artsy forager

Category: Abstract Art

  • In Abundance: Sandy Welch

    In Abundance: Sandy Welch

    Do you ever have days when you just feel abundantly blessed?  I hope you do!!  These days I’m feeling amazingly thankful for so much.  Mr. Forager, the life we lead, the life we’re building, what I do here and everyone who shares in it.  When I was gazing at these abstract paintings by Conneticut artist Sandy Welch, one word came to mind: abundance.

    Springtime in the Park #2 by Sandy Welch
    Springtime in the Park #2

    These paintings are filled to overflowing with vibrant color and energetic rhythm.  Fairly frenetic with joy, they are brimming with life, just as the world explodes in color each spring.

    All That Jazz by Sandy Welch
    All That Jazz, acrylic, 30×40
    Spring II by Sandy Welch
    Spring II

    The paint is almost dancing off the canvas, isn’t it?!   Each one is just brimming with hopefulness and frivolity.  I think we need to remind ourselves sometimes that it’s OK to be happy.  Life isn’t perfect, no, but overall it is pretty darn good.

    A Walk in the Park by Sandy Welch
    A Walk in the Park

    To see more of Sandy Welch’s work, please visit her website and Pinterest page.

    Images via the artist’s website and her Pinterest page, linked above.

  • Artsy Eats: Christina Baker + Strawberry Truffle Pie

    Artsy Eats: Christina Baker + Strawberry Truffle Pie

    Did you know that today, 3.14, is Pi Day?  The happiest of all days? Get it?  Pi/pie?  I have a deep and abiding love for pie.  Ask Mr. Forager.  I’ll take pie ( fruit filled, please, preferably berry ) over cake any day of the week!  And as you know, being artsy is a way of life as much as it is a type of person.  And this artsy loves her pie.  Especially this one from BHG made with fresh strawberries AND chocolate.  If you love Christina Baker’s sweet painted confection, I bet you’ll love this pie, too.  A little rich chocolate, fresh strawberries and a flaky crust perfectly mime Christina’s February painting filled with berry-hued pinks, creamy whites and fresh brights.  I can almost taste them both..

    Gotta go, I need some strawberries STAT.

    art | February by Christina Baker, available at Found Gallery on Artsy Forager

    pie | Strawberry Truffle Pie, recipe at BHG.com

    You can check out February and more of Christina Baker’s candy-colored artwork in the City Mouse | Country Mouse show up in Found Gallery until March 28th.  You can even buy that little sweet for yourself, which let’s face it will be much better on the waistline than confections of the pie variety.  Aaaah, I’m always craving art, but now I’m craving pie, too!  Happy Pi Day, Artsies!

    Christina Baker image via the artist, pie image via Better Homes & Gardens website.

  • Springing Forward: Marion Lane

    Springing Forward: Marion Lane

    Did the time change knock anyone else for a loop?  Mr. F and I were fine ( fantastic, actually! ) the first day, OK yesterday, but both exceedingly groggy this morning.  Everything feels just a tiny bit off.  But we relished the extra daylight yesterday.  Everything around us seems to be basking in the glory of spring.  While we were in Palm Springs on Sunday, blossoms were everywhere.  Perhaps that’s why I was so drawn to this series of work by Los Angeles artist Marion Lane, Spring.

    Untitled by Marion Lane
    Untitled, acrylic on panel, 13×13
    Untitled by Marion Lane
    Untitled, acrylic on panel, 13×13

    The paintings in the Spring series remind me so much of what spring is like in the city.  The lushness of blossoms bursting forth against the hard-edged verticality of urban architecture.

    Untitled by Marion Lane
    Untitled, acrylic on panel, 13×13
    Untitled by Marion Lane
    Untitled, acrylic on panel, 13×13

    Spring is, after all, a season of transition, and as such still filled with wet, grey days.  But it is those spring showers that nourish and bring to life all that was dormant.   New life suddenly sprouts everywhere, as Lane’s oozing organic shapes remind us.

    Untitled by Marion Lane
    Untitled, acrylic on panel, 13×13

    To see more of Marion Lane’s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

     

  • Welcome our March Featured Artist!

    March is here! Where in the world did February go? Sneaky little short month catches me off guard every time. But I’m excited to welcome a new month because it means welcoming a new Featured Artist to Artsy Forager! Please help give a warm artsy welcome to New York artist Peri Schwartz!

    Studio XXXII by Peri Schwartz
    Studio XXXII by Peri Schwartz

    Be sure to head on over to the Artsy Forager Facebook page where Peri’s work will be gracing the cover for the month of March! And don’t forget to check out her Facebook album, where you’ll see a combination of her latest work and a few of my personal favorites. Happy month of March!

    Image via the artist’s website.

  • Suspended Effervescence: Kim Squaglia

    Suspended Effervescence: Kim Squaglia

    Ever throw a party, then wake up the next morning to a completely disheveled house, yet revel in the knowledge that you know a good time was had?  The work of California artist Kim Squaglia, with its effusive confetti-like dots and streamer-like lines against soft, solid backgrounds reminds me of the quiet morning after a rockin’ party.

    Lolly by Kim Squaglia
    Lolly, oil, acrylic and resin on panel, 24×24
    Lolly ( detail ) by Kim Squaglia
    Lolly ( detail )

    As you can see in Lolly ( detail ) above, Squaglia’s technique of layering acrylics, oil and resin results in incredible depth, almost cut-paper like in nature, adding to the confetti and streamer effect I can’t seem to get out of my head.

    Scend by Kim Squaglia
    Scend, oil, acrylic and resin on panel

    Then there are works like Scend ( above ) and Cirque I ( below ), which are a bit more reminiscent of cosmic configurations and tangled vines.  There is also an interesting cell-like structure to many of her compositions, which may seem like a microscopic peek inside the human body or other organism.

    Cirque I by Kim Squaglia
    Cirque I, oil, acrylic and resin on panel, 48×72

    So many possibilities to be discovered!  What do you see in Kim Squaglia’s work?  To view more of the artist’s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Serendipitous Journeys: Jan Zoya

    Serendipitous Journeys: Jan Zoya

    21st century humans are over thinkers.  In this age of almost unlimited information access, we Google it, Wikipedia it, overanalyzing most anything and everything that comes our way.  The moments in which we just lose ourselves to what is happening right that very secondare increasingly rare.  Los Angeles artist Jan Zoya intentionally strives to keep the intellect out of her work, resulting in abstract paintings that are free from constraint.

    Castle in the Sky by Jan Zoya
    Castle in the Sky, oil on canvas, 23×23
    Ramshackle Harbor by Jan Zoya
    Ramshackle Harbor, oil on canvas, 30×30

    Her journeys in paint become a conversation on canvas, a talk between color, texture and what emerges.  Between the path the artist decides to pursue and the road not taken.

    City at Night by Jan Zoya
    City at Night, mixed media on canvas, 36×48
    Garden of Earthly Delights by Jan Zoya
    Garden of Earthly Delights, mixed media on canvas, 17×23
    Daisychains Around the Maypole by Jan Zoya
    Daisychains Around the Maypole, mixed media on canvas, 36×36

    As I mentioned in a post last week, I’m learning how to have these conversations in paint.  To let your brain take a vacation while you paint is very difficult to do!  We’re always wanting to know, what will the outcome be?  Where is this going?  When will we get there?  But as in Zoya’s work, I found that it was when I stopped thinking that the magical combination of instinct and intuition took over.  And the journey became much more interesting!

    Passage by Jan Zoya
    Passage, mixed media on canvas, 36×36

    To see more of Jan Zoya’s work, please visit her website and give her Facebook page a like, too!

  • Sheer Expression: Mary Ann Wakeley

    Sheer Expression: Mary Ann Wakeley

    Something that draws me again and again to abstract work is how it, more than any other style, tends to be about outward expression of an inner life.  Artists using their canvases and paints to work out what is going on inside.  The work of Pennsylvania artist Mary Ann Wakeley, which she describes as a form of meditation, seems to be the manifestation of her own inner dialogues.

    Wonderland by Mary Ann Wakeley
    Wonderland, mixed media on paper, 19×24
    Le Fruit de l'Amour by Mary Ann Wakeley
    Le Fruit de L’Amour, mixed media on paper, 17×22

    As I look at Wakeley’s work, watching the movement of color and line, I can almost “see” the conversation taking place with herself in paint.  The forms and shapes dialogue on the canvas, some speaking louder than others.

    L'Envers by Mary Ann Wakeley
    L’Envers, mixed media on paper, 24×19
    Reclamation by Mary Ann Wakeley
    Reclamation, mixed media on wood, 30×30

    Looking through Wakeley’s body of work on her website, you can almost see the evolution of what she was expressing as a visual diary of sorts.. periods of work where the paint is dark and dense or times of fluid joy.

    To see more of Mary Ann Wakeley’s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

     

  • The Synthesis of Complements: Natalia Wrobel

    The Synthesis of Complements: Natalia Wrobel

    In every life and any artist can tell you, in every work of art is filled with highs and lows.  We struggle through the valleys and rejoice on the mountaintops.  The work of New England artist Natalia Wrobel expresses those polarities in paint.

    The World is a Waterfall by Natalia Wrobel
    The World is a Waterfall, oil on canvas, 77×77
    Marked Surrender by Natalia Wrobel
    Marked Surrender, oil on canvas, 24×24

    Wrobel’s work intuitively explores the push and pull of creating something from nothing.  The layering of color, line, and shape create swirls of movement and texture while leaving areas of glowing and restful light.

    Angels at the Ready by Natalia Wrobel
    Angels at the Ready, oil on canvas, 36×60
    Abundance by Natalia Wrobel
    Abundance, oil on canvas, 96×48

    In each piece, we can almost see the search, the struggle between letting go and holding on, knowing when to keep moving forward and when to stop in your tracks.

    Echo by Natalia Wrobel
    Echo, oil on canvas, 42×42

    To see more of Natalia Wrobel’s work, please visit her website.  And don’t forget to follow her on Facebook and Twitter, too!

  • Elusive Suggestiveness: Sherie Franssen

    Elusive Suggestiveness: Sherie Franssen

    I admit, I’m a scaredy cat.  I turn on lights as soon as I enter a dark house.  It’s something about the fear of what is unseen.  The power of suggesting what might be lurking is enough to give me chills.  The work of California artist Sherie Franssen weaves a visual tension between what lies beneath and what is merely suggested.

    Fool For Love by Sherie Franssen
    Fool For Love, oil on canvas, 43×65

    Her expressive abstract works begin with a figure, then through expressive gestural brushstrokes and saturated color, the figurative presence recedes, like a shadow, into the swarm of color and movement.

    Return of the King by Sherie Franssen
    Return of the King, oil on canvas, 78×86
    Barnyard by Sherie Franssen
    Barnyard, oil on canvas, 78×80

    While perhaps, if we gaze long enough and look closely enough, we may catch a glimpse of the figure among the fray.  But it will be the searching that our eyes most remember as we take in the excitement of each moment and movement.  We may even forget what it was we were anticipating.

    Woozy by Sherie Franssen
    Sherie Franssen, oil on canvas, 78×90

    To see more of Sherie Franssen’s work, please visit her website.  Her work can be seen in person at Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco.

    All images are via the artist’s website.  Artist found via Dolby Chadwick Gallery.

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Alex Steckly

    Artsy on Escape Into Life: Alex Steckly

    Thick, interlocking lines of paint layered over obscured black and white imagery?  Could I be more intrigued?  Check out the work of Portland artist Alex Steckly in my Artist Watch over on Escape Into Life.  Because I need to know I’m not the only one obsessing over these.  Check out the post here!

    Artist Alex Steckly

    Alex Steckly on Escape Into Life.