’ve been busy ever since.

About five years ago I began to take steps toward a career as a fine artist. With four children that transition is slow but steady. I have many years ahead of me.

Image via MikeKowalskiFineArt.com

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Andrea Peters.  I think her work is so amazing. She’s got a cool style that is quite different. Her trees are my favorites… the trees and the funky clouds, love them! I think Andrea’s paintings are so happy. One of Andrea’s paintings made the cover of LL Bean! Pretty cool, since it seems like a majority of the country receives that catalog, ha ha…

I hope to feature one of her spring/summer images in the coming months, they are amazing!

Read a bit about Andrea, from her website:

Whatever you call it, energy, spirit or soul, grasping that is my primary goal in painting, which then becomes a personal journey for my life.
…When I paint all else ceases to exist. I am caught in a space and time that has no measure or proof other than the visual painting result. My painting transcends the now of the physical and transports me to another plane. There is only pure joy. It is comfortable yet unpredictable, exciting yet peaceful, a place to lose myself and yet find myself. This experience doesn’t happen when I plan for it, but rather when I least expect it, I’m submerged in it.
…I like the element of unpredictability and let each painting be guided by itself and that particular period in time, to let it be whatever it will be, accepting it only for what it is..a moment in my life.
…The more personal struggles there are in my life the stronger my work becomes. This is both encouraging and satisfying, yet mystifying too. But I am not concerned with this or the picture result as I am with the satisfaction and peace that the experience of painting brings me. That is personal gratification!

Images via AndreaPetersArt.com, used with permission…

While I don’t normally feature jewelry, I have to say… Apparently creativity runs in the family! Andrea’s daughter Christine Peters creates some beautiful jewelry! Check it out!

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Lisa Noonis. Fabulous! Loose. Wonderful. Stand back from the painting and look again… How does she do it? Just look at those colors! Feel the movement? Hear the ocean? This painting is too cool!

These lemons are so luscious against the dark background – whoa! Brilliant choice of background in my opinion… This is stunning to me!

Not only is Lisa’s art spectacular, her bio is fabulous. I included her artist’s statement below…

Read a bit about Lisa from her website:

artist’s statement

I strive to paint the way my mother cooks.

The process is absorbing, spiritual, sometimes transcendent—and complete only when artist and viewer, cook and eater, are invested in the outcome. 

My goal is to initiate shared experiences that will be enjoyed again and again. For that reason, my paintings are never too finished; in fact, they succeed only when there are conceptual spaces for the viewer to fill. There’s no right or wrong way to accomplish this.

In contributing my half of the shared experience, I engage fully with my inspiration, nearly forgetting myself and reacting directly to what’s occurring on the canvas. I revel in bold colors, generous amounts of paint, applied with big brushes and palette knives. I look for the essence of the subject, its truth, more than its details. Rather than rein in this state, I work to sustain it.

If you stand close to one of my paintings, you should begin to feel the way I felt while painting it. If you step back, we can resolve the image together.

biography

Images via NoonisFineArt.com, used with permission…

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Kate Mullin. Owner of The Gallery on Broad located in Charleston, SC. Kate is a talented artist who’s wide range of styles never ceases to amaze those who see her work. Kate is the youngest gallery owner in Charleston – and she has done one heck of a job. She works tirelessly to make sure everything is just as she wants it to be. She is a go getter for sure, and her success is well deserved!

Many people stop in the gallery, while passing through Charleston, SC, to see Kate’s work in person. Many have seen her paintings via her online shop, or through One Kings Lane, where they sell her prints. Everyone who comes to see Kate’s work is so excited, and those that purchase are thrilled, it’s fun to be a part of it all! As you may know, I work at the gallery part time filling in on those days Kate needs extra time to paint, and Fred, my husband, joins me when he can.

Here is an example of one of the paintings that will be available today… look at the detail… it’s even better in real life!

This one is 30×40″ Oil.

Most of Kate’s painting have a thick, buttery texture to them, some with many layers that are just so interesting. She is well known for her barns, floral paintings, as well as seascapes, abstracts and pet portrait commissions, not to mention the cool cows. Kate paints cows from the family farm, and each one that she paints has such a presence. They get a lot of attention! Kate has been busy as can be lately getting ready for this latest bit of work to hit her online shop. Be sure to check it out!

A few more to get you in the mood to shop!

Read a bit about Kate, from her website:

Kate Mullin resides in Charleston, SC and has a studio in Redux Contemporary Art Center. She is the owner of The Gallery on Broad (Historic Gallery Row; French Quarter).

Kate, a Columbus, Georgia native, received her BFA in Studio Art from Auburn University in 2011. While attending Auburn University, she won the Department of Art Merit Award in 2010 and the Joyce & Roger Lethander Purchase Award in 2011.

Kate has a wide variety of painting styles seen in her realistic portraits, impressionistic environments, abstract landscapes, and stylized flowers. Mainly painting in oil, her style has evolved from realism to more of an abstract style.

Images via KateMullinArt.com, used with permission…

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Ann Marie Coolick. Fresh scenes, thick paint, a new perspective. Check her out! I happen to really like her Birch Trees (of which there are many, but the pink in this one was the that originally caught my eye).

She’s also got a great BLOG, be sure to check it out!

Read a bit about Ann Marie from her website:

Using only palette knives and paint straight from the tube, Ann Marie is an impasto painter focusing on contemporary expressionist landscapes. Relying primarily on memory, Ann Marie’s recent body of work references organic processes and natural elements, including visual enlargements of foliage from her neighborhood, the historic Aurora Highlands in Arlington, Virginia. She slathers frosting-like paint layer upon layer onto the canvas, with paint running off the edges resulting in a sculptural, three-dimensional appearance. Ann Marie has three young boys who demand a high level of energy, no doubt influencing her bold color palette and active painting style. 

Ann Marie was a Resident Artist at the Arlington Arts Center from 2004 to 2009 where she regularly had solo exhibitions and volunteered. She graduated from Virginia Tech  Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Studio Art (honors painting concentration) and a BS in Marketing Management.  Ann Marie is represented by the Cooley Gallery in Leesburg and Covet in Arlington.

Image via AnnMarieCoolick.com, used with permission…

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Peggi Kroll Roberts. Peggi is known for her bright colors and loose style. She can make just a few strokes turn into a painting full of life! Ahhh, look at this painting. The color, the movement, the FEELING… I would like to be there with them right now! They look like a fun group!

Peggi also paints with watercolor. Just look how colors placed in just the right way gives the object a sense of space. Peggi is well known for her workshops, check out that link! She also has many DVD’s for sale – all fabulous!

Read a bit about Peggi, from her website:

Award winning artist, Peggi Kroll-Roberts, was trained at Arizona State University and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA.  Peggi worked as a fashion and advertising illustrator before making the transition into fine art.  Using  intense color and value to accentuate her subject, she moved into fine art with a bold palette, a love for small paintings and a very loose style that achieves a lot with a few very energetic brush strokes.  She prefers to suggest reality than render it.  

Inspired by her children she paints beach scenes and other aspects of their lives.  She also breaks away from the conventional still life by painting scenes of cosmetics and the occasional coffee cup or slab of butter.  Peggi’s work gives us a new appreciation of our own daily life.

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Debra Huse. I love this woman’s work! It’s different. Fabulous colors and her style is one I absolutely adore. To try to figure out WHICH painting could be your biggest problem (and what a problem to have!) – each and every one is stunning! Take Yosemite Renaissance XXIV for example… How wonderful is that? I love the body expressions! The background lends itself to making the people stand out wonderfully but gives you a sense of where they are. Love it!

Debra has some beautiful paintings of sailboats, just lovely. Check them out on her website… Debra also owns her own gallery, and a top notch one it is! Visit the Debra Huse Gallery!

Read a bit about Debra from her website, and check out all the WORKSHOPS for 2015! :

Name: Debra Huse (Ressel)

Studio; A Marina in Newport Beach, CA

Gallery: Debra Huse Gallery, 229 Marine Ave. 
Balboa Island, CA 92662 www.debrahusegallery.com

Born & Raised: Indianapolis, IN

Favorite Book; Two Years Before the Mast

Family: Husband Randy Ressel
Transportation: 43’ Santa Barbara Sportfishing Boat. 

Artist’s Statement

I’ve been blessed with the talent of seeing and the passion for painting. Oil is such a luscious medium. Applying lots of paint – moving it around and carving out areas is fascinating. As a contemporary plein air colorist, I strive to capture the beauty of the moment, the poetry of the atmosphere, and the notes of colorful light with the spontaneity and energy of a painter intrigued. Not painting is not an option.

Images via DebraHuse.com, used with permission…

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Michael Situ. Take a minute to look through his website. His paintings are stunning. His color are just perfect. In the painting above, Heisler Park View – Just look at those shadows.I swear I can hear the ocean and the crashing waves, I can feel the sun, and those palm trees… amazing! Love the rocky shore and the great feeling of distance in this painting!

Another great painting, and for me, the reason it really catches my eye is the use of dark/light. Michael skillfully places his strokes in just the right location making the painting really pop. It’s nice that the details aren’t there, he’s left that for you to do… and it’s wonderful!

Read a bit about Michael from his website – click on his BIO tab to see more!

Michael Situ is a nationally recognized artist in the United States. An award winning artist, he is a Signature Member of Oil Painters of America, California Art Club, Laguna Plein Air Painters Association and American Impressionist Society. He is a contemporary artist of the California Impressionist Style. He is known for his luminous and richly colored landscapes of the coasts, mountains and various scenes that capture his imagination. Powerful compositions, strong brushwork, a gorgeous sense of color all come together in perfect harmony, marking him is a masters of plein air painter.

At an early age he begin to interest drawing and painting, growing up in China where he completed his art education at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, Situ developed a deep appreciation for nature and a passion for art.

Michael arrived in the America in 1989 and now lives in Southern California. He is a full time professional artist whose artwork has been exhibited in numerous national major competition and museums, national juried exhibitions such as the Arts for the Parks Top 100 International Competition, the Oil Painters of America’s Annual National Juried Exhibition, the California Art Club’s Annual Golden Medal Juried Exhibition, the Masters of Fine Art Salon International Juried Exhibition. 

Check out his website for more!

Images via MichaelSitu.com, used with permission…

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Steven Aimone. Very cool guy and talented artist. Steven and his wife Katherine live on Monhegan Island (Maine) part of the year – and I just can’t imagine it getting much better than that! Both Steven and his wife are artists and besides painting they have another business… Aimone Art Services, where Steven teaches abstract painting workshops (read more here)…

From the photos that are posted it looks like everyone really has a good time! Check them out!

Read a bit about Steven from his website:

Born and raised in northern New Jersey, Steven Aimone spent his formative years as an artist in New York City, immersing himself in the offerings of galleries and museums. While there, he attended graduate school at Brooklyn College where he received an MFA in painting and drawing. 

In 1993, Aimone left NYC and journeyed to Florida where he served as Visiting Artist in painting, drawing, and design at Stetson University.  He subsequently served as Artistic Director of Arts on Douglas (commercial gallery in New Smyrna Beach) and helped found ProArt Institute, a non-profit arts organization offering fine arts courses to working artists. 

In 2000, Aimone married artist and fine arts writer-curator Katherine Duncan (Aimone). In 2002, the couple formed Aimone Art Services, offering fine arts workshops and arts writing services. Through AAS, Steven has taught workshops to a wide range of audiences in venues throughout North America. His most recent book, Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within, was published in 2009. 

Aimone’s art works have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York and elsewhere on the east coast, and are represented in more than a dozen corporate and numerous private collections.

The Aimones now live and work in Rockland and Monhegan Island, Maine, in the summer, and Asheville, North Carolina during the winter.

Check out both Steve and Katherine’s work, and if you’re looking for a workshop for abstract painting,

I think you’ve found just the place!

Image via StevenAimone.com , used with permission…

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Dan Young. Wonderful paintings. Dan’s color palette is to be applauded, along with his brilliant skies and those peeps of light that just make this painting sing! His paintings are remarkable, check them out!

Dan has quite a few SHOWS coming up this year… as well as a workshop in February!

Read a bit about Dan from his website:

Dan Young was born in Denver, and grew up in western Colorado. “ Camping and fishing through out the Rocky Mountains as a child, has been a strong influence on me and my work,” Young stated. He attended Colorado Institute of Art, hoping to find a direction in art. After graduation he moved to Dallas to pursue the commercial art field. Even with a successful Illustration career, the landscape was always calling him back. In 1989, he returned to Colorado to begin painting full time. Young enjoys painting the rural life of the west, the ranches that dot the mountain valleys and river bottoms. He states,“ Though I’m a landscape painter, I like introducing hints of man’s presence in the landscape. Sometimes I feel I’m in a race to paint a disappearing way of life. It’s hard to watch so many of the family farms and ranches being swallowed up by development.” 

Young clings strongly to the importance of painting from life. He feels painting from life was the most important stepping stone for his career. Most days you can find him painting along a backroad or beside a mountain lake. 

“I still spend about 50 percent of my time painting on location. That’s what drew me to painting, the love of being out in nature and trying to accurately capture it on canvas. I still get excited when I head out for a day of painting. It doesn’t matter if I paint in Alaska or out my front door, it helps keep me fresh to paint on location,” he says.

Images via DanYoungStudio.com, used with permission…

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Jeff Slemons. Fine Illustration and Fine Art… the choice is yours. Jeff is one of the most innovative individuals I have run across! Wildly talented and so creative! His bio is just a delight to read. Featured below are a few from the Fine Art side, but check out the illustration side of his website. His creativity is mind blowing. The illustrations for children’s books are breathtaking! They exude happiness, fun and adventure! How incredible to flip between two so very different styles. I am very impressed.

Isn’t this painting amazing? Behemoth in Repose is such a regal animal. Just look at those eyes. What a wonderful creature! The background in this painting is stunning!

From Jeff’s website:

How many men in their 40’s wear a comic book T-shirt under a suit jacket? Well, one that we can think of. Jeff Slemons. His art studio is bigger than his actual home. His heroes aren’t sports figures or rock stars, but Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) and Frank Frazetta (Conan the Barbarian). He’s been called the six-fingered man because he always has a pencil, pen or paintbrush in his hand. 

From the Abend Gallery website:

NO DOUBT! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Michele Usibelli. It’s so exciting to run across artists who’s work stands out from others. One that you can recognize. I think this is such an interesting composition, it definitely leads me right on in to the painting. I feel as if I am on a horse following the group through the water, splish-splash. I like that! What fantastic colors in the water, and those towering trees. Lovely!

Maison d’être is a cool home store located in Oakland, CA – I love the way Michele captured it. The cool greens, the tree in the foreground. Love it! The colors are fabulous, great light and I like how Michele left the details to your imagination. This painting isn’t overdone, which isn’t easy to do – wonderful!

Read a bit about Michele from her website:

Like all artists, I feel like I was born to create and was drawn to art from as early as I can remember. After earning my degree in architecture from the University of Washington, I combined my professional life with my love of travel, working in locations throughout the world. My extensive travels and life experiences provide the solid platform from which my artwork is created.

My work is created primarily in oils, but I also enjoy working in acrylics and pastels in my representational style. My early training established a strong foundation in the Russian Impressionist tradition of seeing and painting shapes of light and color using relatively loose brushstrokes. I have studied extensively and been influenced by numerous historic artists, most notably Nicholai Fechin, John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase. All of these influences have allowed me to establish my own unique artistic style and define me as a truly versatile artist. While I am drawn to many painting genres; still life, landscape, cityscapes and figurative, my individual style and paint application is a constant theme throughout my work, creating a consistent body of art that is uniquely my own. Collectors continuously say they “can spot my work from across the room”. Establishing my own, unique, artistic voice is my primary goal and collectors appreciate the fact that I will never paint the same image twice, every piece that I create is truly an original, completed to my highest standards. 

I am thankful to have the opportunity to pursue this passion I call art! Through my art I have had the opportunity to establish many long term friendships with collectors, galleries and other artists. When a collector purchases a piece I do not view it as a one time event, I view it as a new friend for life. I am extremely grateful for those who have supported me and hope you will continue to appreciate and support all artists who are making the world a more beautiful place. 

… click here to continue… Michele also has some wonderful paintings on her blog… check it out!

All images via MicheleUsibelli.com, used with permission…

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Robert C. Moore. His paintings take my breath away. Cottonwoods is one of my favorite paintings. Just look at the light in the trees – and the background… WHOA! Gorgeous. The combination of colors, brushstrokes/palette knife and striking composition make this painting a WOW painting to me.

Read a bit about Robert from his website:

 Image via RMooreFineArt.com – used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!