As I may have mentioned, my hubby and I are renting a little apartment on a lake here in Northern Idaho for the next few months. We’ve taken a few meals down to the water, eating and drinking wine on the dock, waiting for that bewitching hour when the light begins to turn. New England artist Henry Isaacs’ work captures the magical pink light of dusk and the abstract beauty to be found in every landscape.
Near Elizabeth, NC, oil on linen, 16×12Mountain Spring ( along Rte 92 N ), oil on linen, 40×30
Isaacs’ work beautifully captures the simplicity of form to be found in our surroundings and how when the light changes color, so too, does the landscape take on a new hue.
Canon Rock #2, oil on linen, 40×30
In the brightest warmth of day, yellows dominate, then, as the sun softens the colors slowly fade and the light becomes softer.
View East from the Terryberry’s, oil on linen, 40×30View South from Elizabeth City, NC, oil on linen, 40×30
To see more of Henry Isaacs’ work, please visit his website.
Featured image is View East From the Terryberry’s, oil on linen, 40×30. All images are via the artist’s website.
Something interesting happens on our cloudy days here in the Northwest. The grey softens and disguises the landscape so that details are normally left unseen and undercover are brought to the fore. The paintings featured from Elizabeth Terhune today remind me of those days when the light is at its softest.
About the Moon, oil on linen, 22×22
Sure, we live for sunny days here in the Northwest. When the sun shines, the landscape is absolutely breathtaking! But when the clouds roll in, everything, even the sky becomes quiet. A hike in the woods on a cloudy day offers a study in contrasts, much like Elizabeth Terhune’s abstract paintings.
In the Realm of Mutability, oil on linen
Dark tree trunks stand tall, silhouetted against a cloud-filled sky. Above we see a mass of dark leaves, but the vibrant yellow flowers entwined along our path suddenly pops out at us, happy to have been given a chance to shine. As in Terhune’s paintings, the complex becomes simple. Shapes blend into one another but the darkest and brightest of them all demand our attention.
Giraffe, oil on linenCrosshair’s Gaze, oil on linen, 22×23
To see more of Elizabeth Terhune’s work, please visit her website. I’m hoping to take a cloudy day hike or bike ride today. I’ll be thinking about Elizabeth’s work!
Featured image is In the Realm of Mutability, oil on linen. All images are via the artist’s website.
Last weekend, while we were visiting Whitefish, MT with friends from Florida, we spotted the biggest, most orange moon I’ve ever seen. Its glowing intensity loomed over the distant mountains, seeming close enough to touch. Rana Rochat’s encaustic work reminds me of the seemingly random beauty and chaos that surrounds and surprises us.
Untitled A108, encaustic on panel, 54×48
The universe is constantly moving, people rushing about, planets migrating, everything in constant flux and evolution. It seems that the world is never still, it is always changing creating tension between the chaos of life and the natural order of the universe.
Untitled L750, encaustic on panel, 54×48
In her work, Rochat explores this dynamic balance between regularity and impulsiveness. Each work using similar marks and complementary palettes, yet surprising in their fluid movement and arrangement.
Untitled ( 96 ), encaustic on panel, 60×35
Shapes float across the canvas and lines seem to trace movement of forms unseen. Her work feels like a visual record of migratory journeys and chaotic progression.
Untitled ( 98 ), encaustic on panel, 42×42Untitled ( L790 ), encaustic on panel, 48×70
To see more of Rana Rochat’s work, please visit her website. Her work can be seen in several galleries across the US and Canada ( see the Contact page on her website for a full list ).
You may have noticed that I’ve been a bit out of touch for the last few days.. or maybe you haven’t.. 😉 Hubby and I moved rentals and getting the internet connection to work with our Mac has been a bit of a challenge. And then there’s the unpacking and getting settled part AND we have very dear friends coming to visit tomorrow! Needless to say, things are busier than normal in my crazy little life. So please forgive me if the blog posts are not as chatty as usual!
Today’s artist, Laurel Sparks, uses interlacing lines and shapes to create her mixed media abstracts. Each piece becomes a web-like beacon, inviting us in to explore the world that she has crafted.
God’s Eye, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, pom-poms on canvas, 36×39Constellation, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, pom-poms on canvas, 36×39
Her use of unexpected materials like rhinestones, pom-poms and “googly-eyes”, keep the work feeling fresh and feminine. Yet her use of graphic pattern and colors produce bold compositions.
Conflagration, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, beads, rhinestones on canvas, 36×33Forum, acrylic, marble dust, paper mache, glitter, beads on canvas, 39×36
To see more of Laurel Sparks’ work, please visit her website.
Featured image is Gris Gris, acrylic, gouache, marble dust, colored pencil, black glitter, googly eyes on canvas, 27×31. All images are via the artist’s website.
I like to think that a big part of an artist’s purpose is to present the world with a new way of seeing something familiar. Assumptions that were once made and scenes taken for granted are turned on their ear by the artist’s unique vision. In Eugene, Oregon artist Charlene Liu’s most recent body of work, the artist takes an often prosaic subject and gives it fresh, new life.
Her use of handmade paper brings the organic nature of her creations to the forefront. She then takes her playfulness with material a step further, using pigmented pulp to create her delicate floral palette.
Swoops and Cyclone, watercolor, handmade paper, pigmented pulp, 40.5×50.5
Like a cottage garden, the elements of each work are layered and wild, where floral still lifes were once a staid domain, they are now delicately set free.
Mad Bloom, mixed media on paper, 30×30
To see more of Charlene Liu’s work, please visit the website of her representing gallery, Taylor de Cordoba, another of my favorite gallery resources for amazing work!
Featured image is Mad Bloom, mixed media on paper, 30×30. All images are via the Taylor de Cordoba website.
I have such admiration for people who live moment to moment, seizing each day as if it were their last. The artwork of Houston artist Michelle Y. Williams is the artistic equivalent of the ultimate in uninhibited spontaneity.
Plan I, mixed media on canvas, 56×58
Perhaps it is the perceived improvisation of abstracts like Williams’ that attracts me so deeply. They call to the place in my spirit that longs to be the kind of person who doesn’t need to plan carefully, one who can just pick up and go at a moment’s notice.
12-143, mixed media, 12×12
Pops of fluid color flow across the canvas among veiled foggy tones and textures, like vivid mirage-like pools.
Plan K, mixed media on canvas, 52×52
In the midst of the tonal textures, we find surprises of color and light. It’s almost as if we’re wandering lost through the fog, catching glimpses of life in the mist.
Plan h, mixed media on canvas, 56×58Plan i, mixed media on canvas, 56×58
Please visit Michelle Y. Williams’ website to see more of her work. If you happen to be near Tulsa, OK, be sure to check out her current exhibition at Exhibit by Abersons, a beautifully curated gallery!
Featured image is Plan G, mixed media on canvas, 77×39. All images are via the artist’s website.
I love it when fans of an artist’s work remind me to feature them! So of course, I had a V-8ish slap-myself-on-the-forehead moment when the Managing Editor at Escape Into Life saw me post on Twitter about Christina Baker’s work and reminded me how awesome it would be to feature her over there.
Runaway Tears by Christina Baker, acrylic on canvas, 48×48
In case you can’t tell by the blog’s background, I have a favorite color. I love most of the blue family, but am always immediately drawn to the color turquoise. Or, as my niece Kendall calls it “toy-quoise”. So it should come as no surprise that my favorite artwork includes a heavy dose of my beloved hue. Here are some turquoise favorites I’m digging this week:
Gypsy Blue by Erin AshleyThe Search For Green by Jeanne OpgenhaffenEnhanced Sunspots After Galileo I by Rachel BrumerWish You Were Here by Josh ReamesUnobstructed Effort by Sharon Booma
With the advances in communication and technology, our world in many ways seems much smaller than it once was. But it also feels like we’re losing touch even as the lines of communication are more open and free. How many times have you been guilty of texting instead of calling? Substituting online interaction for the real people just outside your door? The work of mixed media artist Clark Goolsby reminds us just how fractured our world has become.
Plastic Messiah, mixed media on linen over panel, 18×24
Culture and news spreads more rapidly than ever, for better or worse, lives can be changed overnight thanks to media exposure. Families text, Twitter and Facebook each other while in the same house, even the same room, instead of having a real conversation. Almost all of our needs can be met online– work, news, reading, shopping, etc. and the more we rely on it, the more insidious it may become.
Unknown Degredations, mixed media on wool over panel, 16×20
Goolsby’s use of line recalls the wires and cables that connect us and make all of this communication possible. But we also see in his use of graphics lettering & images and brightly hued, fractured geometric forms that this bombardment of media, though enticing, takes it toll on our psyche and our relationships.
Untitled III, mixed media on canvas, 12×12
I’m as guilty of the overuse of technology as anyone. I write this blog. I use Facebook & email as my primary means of communication with friends & family who are far away. But nothing beats a day spent outdoors with my husband or having a face to face conversation with a friend.
Untitled Shape I, mixed media on canvas, 54×68Scrape, mixed media on canvas, 30×24
Do you have a strategy to avoid communication overload? Please visit Clark Goolsby’s website to see more of his work. But after you’ve spent some time with his work, turn off your computer and talk to a loved one face to face. 😉
When you were young, did you ever dream of living in make believe places? Like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, The Jetson’s futuristic abode or maybe the Smurfs’ village? The work of Tory Cowles reminds me of the bright, whimsical worlds that inhabit our childhoods.
#495, mixed media, 60×48
Given that Cowles’ background includes working in interior design, woodworking and carpentry, it makes perfect sense that her abstract mixed media work would have an architectural quality.
#562, mixed media, 48×48
She’s creating landscapes full of whimsy and imagination, an abstracted, make-believe toyland where you might feel like you looking right into Candyland.
#642, acrylic on canvas, 72×60
Cowles’ work reminds me of hours spend building houses and worlds out of anything we could find– blocks, spools, pipe cleaners, my grandmother’s colorful Tupperware. Worlds that appeal to the child in all of us, yet are sophisticated enough for adult eyes.
#596, mixed media, 48×60#569, mixed media, 48×48
To see more of Tory Cowles’ work, please visit her website.
Featured image is #495, mixed media, 60×48. All images are via the artist’s website.
