artsy forager

Author: Lesley

  • Abandoned Memories: Erin Payne

    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, 72×72

    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, 30×30

    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, 36×36

    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, 24×24
    See You Later, oil on canvas, 24×24

    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: 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: 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!

  • Friday Faves: Branching Out

    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, 64×70
    Rusted by Liz Ruest, digital collage, prints available
    All Things Great and Small by Angie Renfro, oil on panel, 30×24
    Eastern Redbud II by Susan Goldsmith, white gold leaf with pigment print, oil pastel, oil paint & resin on panel, 36×36

    Adam Shaw | Liz 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.

  • The Artsy Everyday: Is That Your Art in My Coffee?

    I always get a little thrill when I get a tiny foam work of art in my coffee.

  • Inner Illuminations: Tamara English

    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, 40×30 ( 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, 40×30

    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, 24×24 ( via Portland Fine Art )
    Presence, oil on canvas, 72×60 ( 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: 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
  • Anticipated Moments: Shaun Downey

    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, 65×42

    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, 32×48

    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, 65×42

    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, 18×24
    Packing Up, painting on canvas, 48×48

    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.

  • Contemporary Retellings: Claudia Smalley

    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, 48×36

    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, 48×36

    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, 20×24

    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, 24×36
    Still Life 20, oil on canvas, 36×24

    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.

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Jill Ricci

    Special treat for your Monday!  Due to Escape Into Life website maintenance, my EIL feature ran early yesterday.  Head over and enjoy!

    Love at first sight.  That’s what I felt for Jill Ricci’s work. The colors!  The texture!  The graphics!  I love it all and am sharing it over on Escape Into Life today.  Click on the link below to fall in love!

    Hocus Pocus, mixed media on canvas, 20×30

    Jill Ricci on Escape Into Life