Artist to watch… Greta Van Campen!

Image: DowlingWalsh.com

Hey! It’s not too late! There’s still time to catch this show at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine! I first saw Greta’s name mentioned while reading Colin Page’s Journal (if you haven’t read it… it’s addictive, this is one VERY talented artist, who shares a wealth of information). Greta’s work is so different. I am impressed. This is one girl with some energy! She has a great WEBSITE and BLOG. She’s in a fabulous gallery, the DOWLING WALSH GALLERY. So if you are fortunate enough to live anywhere in the Rockland vicinity and haven’t seen Greta’s show yet… I would find a way to make it over there…

Here’s a blip about Greta from the Dowling Walsh website:

Greta Paints America

“Over the course of 2011, I plan to visit all 50 of the United States and paint a portrait of America. The act of painting helps me to look more closely and honestly at all that is around. I want to explore contemporary America, while also learning about the history of the land and people in our country. I want to meet individuals from all walks of life and listen to their stories. My goal will be to preserve and share the experience of paying close attention to all that I see and learn by capturing it in paint. A car will serve as my main mode of transportation, but I’ll also be traveling by plane, bus, rail, boat, and foot. I want to begin the project with loose guidelines: one year, 50 states, oil paint, an open and curious mind, and the desire to learn, listen, explore, and look closely. Hopefully, if I hold true to those guidelines, the project will develop organically, leading me to many great discoveries!”

Greta will have a solo exhibition at Dowling Walsh Gallery from Friday, September 30th through Sunday, October 30th, 2011.

One more image… from Dowling Walsh’s website… check them out for more!

Image: DowlingWalsh.com

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Karen Lawrence!

Image: CityArtGreenville.com

I really enjoy paintings done of interiors. I love to get a glimpse into other peoples homes, it’s kind of like taking a home tour without going anywhere. I appreciate other people’s style and design (well, most of the time!) Karen Lawrence is an artist from Atlanta, GA who primarily does interiors. They’re fantastic. She does paint other subjects, but interiors are what she’s known for. What drew me to this painting was the gorgeous deep dark greens that you see through the window next to the bright light. This painting is entitled SUMMER SUN.

It appears that Karen is in the midst of updating her website (we always appreciate an up-to-date website when we aren’t close enough to pop into a gallery and see the real thing! For now click HERE for a link to see her work. Her original website is http://www.karenlawrenceoils.com – check back in a bit, give her a chance to update! Here’s a blip from the temporary website:

I paint every day in my studio at Tula Art Center in Atlanta. That is, when I’m not out photographing beautiful homes and meeting the people who live in them. I’m intrigued by how people live and the common thread that connects us with our past. I love houses with history and rooms filled with beloved treasures.

The elegance of a curved archway, the drama of tall ceilings and open French doors, the intimacy of an overstuffed chair with a good reading lamp – are all elements of scenes waiting to be painted. For me, the other essential element is light. I’m especially excited by the play of bright sunlight streaking across the floor or warm lamplight drawing one to a comfortable place.

After wrestling with the perspective of a foyer with multiple archways reflected in mirrors or chair legs that don’t want to cooperate with my paintbrush, I relax with the tranquility of a vase of flowers on a table. I find still life very comforting. I love the colors reflecting on shiny surfaces and the freshness of garden flowers backlit by sun pouring in my dining room windows.

My style of painting is a rather loose version of realism. I spent thirteen years developing my style and technique in watercolors. Since 1997, I have been painting almost exclusively in oils.

Karen is in several galleries click HERE for a list from her website… Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Chris Groves!

Image: HortonHayes.com

Chris Groves has got an eye for art. His paintings are breathtaking. Most (to me) have that rare old world look to them. This one is a bit different, this one is looser, but is so awesome. Chris has his work at the Horton Hayes Gallery downtown Charleston. This is one beautiful gallery and his work fits perfectly within its walls.

Here’s a blip from the Horton Hayes Gallery. If you’re in the area, stop in the gallery, if not they have an excellent website! I just love his pieces from Italy!

Chris Groves’ love of art grew from his early experiences with nature and the introduction of a master sculpture in his youth.

Groves was born in Boulder, Colorado, but soon moved with his family to Slidell, Louisiana. Those early years in Slidell were spent outside, exploring the woods, swimming in the bayou, boating, fishing, playing with snakes and other wild animals. It was during those years that Groves learned to love the outdoors and nature.

At the age of ten, Groves’ family returned to Boulder where he continued his exploration of nature with countless hikes, mountain climbs and camping trips. His parents gave him a nature-drawing book and Groves latched onto it as a source of awe and inspiration. He would spend countless hours copying the drawings and enhancing them with his own interpretation. His parents, recognizing their sons’ talent and appreciation of art, hired a private tutor to instruct him in basic techniques. Soon, Groves’ interest turned from nature to people. Groves looked to magazines, friends and siblings as a source of inspiration and drew detailed portraits of their faces.

In high school, Groves met sculptor, Glenna Goodacre, the mother of a school friend. Meeting with her and seeing some of the success she enjoyed as a artist (Vietnam Women’s memorial, Sacagawea US Dollar design) helped to inspire Groves’ own artistic aspirations.

After graduating from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.F.A. in Environmental Design, Groves spent the next ten years as an art director for two large companies, all the while continuing to study and hone his fine art skills.

Groves has studied at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, the Colorado Academy of Art, the Loveland Art Academy, the Cottonwood Art Academy and the Denver Arts Students League. He also enjoyed a private, two- year mentorship with artist Jay Moore, which he considers a turning point in his artistic career.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Tom Curry!

Image: GleasonFineArt.com

I love to introduce artists that you might not run across… good ones, artists that are unique… I would like you to meet Maine artist, Tom Curry. This is a fabulous pastel on paper entitled BOAT HOUSE, I love the orange undertones, its a very striking piece! It’s at Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. If you’re in the area, check him out! If not, check out Gleason’s website, he’s under the CONTEMPORARY ART section. The artist also has a FABULOUS website, (click HERE)… so check him out!  Here’s a blip from his website (the Artists Statement):

Life on the Maine coast is charged with a brilliance, a wildness. The waters are a living green ecosystem, radiating wonder. There’s an urgency to my work because so many of these places are being lost to development.

Nature, ever changing, offers countless compositions. I want to evoke a place, time and atmosphere in my work. The natural world is my big studio, filled with opportunities to observe nature and explore its seamless miracle. Open air painting is a selection process: this sky, these waves, this foreground. It’s not a fragment, but a series of experiences not limited to space and time like a photograph. Many places feel sacred to me, places where the landscape evokes a sense of stewardship and reverence.

I have worked with pastel more than 20 years. The medium’s fluidity and immediacy allow me to capture the ever changing light, water, and atmosphere. I often return to work in the same locations with infinite daily results.

Many artists influence my work: Ferdinand Hodler, Wolf Kahn, Marsden Hartley, Tom Thompson and Rockwell Kent. I also find inspiration in Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot’s paintings of the Italian countryside, as well in the work of Edgar Degas, Fairfield Porter, Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent.

Enjoy! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Betty Anglin Smith! October Skies show opens Friday!

Image: SmithKillian.com

Talk about spectacular paintings. Ohmygosh! I love Betty’s work. I love her style, her GREAT colors and fantastic subject matter. Most of the time what Betty paints is what she looks at from her studio, on the water in Meggett, SC. A setting that makes you think you’re back in time with the big old oak trees, the water, the cottage that has been restored beyond preciousness… the fabulous porch, the backyard, it’s a mecca of beauty! The most perfect spot for an artist to paint!

Betty’s paintings have presence. You notice them. They’re beautiful on brown walls :), they’re beautiful on ANY color wall! My husband and I are both big fans. We have so many favorites, well, Betty is just one of our very special favorite artists. You know how I’ve mentioned before that we just can’t buy a painting from someone we don’t admire, respect or at least like? Betty is the absolute nicest woman, she’s a blast to talk to, we love catching up with her about her painting trips around the country. Check out their (Betty and her triplet kids, two painters and a photographer, all amazing!) website, they’re in a gorgeous gallery downtown Charleston, SC. It’s like a movie set, a perfect backdrop for beautiful paintings!

If you’re in Charleston you simply cannot miss Betty’s show… OCTOBER SKIES will be in the gallery for the art walk on October 7, 2011… check with the gallery if you have any questions. Click HERE to go to the Smith Killian Gallery website.

A blip about the artist from the Smith Killian Website:

A native of the Carolinas, Smith has firmly established herself in Charleston’s artistic community. With a style consisting of large brush strokes and bold, vibrant colors, Smith has grown exceptionally accomplished at capturing the expansive marsh vistas, beaches and waterways that are an integral part of the Lowcountry landscape. Following the birth of her children, who incidentally are triplets, Smith enrolled in art classes at the Gibbes Museum of Art in downtown Charleston, where she further developed her love of painting. “I really became serious about it immediately”, Smith recalls. “It was like a part of me that I had not been able to fulfill yet. I was lost in it.” For the past twenty-five years, Smith has dedicated herself to painting, and though her subject matter frequently reflects the Lowcountry landscape, her success has far outgrown the confines of South Carolina. Her work has been shown in prominent galleries across the nation, from New York, Washington D.C. and Martha’s Vineyard, MA, to San Francisco, and Carmel, CA. In addition, many of her pieces are included in some of the nation’s finest corporate collections such as Walt Disney World, IBM, and Johnson and Johnson. But despite being a native of South Carolina, her love of broad and encompassing landscapes, which are frequently the subject of her work, grew out of a trip she took to Santa Fe, New Mexico in the late seventies. The tidal landscapes of the Lowcountry presented Smith with different challenges to the ones she encountered in New Mexico. Rocky Mountains, awe-inspiring canyons and windswept deserts were suddenly replaced with mile-upon-mile of flat marshland – a world seemingly void of the diagonal lines that artists use to balance a painting and add depth. Seeking out diagonal lines in a predominantly flat environment forced Smith to examine the Lowcountry more closely. It was then that she discovered that the lines were to be found in the colorful shifting clouds and meandering creeks. Using large brushstrokes and eye-catching colors, Smith has grown adept at capturing not just the physical nature of a place, but the feeling as well. Her paintings, whether they depict vibrant sunsets or the sweeping expanses of the Lowcountry marshland, give the viewer a sense of the immediacy of the moment as though Smith, working against the clock, was able to capture the essence of her subject. “I can’t emphasize enough just how much I want my work to look quick, impulsive, and spontaneous, like it just happened and flowed, as opposed to appearing overworked”, Smith explains. She adds that the bold colors she uses give the paintings an element of surprise “so that you are not looking at something you have seen a thousand times before. It is making you more aware of the colors that are actually in the landscape”, Smith explains. “These colors are there, I just exaggerate them as much as possible. I want my work to be expressionistic, whilst also remaining in the realm of reality.”

See you at the art walk! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Eric Hopkins!

Photo by William Thuss for Eric Hopkins

Many of you have heard of Eric Hopkins. He’s got a fabulous gallery in Rockland, Maine. An exquisite space full of his paintings, most of which are large and a few are VERY large… If you think he seems familiar but haven’t been to his gallery perhaps you’ve seen his paintings on the cover of the LL Bean catalog? He’s got a fun element to his work. This painting is entitled FLYING OVER BLUE BAY. If you’re in Rockland, ME, you’ve GOT to go in the gallery. I LOVE how (at least last time we were there) Eric used an old door with glass panes as a palette. BRILLIANT!?

Ok,  blip from the ERIC HOPKINS GALLERY:

With the eyes of an artist, the words of a poet, and the mind of a scientist, Eric Hopkins has engaged numerous people through his art and with his thoughts about life on this Big Blue Planet.  He captures the dynamic forces and rhythms of nature in watercolors, oils, blown glass, mixed media, and photography. His vision focuses on the Big Picture of the natural world, geological and geographical forms, and the exchange of energy between Earth, Water, and Sky. From this intimate study of nature, Eric has developed a keen awareness of light, form, color, and pattern, which is reflected in all of his work.

“I was lucky enough to spend my early days on North Haven,” says Eric, “where my worldview consisted of roaming the woods, fields, shorelines and exploring the edges where land, water, and sky meet. I was drawn to shapes, spaces, patterns, and the rhythms of nature. I was and still am fascinated by the incredible variety of life forms and forces on this Planet.”

Eric is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and has taught at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Pilchuck Glass School. He has exhibited at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Portland Museum of Art, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Waterfall Arts Center, University of Maine Museum of Art, and a number of galleries nationally.

Enjoy! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Gary Akers!

Gary Akers - "The List"

I think this is the sweetest little painting. I love the pop of red against the white, the shadows, the light…  This makes for one happy painting. “THE LIST” is a watercolor on paper that measures 8 1/4″ x  5 1/2″. You will find it at the Haynes Galleries in Thomaston, ME (Note: they have another location in Franklin, TN). Click HERE to check out their website. THE LIST is a name that makes me think up all kinds of possible stories behind this painting… for me it would go something like this…  I spend time to write out a list of things to pick up from the store… I’m in a hurry, grab my keys, jump in the car, once inside the store I reach into my purse to pull out THE LIST only to remember I left it sitting on the table next to the geranium while I locked the front door. Nice… Luckily trying to constantly remember what was on my list is keeping my memory sharp, ha ha…

Here’s a blip about the artist from the Haynes Galleries:

Accomplished in both watercolor and egg tempera painting, Gary Akers has received national recognition for his abilities in both mediums. He has exhibited widely in numerous institutions, including the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky, the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle, the Ogunquit Art Museum in Maine, the Asheville, N.C. Art Museum, the National Academy of Design in New York City, the Artists of America show at the Colorado History Museum, and the Great American Artists exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Akers was born in Pikesville, Ky., and was educated at Morehead State University, graduating with a master’s degree in 1974. Since the 1970s, his paintings have been featured in numerous books and periodicals, including the two monographs about his art, Kentucky: Land of Beauty (1999) and Memories of Maine (2003). He is listed in Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in Emerging Leaders in America, and American Artists of Renown. He currently paints and resides alternately in Kentucky and Maine.

If you’re in the area of Orleans, MA check out his work, otherwise check out their website! Great paintings!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Cindy Baron!

Image: WallsGallery.com

Cindy Baron is a fantastic artist. She paints in both watercolor and oil. She lets the setting determine which it will be. Her paintings are out of this world good. One of the (many) galleries she is represented by is the Walls Gallery located in Wilmington, NC. If you’re in the area, but haven’t been to the Walls Gallery I would hightail it over there…. Otherwise check out her personal website . This painting is entitled ON EVEN GROUND.

Here is a blip from the Walls Gallery website:

Born in South Bend, Indiana, Cindy arrived in East Greenwich, RI in 2001, where she conducts workshops and gives private lessons in both watercolor and oils. In 2000, she became a signature member of the American Watercolor Society.

Her interest in art developed in early childhood. Her background in drawing led her to watercolors and eventually oils. She discovered that one medium enabled her to grow in the other and vice versa. One of the most frequently asked questions she receives is, “How do you choose which medium you want to use?” The answer is “Nature chooses it for me”. “I’m blessed to see landscapes in two mediums.”

“When on location, I can feel the movement a watercolor can give with its easy flowing and entwining colors, like a foggy morning, or a crashing wave. Yet some scenes call for the intensity, depth and lust that only oils can give. Some say you need to concentrate on just one medium, but I believe if you are passionate and daring as you create and see the world through many eyes, your work will naturally evolve.”

Cindy gives a lot of credit to an art teacher she had in school who always said, “There is no such word as can’t”, which she still uses to this day. One of her early interests was portraiture, which she still loves, and when an interesting subject is found she does not hesitate to introduce herself and begin a painting. She uses her studies for many of the classes she teaches. She has traveled extensively and has spent a great deal of time on the East Coast, where the Maine landscape is an etched road map in her mind. She finds it impossible to paint a landscape, unless she has personally experienced the scene…to study and take in the atmosphere, committing to memory what she wants to portray on paper. Her camera, sketchbook and easel are her treasured tools when on location.

Cindy’s paintings reflect the beauty that is found in nature, if you take the time to study the colors around you. She can capture beauty in a blustering storm or the tranquil air of everyday places. Her portraitures relay a story of human life as though they were family or friends. The versatility of her subjects keeps her energized, excited and creative.

She has become a highly sought after instructor, with many prestigious awards in both watercolor and oils. Her work can be found in private and corporate collections around the world, including NIKE and The National Museum of Wildlife.

Cindy has  fantastic website of her own, if you aren’t near Wilmington, check it out… http://www.cindybaron.com

(Both images from Walls Gallery website)

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Jack Goldsmith!

There is a fabulous artist that I found on North Water Gallery’s website. I haven’t been to that gallery… yet. North Water Gallery is located in Edgartown, MA. I love this artist’s style, a bit like Charles Sovek, and I thought the world of that man! (Let me just note that I wrote that BEFORE I read the “blip about the artist” whoa!). This is artist JACK GOLDSMITH. I love how he says he refuses to labor over a painting! I wholeheartedly agree. The best paintings (to me) are the ones that happen quick and loosely. That is exactly what I love about his paintings! I found a blip about him in Cape Code Life:

Jack Goldsmith boils his words down to their essence. He credits his polished verbal skills to his 40 years of art direction and design in Manhattan. What he doesn’t take credit for is how he gets to the heart of the matter of ethereal subjects in spot-on fashion, whether he is expressing them in words or acrylics.

“Once I come upon an image I want to paint, I like to attack it and do it quickly,” Goldsmith says. “I refuse to labor over a painting.”

Goldsmith’s canvases are vibrant glimpses of life in all its nuances of light, color, and feel. Perhaps owing to his early career in art direction, the Osterville resident speaks frequently of “staging” his art. The Kite Flyers features one of his favorite subjects, Cape Cod’s ocean edge. “I like to paint children on the beach,” he says. “I also like to paint the beach with nobody around. It all becomes kind of a stage.” All of his pieces, including his still lifes, are arranged almost like choreography, to render a very natural experience.

Goldsmith was trained in the 1940s at the Syracuse University School of Fine Arts and the Rochester Institute of Technology School of Art and Design, before starting his career in art direction and teaching at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. As Goldsmith succinctly says, “My life has always been holding a pencil or a brush.”

Finally, he came home to a life of fine art when he and his wife moved to Osterville in 1993, drawn by good friends and the Cape’s renowned light. Among his influences are the 19th-century Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla and the late Cape Cod artist Charles Sovek, as well as members of the French Impressionist School.

Although his paintings are filled with highlights, shadows, and other subtleties, for Goldsmith it all goes back to first blocking the painting with brush on canvas. “It’s the most crucial part of the painting for me,” he says. “If you don’t design it well, you’ll struggle.”

I am a fan. What else can I say! Check them out by website or a visit! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Tollef Runquist!

Image: DowlingWalsh.com

Tollef Runquist is an exquisite artist represented by the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine. His bright, contemporary style is refreshing. This painting is entitled LOOK  30 x 48. LOVE. IT! LOVE the bright pop of red against the great blue water… wow! If you’re in the Rockland, ME area I encourage you to stop by the Dowling Walsh Gallery (then pop over to Atlantic Bakery for a chocolate croissant, or they’re mushroom soup, or a cookie, or… or… or…. OR pop across the street to the Farnsworth Museum!), it’ll definitely be worth your time. They represent some FANTASTIC artists!

Here’s a blip from the Dowling Walsh Gallery website:

Artist’s Statement

Painting is for me an undertaking of appreciation and inquiry. It is a means by which to engage the beauty and mystery of visual experience in an ongoing dialogue. This is a widening puzzle; as I partake in this conversation it continually refreshes itself, revealing unexpected angles and new understanding. I feel no particular loyalty to realism or my own past work. I set to draw out a particular vision as long as my experience with it is visceral, attentive and useful. I try to encapsulate the fullness of my experience of a moment; weight and stillness, burning edges, massive, calm. These move me towards a particular subject, I try to paint and honor them, and then move on.

Some visual artists who have affected me deeply have been Richard Deibenkorn, Monet, De Kooning, Gauguin, Bonnard, Rothko, Sargent, Gordon Grant, Gerhart Richter, Hopper, Homer, Klimt and Egon Scheile among others. I have been drawing and painting as long as I can remember. I received a B.A. in studio Art from Dickinson college in 2002 and have since been continuing my education through creation.

Another blip from the Dowling Walsh website:

Tollef Runquist will have a solo exhibition at Dowling Walsh Gallery from Friday, September 2nd through Sunday, September 25th with an opening reception on Friday, September 2nd from 5 to 8 p.m.

Tollef Runquist has been featured in Maine Home and Design Magazine’s April 2011 Issue. Click the link below to view the feature:

Tollef Runquist MHD_0411_CurrentWork_-Tollef

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Peter Kalil

Image: AddisonArt.com

I think this is such a sweet painting, entitled AN ARTIST’S GARDEN, this painting was done by Peter Kalill. I love that little splash of bright light on the bench beside the flowers, the sunlight grass and the color of the sky! Peter is a fabulous artist from Cape Cod. You can see his work at Addison Art Gallery, he was part of the PAINTAPALOOZA artists a few years back in Port Clyde, Maine.

Here’s a little blip about the artist from Addison Art Gallery’s website:

Peter Kalill was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. He began his first formal studies in art at Providence College in Rhode Island. In his third year of college, he studied painting, drawing, and art history in Florence, Italy. Peter returned to Providence and earned a B.A. in drawing in 1995.

After his graduation, Peter moved to Cape Cod and continued to learn all he could about painting. He combined his passion for art with his interest in travel, and spent many winters traveling to Honduras, and Guatemala and all over Mexico. It was on a trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he befriended landscape painter Frank Gardner, who introduced him to plein air painting.

Upon returning home from his second winter in San Miguel, Peter was accepted into Addison Art Gallery, in Orleans, MA, where his first show in the U.S. was a great success. Peter’s work has attracted the attention of many collectors throughout the U.S. and Canada, and has been featured in many publications including Cape Cod Life, Cape Cod Art Review, andAmerican Art Collector magazines. His work has been exhibited in the Cape Cod Museum of Art, and at juried shows at the Copley Society of Art, and The Guild of Boston Artists.

Peter Kalill lives on Cape Cod with his wife Kathleen, and their daughter Violet. He continues to travel to San Miguel and places throughout the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Canada in search of great places to paint.

If you aren’t near Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA, check out their website, it’s a good one! If you are near them… Go visit!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Shannon Runquist!

Image: HortonHayes.com

Shannon Runquist always paints the neatest subject matter. Regular everyday things come to life with her paint brush! This painting is entitled HOW ‘BOUT A HUG? Here’s a blip from the Horton Hayes Gallery :

Shannon Runquist was born is Savannah, Georgia and has spent most of her life in the South. She has lived on St. Simons Island, Georgia and currently resides in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and spends summers on Cape Cod. Spending time near the shore, she has developed a great love for coastal regions and the elements that define them. She has painted and studied in Europe, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Runquist has participated in many national and international exhibitions including consecutive years at the Salmagundi Club in New York City and the Salon International. She enjoys traveling and painting en plein air as well as working in her home studio. Her paintings hang in both corporate and private collections in the United States and abroad.

Artist’s Statement: “I would like for my paintings to convey a timeless aesthetic. They are often an extension of an emotion at the time I am painting but I hope my work remains ambiguous. I paint what is familiar to me, what I have collected or a place I have been. My favorite paintings are ones that tell a story but leave a little mystery for the viewer.”

Hey, if you get a chance, stop in the gallery… and if you aren’t in town, check out their website. It’s a gallery full of amazing artists!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… JB Boyd!

Image JBBoyd.net

JB Boyd, an artist that shows such an interesting perspective on this painting… Kind of like when you’re a kid and you’re  sprawled out on the grass watching the clouds in the sky… I love when paintings take on a new angle, something different. The way the yellow “pops” against the darkly shaded tree trunks and brilliant blue sky. JB Boyd is an interesting and accomplished  young artist represented by Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC. Check him out if you get a chance!  Here’s a blip about the artist on the gallery website, there’s more, but you need to see his work to appreciate the words! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Boyd currently lives and paints on Goat Island, a barrier island on the outskirts of Charleston, SC. Boyd is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, has shown his work across the United States, and has been collected around the world. Boyd recently received the Michael and Donna Griffith Lowcountry Artist’s Award.

Please visit www.robertlangestudios.com or call for more information 843.805.8052. 


Artist to watch… Frank Bruckmann!

Image: http://fbruckmann.com

What a unique story this artist has! Meet Frank Bruckmann. I first ran across this artist when searching for blogs about Monhegan. I found one called MONHEGAN SOJOURN, it was fabulous, not only did it showcase Frank’s art, but it included stories and pictures of Monhegan Island, a great love for many of us! I see that since the family has moved off the island they have started another blog (click HERE), more great art, stories, etc. I urge you to check it out! Also check out the artist’s website! The featured painting is entitled FROM WHITEHEAD and can be found on the artist’s website under the MONHEGAN tab!

Here’s a blip from Frank’s website:

Frank began his studies at the DuCret school of Art in New Jersey, and then took classes at the Art Students League in NYC. In Paris he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and spent nearly a decade in France and Spain, copying the masters in the great museums, and painting landscapes in the cities and countryside. 

Now a resident of New Haven, CT, Frank has found endless subject matter for landscapes in New England, but periodically packs his easel and travels farther and wider in his VW camper. 

How exciting is that? Check him out! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Artist to watch… Philip Frey!

Image: CourthouseGallery.com

Really, what can be more exciting than finding artists that are new to you?? Philip Frey is an artist from Ellsworth, Maine. He has some fabulous work, very exciting! Philip (one “L”) has a fabulous WEBSITE and lists all the galleries (with links!) that he’s affiliated with. This image came from the Courthouse Gallery website, it was painted this year and is entitled “Evening Light, Stonington”. If you get a chance check out his other work!

Here’s a blip from the Courthouse Gallery website:

Philip Frey is inspired by color and how he can use light and color to recreate Maine’s incredible landscape. His unique style has emerged over the last decade with recent paintings becoming more realistic. Throughout this evolution, Frey has continued to use strong, vibrant colors.

Frey’s sense of color stems from an interest in Fauvism, a major avant-garde European art movement in the 20th century. Henri Matisse, who Frey credits as a major influence, embraced this expressionistic style characterized by vivid, exuberant color. Other European artists, whose work Frey admires, include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edouard Manet.

Catch you back here tomorrow!