Benz Amataya Kuipers. These paintings are fabulous. Wonderful colors and shapes – to me they are just so happy. I love that Benz has her children join in on her paintings, or at least some of them. She posts wonderful videos of the kids painting. They don’t just splash paint all over, they put thoughtful strokes. Brilliant actually. I think for those of us who wish we could loosen up there is something to be learned here! You cannot help but smile when you look through her paintings on her website, FB and Instagram – I love to watch her children paint, they get so into it!

If you’re in the Chicago area, Benz (Amataya Studio) will be teaching a Family Painting Adventure – this sounds like so much fun! (Visit GrowArtists.com) – I think this is such an amazing opportunity. Two classes, one for ages 2-4 and the other for ages 5-12. In addition to showing their artistic skill, it’s a chance to bond over both of you painting on a single painting while reenforcing what it means to be a “team”.

An all-family painting session for kids 5-12 years old and their parents/caregivers. This is a process painting class. We encourage playful explorations of art materials, colors, lines, shapes and forms. We will provide a different theme for each class and trust the children to show us what they can do with paint. Each adult+child team will create an 8×10 painting to bring home in addition to other works on paper.

See more of Benz’s work via these links:

Website  |  Facebook  |  Instagram

Read a bit about Benz, from her website:

I am a Thai contemporary painter currently based in Chicago. I am self taught and started painting at age 34.  I did not grow up making art. Books were my refuge. I spent most of free time in my childhood reading and writing. I wanted to be a writer, but somehow I went to a business school and even got a Master’s in Marketing. I was lost for a long time. Along the way, I have always had the desire to create. I’ve tried taking drawing, painting, ceramics, printmaking classes, but nothing has stuck. I’ve always got hung up on the techniques and then I gave up.

It wasn’t until I had my children that I learned a truly liberating way of art making. The way my boys draw and paint amazes me. It’s so fun, so fearless, so real, so raw, so carefree. I wanted to paint like that, so I started exploring and experimenting with process-based art and haven’t stopped since.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My process honors the rawness, innocence, courage, joy, and spontaneity that I found in my children’s art-making process . My paintings are simply my spontaneous and unfiltered responses to my creative urges. My process is straightforward. I don’t plan ahead on how I want my paintings to look. I follow my impulses, choose colors and make marks that feel right to me at the time.                          

My art is open-ended and inviting. My highest hope is to inspire other reluctant painters (or artists, or anyone) to try their hands at art without being too hard on themselves.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

All images via AmatayaStudio.com, used with permission…

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

Painting by Jessica Fields

Jessica Fields. Fabulous paintings – great texture with a palette knife. Each is so interesting to me. I love the layers of color! Be sure to peruse the links below. Many on Jessica’s website are sold – don’t miss Instagram! Fabulous! You can definitely tell that painting puts her in her happy place!

See more of Jessica’s work via these links:

Website  |  Instagram 

Read a bit about Jessica, (from her website):

Jessica Leitko Fields (that’s me) is a working painter, collage gluer and general maker living in Greenville, SC.

I’m originally from, lets say, Houston, because who remembers anything from before they were five anyway. And there I garnered a love for all things flat and stripey. Add a dose of a Louisiana farm on my mother’s side and all those fields start to make sense. Then I married a Fields! Like a joke. I liked them so much I married them. 

I went to school at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where I learned to love paint and color and texture and to really really hate snow. 

I’m typically a teacher by trade with a special fondness for art history and history in general which will crop up in my titles from time to time. 

This is my happy place. 

Catch you back here tomorrow!

All images via fieldart.work, used with permission…

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

Nick Runge. This man creates such interesting, thought provoking paintings. He can clearly paint a portrait, but it’s the abstract qualities in the painting that shift it from a normal painting to a WOW painting. Love these blues – this is brilliant and captures your attention! Abstracted realism indeed!

See more of Nick’s work via these links:

Website  |  Facebook  |  Instagram

Read a bit about Nick:

Born in 1985, artist Nick Runge grew up in Colorado. Coming from a creative family of professional artists, he was always interested in drawing and imagining ideas visually. Starting in 2004, he began thinking about art as a career and got the chance to begin small jobs in and out of the comic book industry. After 2006, he worked as an illustrator for various comic companies such as IDW, Dark Horse, and many others. While primarily making a living as a cover artist, he began painting more seriously and started exploring the world of film art and traditionally painted projects, doing various official and private commissions. These days he has stepped away from commercial properties, focusing exclusively on fine art and personal work using oils and watercolor.

As a portrait/figurative painter, Nick works from life as well as photography, describing his art as something close to “abstracted realism”, with an objective of expressing as much of the realistic human element of life as possible through a limited and often simplified approach to his rendering or brushwork, giving an illusion of realism while, at the same time, breaking shapes and form down enough to have a close balance with abstraction.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

All images/bio via NickRungeArt.com, used with permission…

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

What wonderful paintings! I looked through them forever before selecting one for today’s feature. You must go check for yourself. I could have easily picked any one of Sarkis’s paintings – they are different – they are so wonderfully loose and expressive with gorgeous color and brush strokes. Wow!

See more of Sarkis’s work via these links:

Website  |  Instagram  |  Blog

Read a bit about Sarkis, from his website:

Sarkis was born in 1933 in the Middle East to Armenian parents and immigrated to the United States in 1958. 

After a 35-year career as a pharmacist, he attained his childhood dream of becoming a professional painter and is now a nationally recognized and award-winning artist.

Whether working in his Cheshire, Oregon studio or on location, Sarkis paints and draws in oils, watercolors, pastels and inks. His varied subject matter includes figurative, landscape, still life and abstract. He also enjoys sculpting in clay. Continue reading HERE…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

All images via SarkisAntikajian.com, used with permission…

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

Mark Mehaffey. Mark’s paintings are something special. I love those bits of underpainting showing through – it gives the painting pizazz (as if it really needs it!) – great shadows – the trees are magnificent!

See more of Mark’s work via these links:

Website  |  Instagram  |  Workshops

Read a bit about Mark, from his website:

I’ve been drawing and painting my whole life. I started painting with watercolor at the age of 10 and never stopped. My parents and my early teachers encouraged me to paint, I suspect to keep me out of trouble. It worked….more or less.

Some of my earliest memories include trying to match the colors I saw while using a child’s set of watercolors. Hours were spent in this endeavor. After 55 years of painting I’m now more inclined to paint the colors I feel than the colors I see. Paintings always take on a life of their own. Sometimes a work requires a studied design approach, making a plan and following that plan, at other times a more intuitive visceral approach is called for. I let the idea and content of my work dictate the materials and techniques used….not the other way around. Other ideas dictate an exploration of surface and textures, relying on the initial concept and intuition to bring the work to a conclusion.

Above all I value creativity and honesty. And although I follow many paths and speak with more than one voice, I am on my own journey. I have two wishes…one is to live a few more hundred years, for I shall never have enough time to paint all the ideas in my head. Probably won’t see that wish granted. That second wish? That somewhere along my journey I will communicate with fellow travelers who will see something of what I see and feel something of what I feel…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

All images via MehaffeyGallery.com, used with permission…

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