Featured Artist James Richards!

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Gloucester Harbor by James Richards

James Richards has some downright jaw dropping paintings on his website and on his Facebook page. Isn’t Gloucester Harbor absolutely incredible? The looseness of the strokes is out of this world. The colors are out of this world. His ability to get rid of all the unimportant “stuff” in the actual landscape amazes me. He left what was interesting and downright GORGEOUS! It wasn’t easy to choose only one painting, each and every one is so good! I love when an artist posts photos of what they’re painting. It makes them (the artist) kind of like a magician to me. It’s magical how they portray what they see so differently and so much better than it is!

Here is the photo of what James painted (from his Facebook page) – Now do you see what I mean?! Jaw dropping, right? Look how he gave the painting some twists and turns and not boring straight lines everywhere… no little stuff all over the place, oh heavy sigh, I can tell you mine would be quite different… it would be straight lines and all the little stuff, yuck yuck yuck. Why don’t you paint like the paintings you like I wonder? Well, I guess it all starts with picking up a brush… (I hear ya Ken! hee):

Photo by JamesRIchards

I love this little blip about James Richards (from his website):

Every time I go out to paint, I’m amazed at the beauty, 
complexity, and originality of God’s creation. Every 
day is unique and offers different challenges and 
opportunities for the artist. Being true to these 
differences, accurately mixing the appropriate color, 
value, and relationship I see before me achieves a 
result of a certain realness in the painting.
In painting, light is always the main theme of my work. 
Light gives form, color, and atmosphere to everything 
we see. Without it, we would see nothing.
Thus, as it is in the natural world, so it is in our 
spiritual world. Light gives meaning, reason, and 
purpose to our existence. In nature, the source of 
light is the sun. In our spirit, the source of light is 
God’s Son, Jesus Christ. 
My entire life has been a search for truth. Until I 
learned of Jesus and asked him into my life, I existed 
in the darkness of my own interpretation of life. As 
Jesus filled me with his spirit, he has filled my life with 
the light of God and an understanding of truth. 
With this talent God has given me, He has also given 
me vision. A vision to see the glory of God in His 
creation. This is why I paint.

May God bless you in your journey through life, and 
may the light of Jesus shine through you.

What a great guy! Give his website a look and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!

In the Wilds of the North on this first day of Winter…

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“In the Wilds of the North” by Ivan Shishkin, 1891

An amazing painting, isn’t it? This is “In the Wilds of the North” by artist Ivan Shiskin. Cold and eerie but also a little magical as well. A fitting painting for the first day of Winter! I ran across this painting on Facebook  Jonathan McPhillips had posted this and when I saw it I knew it was perfect for this day! (Check out his work if you get a chance… AH-MAZING to say the least!).

What’s the big deal about the first day of Winter you may wonder… here’s a little blip from the Farmer’s Almanac:

The start of winter—the winter solstice—is the shortest day of the year, when the Sun reaches its most southern point in the sky at local noon. After this date, the days start getting longer. See our First Day of Winter page!

Pretty cool, eh? Catch you back here tomorrow!

Image: Wikipedia.com

Featured Artist… Karin Olah Knowlton!

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April Blooms 2 by Karin Olah Knowlton

It amazes me that someone can use fabric so fluidly that it looks like paint from a distance. Yet up close you have the combination of interesting shapes, where you see through to other fabrics, each and every piece that Karin creates comes together so nicely! She’s such a nice person, you have to read more about her. I included a short blip below, check out her website for more… If you’re in the Charleston, SC area, check out Karin’s work, her show is through December 31, 2012 at the Corrigan Gallery (62 Queen Street)!

Karin also creates some spectacular contemporary pieces, one example below… I love the mixture of different mediums, it makes it so interesting!

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Unwinding Wind by Karin Olah Knowlton

Here’s a blip about Karin from her website, read more  (including a FABULOUS video of her process) by clicking HERE

Using fabric, Karin Olah works in a manner that mimics the flow of paint from a brush. Intricately cut, placed, and pasted textiles are combined with gouache, acrylic, and graphite to create Collage Paintings that are deep in color and texture. 

From a small-town upbringing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, her interest in Amish quilts and textile traditions led her to study Fiber Art at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. For several years following art school, Karin managed a textile studio in New York City, developing colors and patterns for clients, including Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, and Peter Marino Interior Architects. .

Now applying her fabric know-how to the realm of painting, Karin exhibits her collage art in solo and group shows on the East Coast. Her work has been featured in American Contemporary Art, Art Business News, Charleston Style and Design, and Charleston Magazine, on the covers of Charleston Art Magazine, Black and White: Birmingham’s City Paper, and Carolina Arts, and as the image for the 2011 Piccolo Spoleto Concert Poster as well as Charleston Farmers Market 2006 and 2007 posters and street banners. Corporate Collections include pieces in the Carolina Contemporary Collection of MUSC Ashley River Towers, Citadel College, City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, and Shoestring Publishing Company. 

Karin is a former board member of Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston Arts Coalition, and French Quarter Gallery Association. She recently moved with her husband, Craig Knowlton, from Charleston South Carolina, to Boulder Colorado. Karin enjoys dancing to Motown with her newborn daughter, Alison, and chasing prairie dogs with her chocolate Labradoodle, Joby.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

All Images: KarinOlah.com

Featured Artist… Josh Elliott!

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Winter Willows by Josh Elliott

Josh Elliott is an amazing Montana artist… His landscapes  are magnificent!  The warm and cool colors seem to flow together effortlessly creating a beautiful snowscape! As we near the first day of winter (Friday) I thought this was an appropriate painting… Josh has an excellent website, if you have a minute, check it out!

The painting I initially selected entitled “MATINEE” has already sold, so if you see one you like you better snap it up! Look at the clouds in this painting!!! They took my breath away!

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Matinee by Josh Elliott (Sold)

A blip about Josh from Claggett/Rey Gallery in Vail, CO:

Josh Elliott was born in Great Falls, MT in 1973. He was raised to appreciate art and is a third generation artist. His grandfather studied with Grant Wood and dabbled in all sorts of artistic pursuits. His father, wildlife artist Steve Elliott, gave up a successful career as an ER doctor to become a full-time artist.  Josh’s father taught and encouraged him. Josh learned the importance of painting from life and discovered his passion for painting outdoors. He sees his outdoor paintings as a reaction to what is in front of him, and feels they act as exercise to sharpen his skills. He considers his studio paintings to be a culmination of everything he has learned from painting out, combined with his own artistic interpretation.

Born in Montana, Josh lived out of state for some time but always felt a deep connection with Montana’s landscape and people. Josh now lives with his wife and two daughters in Helena, Montana.

Josh says, “A good painting, to me, is Nature’s truth filtered through the artist.”

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Look at this incredible light on the horizon! It looks like a painting by…

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Gorgeous, right? I saw this and flipped… CAMERA! WHERE. IS. MY. CAMERA?!!! This is the sun setting from behind the house which throws the most gorgeous warm light on the island across the river. STUNNING golden light that makes everything look absolutely spectacular! Look at the brilliance of those trees in the foreground! As soon as I saw this I thought… MARC HANSON! A fabulously talented artist from Colorado. His paintings mesmerize me. I cannot believe how he can turn out one after another and each is as awesome as the next. These trees are MARC HANSON TREE’S! I swear they are! Check out his work if you get a chance, I have no doubt you’ll agree with me! Nice guy, and he has so much talent!

Here’s an example of one of his paintings, this one graced the cover of Southwest Art magazine, see what I mean with the trees?

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“Right or Left?” by Marc Hanson

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Aaron Westerberg!

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“Intent” by Aaron Westerberg

This painting, “Intent” has been awarded Finalist in the Raymar Juried Competition. I wish I was as eloquent as Michael Godfrey, ha ha… I totally agree with his comment – you have to wonder! At first you think she looks like a “nice girl” until you see what’s in her hand… is she going to go edge a patch of unwieldy grass growing over and spilling into the driveway, or is there a small tree that needs removing… or…. EEEEEEk! Intriguing works of all kinds are on his website… check it out!

Judge’s Comments: I was drawn to this work by the subtle use of complimentary colors of the background in contrast to the model’s coat. It is simply composed in a very shallow space and exhibits technical mastery of the medium, but it goes further. I was so captivated by the beauty of the work that I initially missed the fact that the young woman is holding a hatchet. I laughed. This detail totally changed my thinking about the piece. What is she about to do? – Michael Godfrey

I highly suggest checking out the HOW TO DRAW tutorials that Aaron has posted on his blog! What fabulous information! A great blog full of so much good stuff!

Here’s a blip about Aaron from his website:

Native California Aaron Westerberg grew up in San Diego.  It was a class in Traditional life drawing that drew him to continue his Art training.  He studied with Jeff Watts and later attended the California Art Institute, where he taught and expanded his focus to include the works of nineteenth century American and European Masters. Aaron feels a connection to these great painters of form and light. In his paintings, he strives for elegance and timelessness while striking a balance between classic techniques and contemporary subject matter. Currently Aaron lives in Santa Clarita with his wife Jennifer and four children Stella, Lucy, Violet, and Sen Sei.

 Aaron Westerberg is a member of the Oil Painters of America, the Portrait Society of America and The California Art Club.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Wayne McKenzie!

“Is the Peak Open Today?” by Wayne McKenzie

I know, right!? Utterly Amazing! I love the varying blues in the mountain and sky then again in the shadow of the skiers. The mountain seems so massive and surreal. What a wonderful painting! Wayne’s website is full of fabulous paintings. This is one from the Telluride portfolio, so be sure to check them all out!

I love the skiers in this painting. I admire skiers. Wish I was one. I wasn’t the bravest on earth. I did try downhill skiing as a kid. The tow rope…? A death trap in my opinion, same for the “bunny hill” (do they still call it that?) it’s a dangerous place! Why didn’t that ski instructor teach me to do anything but walk up/down a hill with skis on? Why not teach me that swish back and forth that seems so imperative so you don’t come flying down a bunny hill at 90MPH on your rear with skis dangling from your legs?! Hmmm, I sound bitter. Ha. I’m not, it led me to cross country skiing which I truly loved for so many years. I wish I never stopped!

Ok, on to some info about Wayne! From his website

Wayne Mckenzie’s art emanates a laid back confidence that is a reflection of his Australian upbringing. With loose brushwork and bold use of color, he brings a unique perspective to the contemporary North American art world. Wayne”s strong sense of design is derived from the Aboriginal art of his native Australia. His paintings are a visual journey that allows the essence of his subject matter to come to life.

Wayne divides his time between his studios in Lake Tahoe, California and Telluride, Colorado, where he participates in the annual Plein Air Festival along side some of the most respected artists in the country. He consistently ranks in the top ten sellers, and in 2009 was awarded third place in the Artists Choice Award. Wayne also participates in the Carmel Plein Air Festival, where in 2010 he received an Honorable Mention.

Wayne has appeared in various publications throughout the United States. He was most recently honored as a feature artist in the hardcover book “Best of Artists-Oil-Global edition” by Kennedy Publishing. Renowned art critic Susan Viebrock, wrote “Anyone who doesn’t love a Mckenzie, must have a low opinion of joy….big personality- big work” and went on to describe his work as having, “a delightful sense of movement, vibration and exuberance.”

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Ezra Katz!

Painting by artist Ezra Katz

Ezra Katz. An artist who paints the most delightful paintings! I really do enjoy his style. This is an amazing painting. The wonderful shadows, the light in the distance… the clear crisp of the foreground and the light and  more fuzzy background just makes everything say LOOK AT ME! A great painting!

Here’s a blip about Ezra from his website:

Ezra Katz, born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1970 and, raised in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, began studying art at the age of seven. Learning from several teachers who would come from Mexico City and stay for the summer at this family home. Katz began with academic art and later studied commercial art when he arrived at the University of Texas in Austin and Corpus Christi. In Mexico, he established himself as an artist.  In the off seasons, Ezra traveled through the United States, painting commissions for private clients. In Cabo San Lucas, Ezra created a following among restaurateurs and hoteliers creating his highly original murals and etchings. Ezra now makes his home in two places, California and Mexico. He delights in the diverse landscapes of the Bay Area.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Eric Aho!

“Ice Cut” by Eric Aho

Eric Aho. Whoa! I cannot tell you how much time I have spent trying to decide WHICH of his paintings to feature. Each one is so brilliant and unique. “Ice Cut” is an oil painting that almost looks like it could be a watercolor. Eric’s use of color and light is so amazing. His nocturne’s mesmerize me! Everywhere I looked for his work I saw more and more and more and finally decided to go with the very first image that struck me. As simple as it is it just draws you in.

Read a blip about Eric from DC Moore Gallery:

Eric Aho explores extreme conditions of nature in landscape paintings that incorporate traditional representation, gestural abstraction, and implied figuration. The subjects of Aho’s recent paintings—ice floes, forest fires, and snowstorms— recall the immediacy and monumentality of nature. In them, he makes palpable the physicality of mass and texture while directing us to the more intangible qualities of light, movement, and time.

Evoking tectonic sensation on a scale and with a painterly vigor appropriate to the wildernesses depicted, Aho conjures the density and friction of layers of ice, the bracing temperature of arctic water, and the beauty and destructive force of wildfire. In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, author Bonnie Costello elaborates, “The dynamism of these paintings aligns with their subject matter. Instead of offering abiding geological forms, as a stable theater for variations of light and season, Aho places us deep inside extreme, protean states—in a reality not just leafing and shedding, but burning and freezing.” As representation dissolves into abstraction, these works simultaneously evoke grandeur and moments of intimacy. Aho explains, “I respond to extremes and the tension between clarity and indistinctness, the literal and the suggested, between the knowable and the unknowable. I am curious about the line we are unable to crosseither physically, intellectually, or imaginatively.”

Aho is influenced by the history of painting in surprising ways. His work bridges diverse associations ranging from Courbet to deKooning to Turrell. Costello reveals, “The boreal fires that consume the canvas have an all-over quality that can make one think of Jackson Pollock, but they first burned into Aho’s imagination from a painting by Rembrandt, Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1647), where a tiny camp fire illuminates a circle around the figures who hover in a dark, expansive wilderness.

In earlier work, Aho focused on the landscape of his northern New England surroundings. His current process is a significant departure. Now, personal anecdote, memory, and invention are deliberately introduced into the content and meaning drawn from firsthand experience of the observable landscape. Intervening between the seen and the imagined, Aho explores “how a single painted image can mediate an equivalent level of tension and sensation present in an individual’s relationship to the physical world.” In her essay, Costello concludes, “With Aho, we confront reality not selectively, in discrete, familiar parts, or classical unities, but as sensation, in real time…. Consciousness is in a forest, finding its way, all smear and blur and shimmer. Perception is still happening in the viewing, which demands duration, for the painting is not just the afterimage of an event; it is the event.”

Following studies at the Central School of Art and Design in London, Aho received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art. In 1989 he participated in the first exchange of scholars in over thirty years between the U.S. and Cuba. His postgraduate work was completed at the Institute of Art and Design in Lahti, Finland supported by a Fulbright Fellowship and a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation.

Aho’s paintings have been shown internationally in Ireland, South Africa, Cuba, Norway, and Finland. Recent exhibitions in the United States include: Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire; Portland Art Museum, Maine; Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine; National Academy, New York; and American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York. Eric Aho lives and works in Saxtons River, Vermont.

DC Moore Gallery | Eric Aho | Bonnie Costello | 

Check out Eric’s website, it’s amazing! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Matt Linz!

“Laundry” by Matt Linz

A wonderfully executed painting by artist Matt Linz. The looseness and the bits of white peaking through I absolutely adore! Laundry… a mundane task, yet Matt captured it and almost made it look somewhat elegant, ha ha… I think that keeping the tighter brushwork on the woman made her *pop*, the looseness in other areas is quite nice. Great work! Check out Matt’s blog, it’s a goodie!

Here’s a little blip about Matt from his website:

I earned my BFA from the College of Visual Arts, located in St. Paul, MN. in 1997. After graduating I began work as a catalog photographer and designer. My two biggest artistic accomplishments have been receiving signature artist status with the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and having my work shown in American Artist magazine (Acrylic Highlights). When I’m not working I spend as much time as I can outside and with local artist groups sketching with traditional media. These sketches and other work will be the focus of this blog.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Ann Larsen!

“Winter Color” by Ann Larsen

This is a beautiful winterscape. Look at all those colors that make up the snow. Just like in real life… snow certainly isn’t all white when you look at it, since reflections and shadows appear as different colors. I love a snowy painting WITH SUN. It just makes everything pop. Nice brushwork and great flecks of light throughout the painting! Her paintings lack the fine details that end up making a painting ‘fussy’. Take a peek, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them!

Here’s a blip about Ann from her website:

Ann is an award winning artist living in upstate New York’s Adirondack Mountains.  Born in Louisivlle, KY, Ann began traveling and living throughout the United States at the age of 18.   After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, she and her family moved to Denver, CO where Ann began to focus on her painting and fell in love with the western landscape.   Even though she lives in a beautiful part of the country, where plein air painting is a challenge almost any time of year, Ann also spends time painting on the coast of Maine and throughout the Southwest.   

Ann’s approach to the landscape is to simplify as much as possible in order to create the strongest paintings.  “I want my viewers to know how I felt about a place when I painted it.  I’m not trying to copy what I see nor am I interested in lots of detail.  I want to suggest a subject with the buildup of paint and exciting brushstrokes.”

Northlight Gallery in Kennebunkport, ME states, “Ann’s work exhibits the careful, thoughtful hand of an artist deeply committed to both her medium and her environment.   Ann is able to suggest the power, grace and mood of her subject as she captures the essence of New England in her landscapes and seascapes.”

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Eleinne Basa!

“Afternoon Light” by Eleinne Basa

Normally I like to feature a painting that is still for sale. This is an exception. Even though this gorgeous painting has sold, I just had to share it with you. STUNNING! LOOK at that light. Absolutely incredible. That beautiful warm golden light alongside the dark sky is perfection! This painting won the $15,000 First Place Award in the 1st Annual Plein Air Salon Online Competition! Woohoo Eleinne!
The awarding was announced during the 1st Plein Air convention in Las Vegas.

Here’s a blip about Eleinne from her website

A Classically trained artist, Basa began painting at the young age of 8. Her early training still influences her as it is when she is painting “en plein air’ that she is brought back to a time in her childhood when “painting was pure and comes from someplace deep within.”
Basa’s landscapes allure the viewer to move into the work with their radiant light and luminescent qualities reminiscent of the early Luminists and Tonalists of the American School. She is inspired by painters like Thomas Moran, George Inness and is continually striving to achieve a certain timelessness to her work.

A professional and full time artist since 2004,
Basa participates in several national shows and have been invited to participate in prestigious events such as the Maynard dixon Country show in 2009 . She has also been invited to show her works at the National Arts Club and at the Salmagundi Club in New York, New York.

D. Eleinne Basa lives in Jackson New Jersey with her husband and two children.

Check out Eleinne’s website, see all the amazing paintings…  and I’ll Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Kathryn Turner!

“Outcrop” by Kathryn Turner

Look how simple and loose this painting is. Why is that so hard I wonder? Kathryn did a wonderful job on this painting. Fabulous brush strokes and that one white wave is INCREDIBLE! I can SMELL the ocean air, ahhh, I can HEAR the waves as they brush the shore. The color of the water… beautiful! Check out Kathryn’s website, it’s a good one!

Here’s a blip from Kathryn’s website:

Artist Statement

The Miraculous Process

My need to create flows from the privilege of participating in the miraculous nature of the creative process rather than rendering some notion of a perfect product. The creative process is a confluence of nature’s inspiration and my personal interpretation of what I am experiencing. I strive to create paintings that record my own experience of the subject’s essential spirit and energy, not an imitation of a fixed surface reality. This process requires my presence, enthusiasm, open-minded appreciation, playfulness, courage and honesty. In this way, creating art is transformative, universal and timeless.

Thanks

When I think of the blessings in my life I feel overwhelmed – I don’t know where to begin to say thanks. This is my humble expression of deep gratitude for teachers who have instructed me, fellow artists who inspire me, and family and friends who support me faithfully as I pursue this dream of being an artist.

Bio

The artwork of Kathryn Mapes Turner has unfolded from the mountain valley of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Here she was born as the fourth generation to be raised on the Triangle X Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. She grew up riding the trails of the valley, learning wilderness lore and gaining an eye for landscape amid what she believes to be the most spectacular scenery on earth.

Turner began studying art in her teens from noted local painters. She then left Wyoming to attend the University of Notre Dame, majoring in Studio Arts. She spent an influential semester in Rome, Italy and then studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C. Turner now has a master’s degree from the University of Virginia.

Having been passionate about painting since childhood, Turner is now nationally recognized as a emerging artist. Turner has been awarded with such honors as Wyoming Best Watercolor Artist and was included in SouthwestArt Magazine’s “Annual Profile of Young Artists with Promising Careers.”

Turner believes that growing up in Grand Teton National Park, a place with such dramatic light and dramatic natural composition, gave her an intimate appreciation for art. “I believe the valley of Jackson Hole evokes expression,” says Turner. She now travels all over the world to paint. With watercolors and oil paints, Turner responds to what she sees in hopes of sharing this love of the sublime with others through her work. Turner believes beauty, which can be found everywhere, is a true richness in life.

In addition to her dedication to creating artwork, Turner also owns and operates Trio Fine Art Gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with fellow artists Jennifer L Hoffman and September Vhay.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Jane Barton!

“Pit Stop” by Jane Barton

I think this is an incredible painting. Obviously the white box with the word “NEXT” that you see on the image is the only way I could retrieve it. It’s not part of the painting… ha ha. I love the colors, textures and light in the foreground, and the looseness of the background. The car and the people… fabulous. Such a cool old car with the light hitting it oh-so-perfectly! Very nice. And I have to say… I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the license plate… that little blip of orange, WHOA! This piece was one of the juried pieces in the American Impressionist Society (AIS) Exhibition. Very nice work by Jane… check out her work!

Here’s a blip about the artist from her website:

After twenty-five years as a nationally recognized graphic designer, illustrator and portrait artist, Jane Barton is the recipient of numerous national awards. Originally from Chicago, where she studied at the American Academy of Art, Jane holds a B.A. from Boston University. In 1997, after writing her thesis entitled, “Drawn West: Illustrators Who Became Fine Artists,” which included personal interviews with the Tucson Seven and 11 other renowned artists across the country, Jane earned a Master of Art degree from the School of Visual Arts at Syracuse University. Ironically, 3 years later, she, too, joined the ranks of former illustrators who became fine artists. Jane studied plein air painting with such masters as Skip Whitcomb, Matt Smith and Ned Jacobs. She paints on site in both oils and water colors, using these paintings as the basis of larger, studio work. Jane also makes time to teach painting to enthusiastic students of all ages.

Inspired by the Sonoran desert of her home in Arizona, as well as her world travels, Jane enjoys exploring the patterns of light and color she sees in extreme close up as well as distant views of a subject. Her choice of subject is very immediate, whether it is a flower that blooms for only one day in the desert or the colors of a market she is standing in half way across the world. Continuing the legacy of 19th and early 20th century artists of the American West, Jane is intent on preserving the beauty of a changing, vanishing world.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Quang Ho!

“Daily Sustaining” by Quang Ho

It’s as if you are there, kneeling beside this woman watching her work her magic. Can’t you smell the wonderful food being cooked? Quang Ho captured this in such a fabulous way. Not overworked, with just enough detail to leave the rest to your imagination. A well accomplished artist without a doubt! And versatile, whoa!

Image: AnselAndTheGreatTree.com

Quang illuststrated one of the coolest children’s books I think i’ve ever seen. ANSEL AND THE GREAT TREE is one children’s book that I would love to have in my library. The illustrations are OUT OF THIS WORLD. To me, that’s what makes a children’s book. (Well, the writing has to be there, without a doubt, it has to be a good story)… without those wonderful images a children’s book wouldn’t be a children’s book now would it? I can still remember some of the images in books I’ve read growing up. MAGICAL. The book’s website has a link to purchase a limited edition print of certain images and they are nothing short of amazing, click HERE. Here is one example… Oh! I love it! How would one of these look in a child’s bedroom??!!

Illustration for Ansel And The Great Tree: “Jollyman” by Quang Ho

Here’s a blip from the International Masters of Fine Art website:

Artist’s Biography

Quang Ho was born in Hue, Vietnam. He immigrated to the United States in 1975 and is now a U.S. Citizen. His artistic interest began at the early age of three and continued through his schooling and led him to an exciting and successful painting career.
In 1980, at age 16, Quang held his first one-man show at Tomorrow’s Masters Gallery in Denver, Colorado. The exhibit was a smashing success. In 1982, Quang attended the Colorado Institute of Art on a National Scholastics Art Awards Scholarship. Ho graduated from the CIA in 1985 with the Best Portfolio Award for his graduating class.
In 1982, Quang’s mother was killed in a tragic auto accident, leaving him with the responsibility of raising four younger brothers and a six-year-old sister. After graduating from art school, Ho launched a very successful career as a freelance illustrator from 1985 through 1991. His clients included Adolph Coors Company, Upjohn, Safeway, the Colorado Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony.
Today, working mostly in oils and occasionally watercolor and pastels, Ho’s subject matter ranges from still life, landscapes, interiors, and figurative.
“Subject matter is not really important to me. I can find visual excitement all around me as well as on the canvas – from a knot on a tree to the graceful limp of a flower wilting to a juxtaposition of a few simple shapes and colors…inspirations are inexhaustible.” Quang currently resides in Colorado.

This is one amazing artist. You can feel emotion in his paintings. They are out of this world! Great work Quang!

Catch you back here tomorrow!