Ella & the Mocking Birds by June Stratton 18×22″ Pastel & Silver Leaf on Paper
Robert Lange Studios. Cutting edge. This gallery is always at the top of their game. They represent some of the most unique artists and they do it so well. Tonight is the long awaited Palette & Palate Stroll, where the CFADA (Charleston Fine Art Dealers Association) galleries team up with some of the hottest restaurants in town. You buy a ticket, then stroll from gallery to gallery, checking out the fabulous art and tasting some of the most wonderful food on the planet. What’s not to love? Art and food! Robert Lange Studios has been paired with McCrady’s Restaurant. A match made in heaven!
June Stratton – a stunning artist who creates the most gorgeous pieces, from work in this show, Flutter to past work, every piece is amazing!
Look at the way this dog is watching the mocking birds In Ella and the Mocking Birds. June has this so spot on! I can see my own Jack Russell looking out of his windows at the birds. So intense. What a unique composition.
Here is a little something that June has to say about her show:
As a diversion from my usual figurative art works, I decided to create drawings that were intended as dreamscape studies for larger figurative paintings these combine a cast of inhabitants from my nocturnal wanderings. These smaller drawings have become alluring similes of dream portraits all on their own. These new art works are Pastel and Silver Leaf on Canson paper. The silver leaf within these pieces is both a metaphor of reflective meaning and an intentional nod to aesthetic appearance of iconic drawings of centuries past.
This painting is from a past show, but shows that June is cutting edge herself, making each piece uniquely hers.
Tangled in Blues by June Stratton 16×20″ Oil & Silver on Linen – SOLD
What a masterpiece this painting is! Everything about it is briliant!
I know you’re hoping you have tickets to the Palette and Palate Stroll this evening! It’s going to be a great time. If you don’t have tickets, swing by the gallery on Saturday (or check out the show online!).
First Blossoms by Bryce Liston – 20 x 24″ Oil on Linen
Quite amazing how this woman looks like if she were to stand up, she could quietly walk right off the canvas… the obscure background puts more emphasis on the woman, and I think compliments her perfectly.
If you’re on Facebook, Bryce has a Facebook page – Bryce Liston ~ Fine Art and you’ll see how he starts some of his wonderful paintings and the progression… its pretty amazing, I suggest you check it out! Scroll through Bryce’s website… the paintings are amazing!
“Being an artist and painting the human figure is what compels me.
It wakes me up at night, it’s what I love and I drive myself to do it very well.
Art is my life-long obsession, pleasure and torment”. _______
Born in 1965 in a small town in Utah, Bryce believes his first desire to be an artist was formed at a very young age when he would go out with his mother while she painted the Utah landscape. Later in school, drawing was a comfort zone for Liston. “It was a subject that excited me- I always had energy and interest for it.” It was here that Liston found his love of the human form. “I don’t quite know why I was drawn to the human form; I suspect the seed was planted while studying the art of the great American Illustrators like N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle.”
It was then that he knew it was the human form that he wanted to portray in his art. He attended the University of Utah for a short time but dropped out before finishing his degree. “I wanted to learn about the craft of art. I wanted to learn to actually <em “mso-bidi-font-style:=”” normal”=””>produce art, not just discuss it.” With limited resources Bryce found himself working in the studio and foundry of master sculptor, Edward J. Fraughton. The time Liston spent with Fraughton provided him with a knowledge of anatomy that few painters possess and that understanding brings depth and life to the figures he paints. “In Ed’s studio I learned a lot about art. It’s funny, I learned about painting from a sculptor- I don’t think that’s something that happens everyday.”
Bryce’s education has been self-directed and continues to be that way. Not having a formal art education can be a long and hard way to go about it but it does have its advantages. It allows you to find your own voice rather than emulating that of your teachers, a principle lesson that Liston imparts to all of his students. “Take in all the information that is presented to you, then afterwards disassemble it and make it fit into your personal vision and style.”
Bryce’s work is shown in galleries around the country and he participates in many national and international exhibitions each year. Bryce’s artwork has won numerous prestigious awards, including The Tuffy Berg Award, The Honorary Chairman’s Award and the Southwest Art Award of Excellence at the 2010 CM Russell Auction. He is a signature member of the Oil Painters of America and was awarded Best in Show at the 2008 OPA Western Regional Exhibition. He was also named one of the Top Ten Artists to Watch by Southwest ArtMagazine in January, 2009. His art has been published in many magazines as well as on book covers.
He currently resides in Holladay, Utah with his wife and three daughters. “I can’t even imagine myself not painting or sculpting. My mother was a very talented artist and I can already see some of the same abilities emerging in my young daughters.”
All images via ListonArt.com – used with permission from the artist…
Generations of Frederick by John Porter Lasater IV
John Porter Lasater IV. Nice work. This year at the Easels in Frederick plein air competition, John won Best of Show with Generations of Frederick. Pretty nice, huh? I like the simplicity of this piece. It works nicely. This is not overworked, its a nice painting!
South and Carroll by John Porter Lasater IV
He also took home a Collector’s Choice award for South and Carroll. I think nocturnes are so cool and the light in this one is amazing. The stop lights and street light just add so much, don’t they?
Every once in a while John does an event on his own where he paints 24 paintings in 24 hours. Crazy! Read about one of them, see the paintings… they ALL SOLD! He did another one this month! Pretty cool idea if you can stay up that long!
If you’re interested in taking a WORKSHOP with John, he’s got some great ones lined up, check them out!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
All images via LasaterArt.com – used with permission from the artist…
Plein Air Easton, located in Maryland, is an event that you just don’t want to miss. If you are anywhere near the vicinity it’s your chance to watch some of the greatest artist paint stunning works (and your chance to purchase as well!). The Quick Draw event really draws the crowds. This year Plein Air Easton has some corporate sponsors, I.G. Burton BMW, The Star Democrat, Attraction Magazine, Chesapeake Fine Art Studio, Ben Franklin Crafts, The Academy Art Museumand Timothy E. Dills.
There are some amazing artists this year at Easton, be sure to check them out! Click HERE for the list of artists! And check out their Calendar of Events!
Here are a few facts from Plein Air Easton 2013 (from their website)… pretty amazing stuff!
Art sales for last year’s event totaled $325,000 with 313 paintings sold in 2.5 days.
Approximately 6,000-8,000 people participate in the festival throughout the week
In 2013 the Collectors’ Preview Party sold a painting every 45 seconds during a 90 minute period.
Ken DeWaard – A Waterman’s Life – Artists Choice Award 2013Garin Baker – A Buck Twenty a Bushel – Grand Prize Winner 2013Stewart White – Paint the Town – Honorable Mention 2013
I met the neatest artist the other day. This guy is going places. Fast. His name is Isaiah Ratterman. He is a outstanding painter and photographer. I thought “Death Before the Butterfly” was a brilliant painting with such a clever title. It made me smile. I’m happy to know that the little green men’s bullets can’t really shoot… therefore NO BUTTERFLY WAS HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS PAINTING, hee hee.
This is a painting of absolute beauty. Isaiah executed it so elegantly, the bottom koi seems to be dancing in the water, while the koi at the top of the painting seems to be in an elegant drift. Gorgeous! Different. Thought provoking. I look forward to watching for more of Isaiah’s work. He is one to keep an eye on! If you’re in the Charleston, SC area, you can see Isaiah’s work in person at Galerie on Broad! He’s got one piece there now and more on the way!
Did I mention that Isaiah is a nice guy on top of it? Modest, interesting, talented, and he truly loves art and it shows!
Isaiah Ratterman is an artist who is committed to working from life. He holds a MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and is currently living and working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Artist Statement:
I hold a reverence for the Romantic painters of the past, however their ethos has been replaced in our age of excess, leaving a need for our relationship to the landscape to be redefined. Through the landscape, I find a narrative that questions the primacy of Necessity based upon my own travels. Experiences under these circumstances become important and fulfilling, offering a brief glimpse into a deeper meaning of Being. Thoughts are not processed within the moment, but collected and decrypted afterwards. My paintings act as a way of deciphering the felt experiences I hold so close.
All images via IsaiahRatterman.com – Used with permission from the artist… Note: the photograph above was taken by Isaiah. Amazing work!
Caesar Citraro is an artist (actually when you read below you’ll see that he’s a painter, printer and bookmaker)! His paintings are absolutely gorgeous! The soft blues and yellow’s make this painting above such an eye catching piece. The subtle nuances in the water add such interest. I really want to be wherever this is, sitting on the edge of the water, watching the day go by…
How is this for a dramatic painting? I grew up loving weather… loving storms. This painting is a fabulous depiction! You know how some storms can get so dark and wicked, yet bits of light shine through. Stunning!
Caesar lives in Michigan now, a state I grew up in. He is represented by Elizabeth Pollie Fine Art, a wonderful gallery in Harbor Springs, MI. Elizabeth is a wonderful artist herself, and her gallery is a collection of some of the very best artists. Check out the gallery if you’re in the area, or check it out online! I have heard nothing but great things about Caesar, and I see why!
I am a painter, printer and bookmaker who has dedicated my career to making and preserving works of art. Shortly after receiving my BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1986, I went to Chicago to further my career as an artist. I became an employee of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1987 and worked as a conservation technician in the Department of Prints and Drawings. During my tenure at the museum I had ample opportunity to explore the various collections that have informed my art making from my earliest days in Chicago. I studied traditional bookbinding methods; the materials and techniques used in medieval manuscript cuttings and volumes, and was inspired by the many exemplars that surrounded me on a daily basis. Some of my earliest work includes a number of reliquary boxes and books that are embellished in a manner that evokes the bejeweled covers of medieval books, their worn leather and time stained pages. My painting techniques were fashioned after the earliest masters of panel painting with their smooth translucent surfaces, rich colors, and incised details.
My career at the Art Institute also afforded the opportunity to travel the globe to places as far reaching as Japan and New Zealand where I was inspired by the flora indigenous to these places. The paintings that followed contained biomorphic and organic forms derived from nature, but not of this world. My painted world was one of pure imagination where tentacles, thorns, and vines intertwined. My materials included wax, colored pencils, and oils that were applied to smooth, gessoed-wood panels. My techniques included rubbing and burnishing these surfaces, incising them, and adding more colored media into the incised lines to create multi-layered images.
More recently, my relocation from Chicago to Petoskey Michigan in 2008 inspired another stylistic turn in my work. Now, I take a broader view of my surroundings and have shifted from painting the minutia of nature to painting broad expanses of land and the flora contained therein. I concern myself with the play of light through trees, across rolling hills, or on groups of leaves, branches, and even single pinecones. Small elements of the abstracted, biomorphic forms found in earlier work are subtly incorporated into these works from time to time, yet the imagery remains solidly rooted in the real world.
“The lush farmlands and mysterious forests near my home captivate me. The beauty and visual diversity in this area are amazing to me and I feel the need to somehow convey that in my art.”
I was represented by Gary Marks Gallery in Chicago. My books were shown at SOFA Chicago in 1992. I have paintings, books, and reliquaries held in a number of private collections. Most recently, my paintings have been included in four group exhibitions in 2010, Four Group exhibitions and one solo exhibition in 2011, at Three Pines Studio, Michigan.
In 2012 I was a featured artist in the Exhibition “as small as a world and as large as alone” at the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey Michigan.
Currently, I am represented by Huey’s Fine Art, Santa Fe NM& Elizabeth Pollie Fine Art, Harbor Springs MI
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and presently reside in Petoskey, Michigan.
Patriot by Charles Movalli Private Collection Image: Bayview Gallery
I’m quite positive I’ve mentioned this painting by Charles Movalli in a past post… I still remember walking into Bayview Gallery in Camden, Maine – looking where there were several large Charles Movalli paintings, each so very stunning. This man is talented beyond belief. I would love to meet him one day, he looks like such a cool guy. Whenever talking with other art loving people, if you mention his name, EVERYONE agrees that he is awesome in every single way. As an artist, as a speaker, as a person. You just can’t get any better than that!
John David Wissler… WOW! His work is so incredible, especially if you love these types of views, which I do! This, to me, is SO MAINE. The water is fabulous with the island in the distance. Can’t you feel the movement? I love how it’s kind of abstract closer to the shore. WONDERFUL!
Setting on the Western Way by JD Wissler 18 x 37″ Oil on Panel – Image: LancasterGalleries.com
There are plenty more where this came from. JD has a great collection of paintings, each as fabulous as the next! It was torture trying to pick only two, please go check them out!
“My passion has always been the landscape. I feel a sense of history when painting… the painters I admire and study, Corot, Constable, Turner, Inness, Bonard, Resika…the history of the land itself and my own familiar connection to it. Painting comes through the study of nature…transformed, not merely copied. Seeing the immediacy of the place…what strikes me first. The way trees react to fields, colour to colour, shape to shape…pushing and pulling the plastic nature of the picture plane, creating believable space.
I find the challenge of using what I have observed, taking it to my studio, and creating a new painting invigorating. Drawing upon the memory of place and experience…using the language I have learned from nature, trying to keep the painting fresh…space, clarity, surprise…that’s painting!” – John David Wissler
Jeffrey Hein‘s work blows me away! Just look at this painting! Doesn’t she look like she could walk right off the canvas? Her beautiful hair against that dark background is a stunner! All of Jeffrey’s paintings are equally as incredible. I remember seeing another painting of this woman, JoAnn… here it is below… the painting below is sold, but the painting above is available! Just contact the artist! Of course Jeff paints other subjects, but I am just captivated by the way he has painted JoAnn!
JoAnn by Jeffrey Hein (SOLD)
The way JoAnn is looking right into your eyes is very soulful. I want to know more about her. Don’t you get that feeling?
If you are an artist looking to take a workshop, check out the Teaching and Workshop section of Jeffrey’s website!
Jeffrey Hein was born in 1974 in New Windsor, NY. Despite knowing early that he was interested in art, he had little exposure to it as a youth. His education was limited to numerous drawings of his childhood teachers on his schoolbook covers and on backs of handouts. After only one year of schooling, Hein left to serve a 2 year mission for his church. His missionary work ended prematurely when he was diagnosed with cancer. He battled for about a year and a half before he could return to ‘normal life.’ “After that I dated my wife for about six months in New York while I got ready for school and to come out here to do who knows what. I knew I wanted to do art; but I had no money so it was kind of, what next? So I got married and moved out here” Hein says of his move to Salt Lake City, UT. Hein believes his life experiences have helped him to reach his goals as an artist and have inspired much of his work. He completed his study at the University of Utah in 2002, and has been painting professionally and teaching ever since. Hein has been invited to participate in a variety of international shows and has been written up in numerous newspapers and national magazines. It is very rare for an artist to have both great talent and meaningful content at such an early stage in his promising career. In 2007 he opened the Hein Academy, a small atelier inspired school devoted to academic training. Hein currently lives and works in Salt Lake City with his wife and three children. He is devoted to continual growth as an artist and when not spending time with family he works in his downtown studio where he divides his time between painting, teaching, drawing, sculpting, and filmmaking. “Humanity today is one with, enhanced through, and distorted by innovation and I have embraced modernism and classicism in order to capture this complete modern picture. My goal is also to show the relevance of both classical and abstract art in the modern world by creating work that clearly demonstrates a harmony between them.” – Jeff Hein
All images via JeffHein.com – used with permission from the artist…
The Night Watcher by Thomas Van Stein – 25″ x 30″ Oil on Canvas
Thomas Van Stein is a remarkable artist. He paints some fabulous nocturnes which I just happen to love! When I was looking through his images this one really caught my eye, I saw this and thought… EDWARD HOPPER… Interesting to read his comment on this painting… Crazy story, eh?
This victorian era house flanks the area I call the Twilight Zone, on Hill street in Ventura. It remembered the painting done by Edward Hopper. I set up in the field across the railroad tracks to do the painting. During the painting, the owner of the house came outside and sat on the porch. Someone upstairs peeked out the window, then flashed their red laser pointer on me, making me want to hit the deck. After recovering from the thought of being shot, I gave a holler, and he put it away. I still decided to document the experience by adding that dash of red.
Pilgrim in Port by Thomas Van Stein – 22″ x 44″ Oil on Canvas
What a misty feeling this has to it, I love all the lights, the boat working in the wee hours – another fabulous painting!
Here is what Thomas had to say about this painting:
Richard Henry Dana wrote of his seafaring exploits in his classic novel, “Two Years Before the Mast: The tall ship he was on, the”Pilgrim”, came into Port not too long ago. I grabbed my gear and headed out into the darkness before dawn, and painted this scene from Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara.
Normally, this is where I say “Read a blip about Thomas, from his website” but… instead of providing you with the text, I’m providing you with the link. I promise that its worth the extra click. Thomas is a fascinating guy! I love his ABOUT page.
The paintings above are available for purchase through James Main Fine Art, Santa Barbara, (805)637-8632 – Catch you back here tomorrow!
All images via ThomasVanStein.net – used with permission from the artist…
Fabulous painting right? This guy knows all the little nuances that make a better painting, and guess what? You’re in luck, Ken will be at Plein Air Richmond and he will also be teaching a workshop this October in North Carolina… details for both are below! Can I just say… they just don’t come any nicer than Ken…!
Ken will be painting at Plein Air Richmond (Richmond, VA), so if you’re in the area, don’t miss it!
P L E I N A I R R I C H M O N D I N F O:
A Week-Long “Painting Out”:June 22-26, 2014 Click here to view daily locations Watch the 35 specially juried plein air painters set up easels all over our historic city create hundreds of paintings.
“Fast and Fresh” : June 28 Location: Carytown On Saturday from 9:30 am -11:30 am juried and non-juried artists will start and complete paintings. These “wet” paintings will be available for purchase right off the easels with proceeds benefiting the Symphony.
So if you can make it to Plein Air Richmond, it looks like it will be a good time!
O C T O B E R W O R K S H O P : Upcoming workshop this October with Ken in Aberdeen, NC… here are the details! OOOooohhh, this will be a great workshop!
October 7 – 10, 2014 Essence and Design in Plein Air
4 Day Workshop will be held in the Aberdeen NC area (9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M.)
I love Ken’s style and how the lines aren’t all perfectly straight, it adds so much character which is why I love them so much! All of Ken’s paintings are wonderful happy looks at life!
Manana from the Barnacle by Kevin Beers 13 x 40″ Oil
GO BIG OR GO HOME… that reminds me of Kevin Beers… you rarely see him paint something small, he’s the guy you see on Monhegan Island carrying a large canvas and a large easel… he’s the guy that knows everyone and is having the time of his life. It shows in his paintings. They are spectacular, and they reflect what he see’s in such a wonderful way. This truly looks like Manana from the Barnacle (neat little store/eatery near the wharf). Looking at this painting makes me feel like I’m there! Hey, where’s my sunscreen?!
Well, if you are in the Boothbay, Maine area, you’re in luck! Gleason Fine Art is having a show for him – it runs June 19 – July 26, 2014 with a opening reception date, Friday, June 27, 2014 from 5-7PM.
Each summer, Brooklyn resident Kevin Beers returns to the rock-bound island of Monhegan to paint for five months. Monhegan has come to mean a lot to Beers. It is where Beers transformed a passion for painting into his life’s work. It is also where Beers met his wife, Amy Raye, who, in a scene right out of a Hepburn and Tracy romantic comedy, literally ran into Beers while admiring a magazine article about Beers painting on Monhegan. Fittingly, Beers and Raye married on their island a couple summers after their serendipitous meeting.
To his many collectors, a Kevin Beers painting represents everything they love about Maine: intense blue seas and skies, puffy white clouds, and sunlight dancing off neat clapboard houses. To Beers himself, “Monhegan is a dazzling place with incredible, beautiful light. I love to paint the buildings on the island—the color and structure of weathered buildings, the patterns of sunlight and shadow, and the sharp contrast between a red roof, white clapboards, and bright blue sky.”
I think this is such a striking painting! I love the abstractness of the background, yet the flower petals look like you can reach out and touch them. Ahhh, those bits of orange – made my heart sing! That’s right! I was immediately drawn to this painting. Love it!
Duane has some amazing work that you really need to check out! The ever popular ‘A Painting A Day’ blog is also his, and definitely worth spending time on… full of great paintings!
Duane Keiser studied painting under Raymond Berry at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia and Lennart Anderson at Brooklyn College in NYC. His “A Painting a Day” blog has been written about in numerous publications, including USA Today, The New York Times and, most recently, The Huffington Post. Using a makeshift easel made from a cigar box, he made a postcard-sized painting each day and posted them to his blog where collectors could bid on them via eBay (the project is ongoing and can be seen here.) He has exhibited at Fischbach Gallery, Allan Stone Gallery and, most recently, the New York Academy of Art. His work resides in several corporate collections and hundreds of private collections worldwide, including the Gregory Peterson Collection.
WORKSHOP: If you’ll be in the Whidbey Island Area – Duane is conducting a workshop JUNE 24-27, 2014 – All Levels! Click HERE for more info!
I have always been a big fan of Robert Abele’s work. The striking colors and his style… I love it! His work reminds me so much of the late Charles Sovek, who we adored. Robert has his own style, but I think it’s very reminiscent of Sovek. The striking color of this lighthouse building at sunset against that gorgeous blue sky is just breathtaking!
Hey, if you’re in the Cape Cod area tomorrow (Saturday, June 14, 2014) boy are you ever in luck! I would be there in a skinny minute if I were closer! Read this from Addison Art Gallery:
Plein Air Artists Gathering and Exhibition
Saturday morning, June 14 on beautiful Cape Cod
A fun day of painting will be followed by a reception full of collectors eager to see the wet paintings.
For more information or to join us in painting, please call the Addison Art Gallery at 508.255.6200 or email helen@addisonart.com
If you are one of the lucky ones to attend, please tell me all about it! Have fun! Buy art!
No flashing blue light… nope, not at this sale… but, ATTENTION SHOPPERS is in order (may have stolen that phrase, sorry eb) – this Studio Sale is a place you will want to be, something you do not want to miss. This sale is one day only... and then it’s over! Just so you don’t miss a deal of the century: it’s THIS COMING SATURDAY from 9AM – 5 PM.
If you make it please take photos, I want to see what I’m missing!!
Eric’s STUDIO SALE will have hundreds of oil paintings, sketches, plein air landscapes and figure studies. If you are anywhere near Tigard, Oregon find a way to make it! There will be 350-400 paintings/sketches… These are paintings that either never left the studio, were returned from a gallery, or painted at plein air competitions. All are deemed framable in the artists eyes (and I think he’s picky, so they will be good ones!). I haven’t personally met Eric, although I feel like I have. This guy is a blast. Go visit him. Bring your money…
YOU WILL SEE SOMETHING YOU LOVE! Oooooh, I want to be in OR on Saturday so bad.
Are you familiar with Eric’s work? His work is some of the best of the absolute best. He’s got such a unique style… and those tree’s… they are just so Eric… so cool…
Free posters & refreshments!
Where? Eric’s studio, located at 7311 SW Pine Street, Tigard, OR 97223
Time? From 9AM – 5PM Saturday, June 14, 2014
Details? Nice guy, great art (and lots of it), prices that you will never see again! All packed into one day of fun, festivities, refreshments and free posters (get outta here!!)
Do you need a little incentive? (I can’t believe anyone would answer YES to that!), well here goes… a few of the available paintings… remember there are HUNDREDS more!
ARTFOODHOME.COM 