Sunlit Trail Thru A Clear Winters Day by Micheal Zarowsky  

18×30″  Mixed Media Acrylic on Gessoed Birch Panel

Micheal Zarowsky, a talented artist from Canada. What a pleasure his paintings are. His snowy paintings make me smile. The incredible light and those beautiful shadows. I mean, just LOOK… I can hear the silence in the woods. Hear the occasional bit of snow drop from a branch up high. Micheal has mastered these paintings, as well as other subjects, but I will leave that to you to check out… don’t miss it!

Also, be sure to check out Micheal’s blog!

Read a bit about Micheal, from the Artist Statement on his website:

“SOME THOUGHTS ON MY LIFE AS AN ARTIST

Growing up has been but a series of preoccupations

I never had any lack of confidence in my ability to draw. As just another way to express myself, it started out as a way to occupy idle time. My first exhibition was of drawings at age eleven. I studied philosophy and psychology and found I was able to re-organize and develop my thinking which in turn opened up the parameters of my world even further.

My return, after university, if it is a return to painting, is a return to mystery in the sense that losing myself in the work takes me places as much as I take it. Not knowing any limits, while searching for a way to express myself through painting, I experimented and through trial and error, pushed back the boundaries of what could be done with the medium. Finding traditional watercolour methods which reduce everything to a series of washes confining of my need for continuous progression/growth, it dawned on me to reverse the process so that I invent new techniques to express what I see and feel is there, painting it the way we found it and it found us.

This is not to say there is anything wrong with traditional watercolours methods, rather more of a statement about my expectation of what a finished work looks and feels like and working my way – which is the only way I know how – I can express what I have to get out. It is an open ended process in so far that each new work presents new problems needing their own resolutions. Much like reinventing the wheel each time, we come to each idea not knowing exactly what and how we will work it through, which joyfully, is much like walking a tightrope. This gives me the edge I so desperately need; all focus is on losing myself in the process; by maintaining open-mindedness, willingness, and calmness, I in effect open myself up as a channel. Being able to let go comes through in the painting and is what gives it it’s intensity, liveliness, energy…..

The uniqueness and sensibility that the paintings have, evolves as the elements of the work are continuously rethought, adjusted, refined, worked reworked re invented/rediscovered anew, to continue to express what is a continuing, growing love I have for Wendy, and the ever changing relationships with growing adjustment not only to myself, to the world around me, to the ever everyone in our life. Any realism in the work has more to do with an attitude than with a style.

The emphasis is on the process of discovery – of creative interpretation of some aspect of the world – being coupled with a second process of inventive-ness – the personal expression of what is discovered.

Painting is a spiritual process connecting me to the world.

Wendy is an inextricably interwoven part of that process. Not only can she paint, she is integral to the process, in that we both go out and explore together, putting together our ideas, working them through together; assembling, discussing, pushing and pulling and reinforcing each other in envisioning what is before us into something we can express through paint to share with the world. The paintings are the realization of both of us.

We both have a similar eye, feel, understanding and love for nature and the natural, and the civilized places in-between all of which we lose ourselves in and paint. Again the energy in the work is an expression, a confirmation and reaffirmation of the love we have for each other.

Armed with this encouragement and our growing belief in ourselves, we continue to explore our backyard, having spent three separate Decembers wandering through Paris.

Our efforts in Ontario have allowed us to develop our ability to isolate what we feel is the essence of a subject, and to work out a new way to present that aspect of it which both expresses and represents the whole. For us the paintings express the most essential qualities of the experience portrayed

I find light irresistable.

My spirits soar on a sunny day.

I can sit by the water’s edge for days and not feel the need to move.

Heat and humidity allow me to lose my physical edges – subzero temperatures merely outline where I end and the rest of the world begins.

We paint light, atmosphere, the transparency of water. We think of the work as neo or contemporary impressionism.

We paint the heat and humidity, which support all those strong and crazy colours that make up the Tropics – the Caribbean…and winter, well snow is just water that”s froze. Winter is a blanket of white and blue contours of the countryside held seamlessly together

The joyful and continuous response to the paintings by others, not only gives us contemporality, but also lets us know we are not alone in how we feel about the world. In 1989 – it seems so long ago now – we escaped Ontario for the first time ever; our toes touching the eastern seaboard we fell hopelessly in love with the ocean. How uppermost simple – the blue of the sky and the blue of the water divided by a mere horizon line. We immediately sold our souls to the keeper of the seas in exchange for the promise to continue to be able to return. We’re easy. Every time we go back we find it has an ever expanding grip on us

In 1990 we crossed the big pond for the first time and bathed in the buttermilk skies of Paris in December. Sketching our way through the Dordogne we came back next summer to lose ourselves in the waterside life in Venice, exploring the sea and air and light as it continued to work its magic on the city over the centuries.

Continuing to explore Europe, we pursue our natural inclination for the hot tropics – developing our personal vision of the islands by exploring the relationships of heat and humidity to the strong colours found there

What began as an exploration of light and form in our own backyard some 30 years ago, has developed, for us into an ability to capture, share and express our experience / the essential feel of a place no matter where it is in the world”.

All images via Zarowsky.net, used with permission…

Images are not for reproduction, they are property of the artist.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

 Looking West by Teresa Elliott  40×30″  Oil  –  Available at RJD Gallery

Teresa Elliott. Wow. Her paintings will make your jaw drop. Seriously. She is well known for her longhorn paintings, and I’m not going to include one in this post so that you check them out. Seriously, I couldn’t have picked just one. She captures their inner spirit. Every. Single. Time!

Looking West is a fabulous painting, available at the RJD Gallery. This woman looks as if she’s going to take a breath any second. The light in this painting is incredible, the hair, the eyes, nose, mouth and HANDS! Whew! Talented.

Dog Day by Teresa Elliott  40×30″  Oil – Available at Gallery 1261

This was the first painting of Teresa’s that I spotted. She has a way with animals, no doubt. This dog looks like it’s doing some serious contemplation, ha ha… either that or watching the news, ha ha… Be sure to check out Teresa’s website – It’s a treat!

Read a bit about Teresa, from the RJD Gallery website:

“My own personal growth is inevitably linked with my progress with the infinite challenges of becoming an accomplished painter and providing a powerful visual statement through attention to color relationships, design, edges and paint handling.”

Native Texan Teresa Elliott lives and paints in the wide open spaces of the Big Bend in West Texas. Her years of experience as a commercial illustrator in Dallas naturally evolved into a career in painting. She completed a BFA from the University of Kansas and although self-taught, she admits to being influenced by many contemporary artists, as well as classical masters.

Elliott, who is also known for her portraits of cows, has recently expanded on her captivatingly realistic style to include several paintings set at Javelina Clays– a muddy oasis located inside a Texas National Park. These paintings include Deliverance (not shown) and Agua-Fria. Emma, Elliott’s daughter and frequent Muse, is depicted in both of these glowing and detailed works.

The visual arts has dominated Teresa Elliott’s life for as long as she can remember, and always will. She says, “I’m always pushing myself to grow as an artist, it’s the only way to stay fresh and passionate. My favorite painting is Rembrandt’s Self Portrait at the Age of 63. To me, this work is distilled down to the essentials of great painting. Having perfected his craft he created one of the most revealing portraits of all time.” Elliott further states, “My paintings reveal what I see visually on the surface and beyond the visible. I explore the fundamentals of the craft as well as the emotional content of my observations of the natural world.””

All images via Teresa-Elliott.com, used with permission…

Images are not for reproduction, they are property of the artist.

Catch you back here tomorrow!