Abstract Art Daily Artsy Mixed Media Paintings

Saturated Fluidity: Anne Harper

I am craving color.  It seems like spring has sprung everywhere except where we are.  Don’t get me wrong, I love winter, but after almost 4 months without flowers, I am ready for blooming!  So it should be no surprise that this week I’m drawn to the work of Anne Harper.

Persuasion #2, acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Spring is full of contrasts– bright flowers glowing against skies wet with rain.  Harpers work parallels for me the loveliness of an urban spring.  Her liquid color reminds me of my first spring visit to Seattle, where the cherry blossoms littered wet sidewalks.  It seemed magical. ( Probably didn’t hurt that I was newly in love, both with the city and my then soon-to-be hubby! )

Persuasion #4, acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Then, the rainy days of spring gradually dry, giving way to the glorious glow of summer.  I am ready.  Are you?

Spontaneous #2, acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Persuasion #7, acrylic and mixed media on canvas

To see more of Anne Harper’s work, please visit her website.  In addition to being a fantastic painter, she is also a talented musician!  You can listen to her tunes here.

This artist found via Saatchi Online.

Featured image is a detail of Persuasion #4.  All images are via the artist’s website.

Daily Artsy Paintings

Abandoned Memories: Erin Payne

I can sort of relate to Linus van Pelt, of Peanuts fame.  I have a favorite blanket, too.  It was never a security blanket of the type that is carried around and a meltdown ensues when it is forgotten, lost or laundered.  But rather, I have a blanket ( quilt, actually ) given to me by my grandmother that is a repository of memories and is one of my prized possessions.  I imagine Los Angeles artist Erin Payne understands emotional connections to a cherished textile.

Ice Pile, oil on canvas, 72x72

In her Piles series, Payne sets up still lifes constructed of heaps of blankets, sheets, tablecloths and other household fabrics set against landscaped dioramic backgrounds, forever memorializing these stacks on canvas.  Just as I find comfort in the warmth of my grandmother’s quilt, both physically and emotionally, so do many once ordinary items become cherished vessels of remembrance.

Spire, oil on canvas, 30x30

But what happens when the person most connected to those memories is gone?  The beloved item may be forgotten, thrown out or given away, becoming a hollow receptacle, now ready to be imprinted upon by a new owner.

Aspens With Wet Pile, oil on wood panel, 36x36

Will their new keeper appreciate the past life of an object that may be a bit worn?  Will they even give thought to whose history this article has been a part of?

Dune, oil on canvas, 24x24

See You Later, oil on canvas, 24x24

I hope my grandmother’s blanket will be with me, reminding me of sniffles comforted and snuggles under a reading lamp.  But even if it somehow finds its way out of my grasp, I hope the love that it carries radiates from its worn threads.  To see more of Erin Payne’s work, please visit her website.

Featured image is Pile 4, acrylic on canvas, 24×24.  All images are via the artist’s website.

Artsy Dwelling Interiors

Artsy Dwelling: Modern Whimsy

Have you ever fallen in love with a wonderfully strange work of art but had no idea how to design a room around it?  Interior designer Fawn Galli hits the mark with her contemporary fairy tale room designed around a painting by Anne Siems.

Designed by Fawn Galli, artwork by Anne Siems

See more from this fantastic fantasy meets contemporary NYC home, visit House of Turquoise or House Beautiful.  And when you’re finished drooling, visit designer Fawn Galli’s website for more inspiration!

Artsy Fodder Fashion

Artsy Fodder:  Speaking of Branches

Since we’re on the subject of tree branches today, have you seen these necklaces from Lovisa Lindstrom’s Etsy shop, marukiko?

Lovisa Lindstrom

I am completely in love with them.  One would be the perfect tree-gazing accessory!

Design Foraging Mixed Media Paintings

Friday Faves: Branching Out

Hubby and I are treehuggers.  Not in a holier-than-thou, I-always-recycle, never-ever-use-plastic-grocery-bags kind of way ( though there may be a little of that ), we’re more the Babe!-did-you-see-the-size-of-that-tree, doesn’t-that-tree-trunk-look-like-the-Venus-de-Willendorf, oh-I-want-to-hug-it variety.  As the days get longer and the weather gets slightly warmer, we’re beginning to plan lots of treks into the woods to do some tree-gazing.  One of our favorite things to do is lay on the ground and look up at the trees and their branches.  So to get you in the mood for perhaps a little tree-gazing of your own, here are a few artists who share our woodsy love!

Rumis Ladder by Adam Shaw, oil on canvas, 64x70

Rusted by Liz Ruest, digital collage, prints available

All Things Great and Small by Angie Renfro, oil on panel, 30x24

Eastern Redbud II by Susan Goldsmith, white gold leaf with pigment print, oil pastel, oil paint & resin on panel, 36x36

Adam ShawLiz Ruest | Angie Renfro |Susan Goldsmith 

So how about you, Artsies?  Any tree-hugging plans this weekend? 🙂

Featured image is The Truth Calls Us Into Being by Adam Shaw, oil on canvas, 70×50.  All images are via the artist’s websites, linked above.

Daily Artsy Paintings

Inner Illuminations: Tamara English

The creative minds of artists are an unending source of fascination for me.  They way they each devise their own visual language in order to express to the world what they find most important and intriguing amazes me.  Sharing a common human nature, we often see overlapping meaning and ideas, yet the method by which those views are interpreted and conveyed is as unique as each artist.  In her work, Portland artist Tamara English explores how our own inner atmosphere informs the way we experience the world, but she does so in a marvelously distinct fashion.

Pomegranate Laughing, oil on canvas, 40x30 ( via Portland Fine Art )

From the artist:

“The paintings integrate the visual vocabularies of quantum physics, Islamic tile-work, illuminated manuscripts, and abstracted forms derived from the natural world. In particular the multi-layered paintings reference the rhythm and movement of the decorative elements found in mosques, Turkish dervish lodges, and medieval European books of hours, which for me evoke the unseen energies that move in our lives.”

The Promise of Spring, oil on canvas, 40x30

Through the use of abstract texture, forms and movement, English references the “ocean of particles in constant motion informing the physical and subtle world” which characterize her take on quantum physics.  Her use of naturalistic elements associated with Islamic tile-work and illuminated manuscripts manifest for us those physical symbols of inner life.  Within each of us exists that same push and pull, our conflict between the wonder of either our faith in or the possibility of the divine and the concrete certainty of what we can see with our own eyes.

Now the Nightbirds Will Be Singing, oil on canvas, 24x24 ( via Portland Fine Art )

Presence, oil on canvas, 72x60 ( via Portland Fine Art )

To see more of Tamara English’s work, please visit her website.

Featured image is The Queen’s Birthday ( detail ), oil on canvas, 18×18,  All images are via the artist’s website unless otherwise noted.

Artsy Dwelling Interiors

Artsy Dwelling: Does Jill Ricci Live Here?

Doesn’t this room bear a striking resemblance to Jill Ricci’s work?  It’s as if her mixed media has jumped off the canvas to cover every surface.  And I love it!

Photo by Emily Gilbert, The Brooklyn Home Co featured in the Fall 2010 issue of The New York Observer HOME

Miss RI by Jill Ricci, mixed media on canvas, 30×48

Daily Artsy Figurative Paintings

Anticipated Moments: Shaun Downey

We all know what it is like to wait.  Wait to grow up.  Wait in line for coffee.  Wait on hold for customer service.  Wait for a new life to come into the world.  Sometimes it seems that life is a series of transitioning from one type of waiting to another.  Toronto artist Shaun Downey captures fleeting occasions of expectancy in his subtly emotional scenes.

Kelly and the Red Dots, painting on canvas, 65x42

How many of us have consoled ourselves with the monotony of the every day while we long for the arrival of what we have been waiting for?  Even when we have no idea what or who it may be.

Last Glance, painting on canvas, 32x48

How do we console ourselves when it seems our waiting is in vain?  We wait and wait and wait, but the door never opens.

The Tooth Fairy, painting on canvas, 65x42

Perhaps we are too distracted when our awaited arrives to even notice and before we know it, the opportunity is gone.  Or maybe it remains and is just watching for us to awake to its presence.  And sometimes, once the waiting is over, the transition is bittersweet.  Because who knows what is around the corner?  More waiting, perhaps more wonderful.

The Old Apartment, painting on canvas, 18x24

Packing Up, painting on canvas, 48x48

To see more of Shaun Downey’s work, please visit his website.  I’m waiting for spring to finally arrive here in North Idaho.  What are you waiting for today?

Featured image is Packing Up, 48×48.  All images are via the artist’s website.  Found via artist Brad Kunkle.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Contemporary Retellings: Claudia Smalley

One of the things I loved about studying art history in college was learning the backstories and narratives behind works that seem, on the surface, simply decorative.  Throughout the history of art, still lifes have been used to convey deeper meaning through the symbolism of the objects they portray. In her Peek series, Chicago artist Claudia Smalley looks past the narrative to distill the still life into its simplest values– color, shape and light.

Still Life I, oil on canvas, 48x36

Smalley successfully interprets what some might consider a mundane subject ( not me, though! ) into exciting, contemporary abstract interpretations full of movement and texture.

Still Life 6, oil on canvas, 48x36

She captures the essence of the genre in terms of composition ( what every art student studies still lifes for! ) and that glorious chiaroscuro employed by masters of the staged vignettes.  Her canvases move and glow with the same delicate rhythm.

Still Life 5, oil on canvas, 20x24

While I was in painting studio in college, I remember my favorite instructor telling us to squint in order to see how strong our light and composition was.  Smalley’s Peeks extracts the strongest elements of detailed compositions and redefines them in an equally elegant, though much more modern way.

Fruit 3, oil on canvas, 24x36

Still Life 20, oil on canvas, 36x24

To see more of Claudia Smalley’s interpretational work, please visit her website.

Featured image is Still Life 2, oil on canvas, 36×24.  All images are via the artist’s website.