Cooler weather has finally made its way to Southern Oregon. Which brings with it my favorite season, autumn. There is something about the quality of light in the Fall that makes everything seem to glow like candlelight. Atlanta artist Ryan Coleman is no doubt aware of the effects of autumnal light. His abstract paintings sing in tune with the loveliness of this transitional season.
Nature's Tempest, oil on canvas, 48×48
Taking his inspiration from the nature around him, Ryan uses expressive brushwork and subtle shifts in color to achieve his soft abstractions of the bountiful beauty found within the landscape.
Untitled, oil on canvas, 48×48
Glorious color bursts forth from the canvas, just as autumn leaves provide a last triumphant explosion of hues before grey winter sets in.
oil on canvasoil on canvas
These paintings make me feel like I’ve just taken a walk through the autumn woods. Hope to experience the real thing this weekend! To see more of Ryan Coleman’s work, please visit his website and Facebook page. If you’re in the Atlanta area, his work can be viewed at Pryor Fine Art.
Featured image is Celebration, oil on canvas, 40×30. All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.
When I hear the word “collage”, I think back to 2nd grade arts & crafts, safety scissors and Elmer’s Glue. Of course, my little artsy heart was dreaming of creating beautiful art, not the actual result of magazine cut-outs wrinkled from using way too much glue. The collage work of Leigh Wells is the stuff my paper moon dreams are made of.
Untitled, collage and mixed media on paper, 9.5×12.75
Simple shapes and soft, earthly colors create striking silhouettes that invite you in to explore their mystery.
Untitled, collage and mixed media on paper, 9.5×12.75
The organic shapes seem to morph in and out of each other, creating forms that are both familiar and alien.
Untitled, collage and mixed media on paper, 9.5×12.75
Part Magritte, part Ernst, part O’Keeffe… All Leigh Wells and all beautifully elegant and engaging.
Untitled, collage and mixed media on paper, 9.5×12.75
To see more of Leigh’s work, please visit her website. Hmm.. I’m inspired. Think I just might dust off my scissors and glue.
It has been a while since I’ve featured an abstract painter. Maybe it’s because I see so much abstract painting that is good, but not exceptional. Completely nonobjective abstract work looks like it’s easy, but in actuality it is very, very difficult to do well. ( I know, I tried in college and the results were, well, not so good. Maybe someday I’ll be brave enough to try again ). That being said, Susan Morosky’s work is definitely of the exceptional kind.
Big Grass Creek, acrylic on canvas, 46×68
Susan’s brushstrokes, while seemingly frenetic, are essential to her sense of composition. They lead the eye in, out, up, down and around. There is a sense of movement, yet the work feels peaceful, not chaotic.
Canyon River, acrylic on canvas, 36×36
Her work is an abstract inspiration of the properties of water, fields and their boundaries. It is from this beginning that the finished pieces find their organic rhythms.
Creekside Spring, acrylic on canvas, 36×36Night River, acrylic on canvas, 36×36
Layers of paint, some left piled onto the canvas, other layers extracted from it, create an undulating surface as vibrant and lively as a rushing river.
To see more of Susan Morosky’s work, please visit her website. If you’re in the New Orleans area, you can see her work in living color at the fabulous Gallery Orange.
Featured image is Belle Island Shore by Susan Morosky. All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.
PS– I often listen to music while writing artist features and usually try to choose a musical artist that inspires me in the same way that the art does. Susan Morosky’s feature was written to Tiger Lily by Natalie Merchant. Thought it would be fun for you to know my “soundtrack” for artists. Is it fun? Do you care? 😉
Jacksonville artist Christina Foard has been developing a series of paintings, “Dresses”, which explore the connection between what we wear, our personality, our past, present and future. Here, Christina talks candidly about this series and what she sees as the psychology behind our fashion choices.
AF: Hi Christina! Thank you so much for taking the time for this little interview. You know how much I love your work. I am completely enamored with your dress series and am so excited you have been creating some new pieces! How did this series begin and how has it evolved?
C: I’ve been working on dresses since 2008. It began with self-portraits where I am wearing gowns painted with mapped areas or terrain I’ve covered. Mapped gowns was a personification and extension of aerial landscapes that I had begun a year prior. (Ballerina Dance, The Written Legacy, Fluid Gown ( below ), The Courtesan, A Life-changing Conversation, A Single Mom’s Playground, Picnic of Adulthood are some of these.) Since it was more about the journey, decisions and influences, I eventually removed the figure altogether. I began to place myself in and amongst other women, each of us represented symbolically as a dress. In these, I paint the way someone feels to me. It’s more about vitality and energy than their physical presence…a little like painting a pattern of the music they emanate and comparing those rhythmic differences in a series. ( “Pajama Party” ( below ), “Three Sisters”, “Five Friends” ). For example, a 90 year old woman with a saucy, adventuresome personality might end up with the most flamboyant and lively dress, which looks more suitable for a 20 year old.
Recently, in “Polka Dot Party” ( below ) and a few others, my focus area shifted from observing others to a discussion of how I choose to present myself to the world around me each day. Again, choices, decisions and influences.
Liquid Gown, oil on canvas, 60×48
The Pajama Party, oil on canvas, 36×60
AF: Tell me about what you see as the psychology around fashion and the garments we choose to clothe ourselves in.
C: When we are shopping for clothes, we pass up most items available. We reject all the items which don’t fit our perception of ourselves or our perception of our bodies. These rejections are as telling as what we eventually choose to buy. We essentially have to contend with the roles we play in our relationships as well as physical issues that dictate attire: seasons, terrain and climate. Specifically for women whose options vary greatly, our choices can openly display themes of femininity: sexuality, power, accessibility, creativity, compassion, social status, affluence, self-respect. Because our attire speaks so loudly about who we are and who we aren’t, we also deal with influence and who we hope to engage with on a given day. How accessible do I want to make myself today? How much do I want to reveal? How much do I want to conceal? Do I want to lead or do I want to be one of the masses? Do I want to bring attention to myself? These aren’t conscious questions we ask ourselves necessarily; yet they sit below the surface.
Behavior and language is affected by dress. From my personal experience I’ve noticed that I’m more expressive and creative when I wear a long scarf; more formal, precise, and attentive wearing a suit jacket; more nurturing and tactile in a long flowing dress. I notice my energy, tone, and carriage alters depending on the femininity of my fabrics, the structural formality of a garment, the heel height of my shoes, the accessories I’ve chosen. My language and sentence structures change, my accessibility to others is affected. The emotional, physical, and psychological components are intertwined. This, I find fascinating.
Orange Scarf, oil on canvas, 29×42
AF: I’ve noticed a few of your latest works in this series are named after women. Are these “portraits” of specific women?
C:Yes, they are. It is part of a social “inspiration” project that I began in 2009 and will be complete in the next several months. It is comprised of 6 individual paintings around 40″ and one larger 10′ painting. It is entitled Accidental Mentors Project and I’ll be sure to let you know all about it when fully complete.
Cindy: Structural Integrity
AF: I can’t wait to see the completed series! Do you have a favorite article of clothing? What makes it special and what does it say about you, as a woman, as an artist or as a mother?
C:I found this question challenging, if you can believe it. I decided on one long skirt I’ve had for about 6 years. It has a conservative pattern on a somewhat sheer fabric, yet a Latin-inspired construction. Every time I wear it, it makes me feel like dancing and I couldn’t feel more feminine or more perfectly my age in it. Because of how it makes me feel, I’ve also had some great memories attached to it. That adds a sentimental component.
Decisions, mixed media on canvas, 36×60
AF: Finally, just for fun.. What are you wearing? 😉
C:Pink racer-back NIKE T-shirt, navy blue Adidas cropped workout pants and my favorite socks – my running shoes yet to be put on. Plus, a little locket with my kids’ tiny toddler faces inside. The combination seems perfect at this quiet, early morning moment before the sun has arrived.
A huge thank you to Christina for sharing her work and insights. To see more of this talented artist’s work, please visit her website.
Featured image is Christina in her downtown Jacksonville studio. All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.
Please enjoy this oldie by goodie while I spend the next two weeks camping, packing, visiting with the mom-in-law and moving from WA to OR. See you in September!
There is nothing I love better than a day spent walking in the woods or paddling down a slow moving river. Nature’s beauty has a way of inspiring me to want to paint, write, cook, just create. In celebration of Earth Day, this Friday’s Forager Faves round up includes a few artists who obviously feel the same way. These are works insprired by the wonder of the earth in which we live. Enjoy and get outside!
It’s been such a grey, gloomy week here in North Florida, that I thought we could all do with a little sunshine! Maribel Angel’s work never fails to make me smile. Maribel grew up in a Spanish speaking family and their influence definitely comes through in the vitality and liveliness of her work.
Maribel’s work tells a story, one that comes from within her own imagination and world of dreams. A place filled with festive color, galloping horses, flying bunnies and fanciful birds.
As Maribel’s work symbolically explores the effects of layers of time and history, so her treatment of her mediums are often a layering of paper, images, paint, text and symbols.
It is in these details that Maribel’s graphic design background comes through. Not only in the use and placement of text, but also in the juxtapositions of color and pattern. Actually, I’ve always thought she could be a very successful textile designer. I would totally buy a fabric or wallcovering in the design of “Bohemian Blossom” ( pictured below ), wouldn’t you? I’m picturing a this on a full skirt with a crisp white shirt and floppy straw hat!
So, Maribel Angel.. Painter-Graphic Designer-Future Textile Designer ( if I had my way! ).. let’s see, any other hyphenates to describe this multi-talented artist? Oh, that’s right–she’s also a sculptor!!
Maribel takes found objects and gives them new life in her assemblages and I must admit, I find every one of these “Cuckoos Nest” birds absolutely charming. Seriously, I’ve never met one I didn’t completely fall for. Maribel was sweet enough to give me a wonderful miniature guy and it is one of my favorite possessions.
So many times when we think of paintings, it brings to mind mostly oils and acrylics. But there are a few artists out there who are creating artwork on canvas utilizing a medium usually reserved for more prosaic pursuits– like making out grocery lists. Artists like Joan Salo are creating large scale artwork using pens.
These aren’t your traditional pen and ink drawings. These are pen-drawn abstract paintings on canvas, as rich and vibrant as any oil painting. These are like the spirographs we did as kids, taken to a whole new, grown-up level. Vibrant colors, rendered in an organic, yet orderly composition. These paintings have such a sense of movement, they almost seem alive.
Untitled, pen on canvas
Some patterns are creations of color and shape woven together like textiles, creating a plaid-like composition.
Untitled, pen on canvas
While others seem more like representations of wavelengths..
Untitled, pen on canvas
… or call to mind a colorful cave filled with stalactites.
Untitled, pen on canvas
Whatever it is that we see in Salo’s abstract works, she is reminding us that artists have long taken every day tools and used them to create the extraordinary.
To see more of Barcelona artist Joan Salo’s work, please visit her website.
Addendum: If you like Deb Haugen’s work, prints will be available via One King’s Lane beginning August 5, 2011.
Organic is a hot word these days. It’s everywhere in the grocery store, pharmacy, heck just googling “organic” yields 430,000,000 hits. When most of us hear the word today, we think of pesticide-free, naturally grown food. Just as the organic food we eat is allowed to develop naturally, so is the Organic Art of Deb Haugen.
Butterballs
Deb sees the world through the fundamentals of nature, those microcosmic worlds that are happening unseen right before our very eyes. She is using her paints intuitively, creating not a visual representation of the reality of the appearance of nature, but rather the emotionality of our response to the natural world around us.
La Lumiere de Vie
The artist’s response to those “atmospheric memories” is sketched out on paper and canvas in loose, biomorphic shapes that float within a watery universe. These are the painterly representations of the feeling of dipping your toes into a frigid, running river, the scent of the woods after a summer rainfall, the movement of a snail along the forest floor.
Organic Mama by Deb Haugen
As one who does a lot of looking down while hiking ( serious klutz, party of one ), many of Deb’s paintings remind me of the intricate story that is being told beneath our feet. There is so much to witness, if we would only take the time to stop and notice, truly experience the miracles taking place all around.
She’s So Complex
Don’t just make due with eating organic food. See with organic eyes. Really get to know the natural world around you, even in your own backyard. There are stories it would like to tell you and wonders to show you, if you would only stop, look and listen.
If you’d like to see more of Deb Haugen’s work, check out her website, The Organic Artist.
Pablo Picasso once asked ( rhetorically, of course ), “Why do two colors, one put next to the other, sing?” Good ol’ Pablo had no answer, nor do I. But they do. Color calls out to us, reaches out to something in our spirit and psyche, evoking emotion. Not every artist gets color, how different hues complement and interact with each other. Michelle Armas gets it. She gets it and puts it on canvas for all the world to see and enjoy.
Sophia
Michelle began professional life, not as an artist, but in graphic design and corporate branding in New York. Talk about baptism by fire! To help cope with the stress of working in NYC, Michelle began painting. After about a year, she decided to trade the corporate world for the art world and began painting full-time.
Rosalia
Her canvases explode with color, joyous, juicy and fluid. It’s as if she’s captured the hues of the warmth of a sunny day, of being a kid again, running and jumping with full abandon.
Arelis
Lovely, sketchy scribbles and seemingly-spontaneous pops of color remind us what it was like before we were “taught” to draw and color– that magical time when we, as young children, were only concerned with the feel of the crayon on paper, fascinated by the variety in our Crayola 64. We weren’t trying to create anything.. we were just completely submerged in the process of creating.
Spooky
Filled with the colors of poppies and popsicles, sundaes and springtime, her work does sing. Sappy, happy love songs, you know, the ones that we all know the words to. Because we recognize this artist’s vocabulary– these are stories of pure color, that speak to the very basic of creative instincts that began deep within all of us. They sing us a sparkling lullaby as we bask in their sunshine, dreaming of coloring in the clouds.
To see more of Michelle Armas’ work, check out her website and be sure to stop by her blog. Her writing style is as cheeky and colorful as her paintings.
Casey Matthews lives a double life. Splitting her time between her home on Amelia Island, FL and a Chelsea apartment in New York City, in many ways, the Texas native is living an artist’s dream. The best of both worlds, surrounded by natural beauty and small town Florida charm on one hand and the energy, excitement and grit of Manhattan life on the other. She puts those hands together to create a body of work that is at once cosmopolitan and organic.
While Goldfish Sleep, mixed media on canvas, 48×60
Translucent washes of color recall water washing over sand or the pearl-like finish of the inside of a seashell. Amoebic shapes cluster together like bubbles, a few occasionally breaking from the pack and seeming to drift across and down the surface of the canvas.
In The Thick Of It, mixed media on canvas, 36×48Sleep Deprived and the Dog Can’t Wait, mixed media on canvas, 48×60
But look closely at those clusters of shapes and color– it is in these little pockets that Casey lets the urban darkness come through..
Sleep Deprived And The Dog Can’t Wait ( detail )
Casey is nothing if not a self-aware artist, working through the dynamics of her “dual citizenship” in the two pieces City Mouse, Country Mouse ( below ).
City Mouse, mixed media on canvas, 48×72Country Mouse, mixed media on canvas, 48×72
This is intuitive work, the colors, shapes and forms emerging from the artist’s surroundings, emotions and experiences..
Prolapse, mixed media on canvas. 24×30
…with a touch of sardonic wit thrown in for good measure. Are those grey tones reflective of the bleached Florida sand or is it the haze of NYC steel and concrete? Only Casey knows for sure.
Construction Worker Boyfriend, mixed media on canvas, 36×48
Check out more of Casey Matthews’ work on her website and blog. If you’re in the North Florida area, stop by Blue Door Artists in downtown Fernandina Beach for 2nd Saturday Artrageous Artwalk this Saturday, July 9th, Casey is their featured artist for July.
