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, acrylic on panel, 13×13Untitled, 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, acrylic on panel, 13×13Untitled, 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, acrylic on panel, 13×13
To see more of Marion Lane’s work, please visit her website.
The wind is howling outside. That’s the thing about desert storms. Not much in terms of rain, but holy cow the wind is enough to peel the paint off your house. Truly, I think that’s what happens to many of the little houses here in Joshua Tree! So as I was deciding on my artist for today, I came across the work of Chinese American artist Bannon Fu. Meant to be.
Skirts Dancing in the WindTwo Ruffled Skirts in the Wind
Bannon Fu, deaf from the age of one year, chooses to paint the wind. So how do you paint what is not seen, but only experienced? By painting the effect of that force on the objects it touches.
Clothes Dancing in the Wind #8Dancing Clothes in Wind #9
For Fu, the beauty of the swelling and swaying of fabric in a breeze is a profound and moving sight. Wind carries with it energy, whether with the destructive force of a hurricane or the soft whisper of an summer breeze. We know its presence not because we see it, but because we feel its energy.
Sunlight on Clothes
The artist is helping us to see what is unseen, we see what the motion of the fabric and know the force behind it. Mysterious yet obvious.
To see more of Bannon Fu’s work, please visit his Bannon Fu website.
One of my favorite activities in the world is visiting artists in their studios or even getting a little peek inside through photographs! Whether an artist is working from a light filled loft or a small corner in the kitchen, the way an artist approaches their workspace says so much about their creative process. I suspicion you enjoy studio visits, too.. And so dear Artsies, I thought I would treat us to a little jaunt to the studio of Deann Hebert website You may recognize Deann’s work from the City Mouse | Country Mouse show currently online at Found Gallery here at Artsy Forager.
Everyone, say hello to Deann!
Deann and I decided this trip to her studio would give us the perfect opportunity for you to get acquainted a bit better. So she indulged me by answering a few questions inquiring Artsies might like to know..
Artsy | You have such a unique style of applying paint to canvas! Can you tell us a bit more about your process?
Deann | My process has definitely evolved over the years. I have always been attracted to texture, and palette knife painting. I wanted to create a style that married these two together. A key factor in this was the opportunity I had to study abroad while receiving my formal training. It exposed me to different cultures, ways of thinking and creating art. It was really just a trial and error type of thing. It’s a process of applying layers on top of layers. With each layer reacting with another. Once I got into my “groove” of painting, it just felt right. I literally had an “ah-ha” moment, of “this is who I am!”
AF | How have you seen yourself grow as an artist over the years?
DH | Oh I have changed so much over the years. I think it’s only a natural progression that a fine artist changes and grows. I hope I am always changing and evolving, not being static. I think this is where true creativity comes from. Over the years my work has gone from bright, bold colors and still lifes, to more muted tones of blues, creams, greys, and landscapes. Who knows what the future will bring!
AF | What is the most exciting part of painting for you?
DH | The most exciting part of creating for me, is watching the painting literally become something right before my eyes as it is on the paint table. But, the créme de la créme, is evoking an emotional reaction from the viewer, for whatever reason.
AF | What is it about the country that captures and holds your imagination?
DH | Well, this little country mouse grew up in a small town and my family always owned horses and cows. So growing up “in the country” was our way of life, and I absolutely loved it. The texture of an old barn or fence, or grass growing in the fields remind me of my childhood days. Unfortunately, many of these old structures are falling victim to time and neglect, but still are a direct link to the past, and the present. These barns tell a story, too, if we could only listen to them, to me, they are the heart and soul of the South. Even my studio walls are made from reclaimed wood from a historic barn that was torn down, so my inspiration, is quite literally, everywhere. Now, I am lucky enough to call Tennessee home, and the rolling hills and landscape are truly inspiring to me and beautiful. In my own little way, I want to pay homage to that.
Margaret Britton Vaughn, Poet Laureate of Tennessee, says it best in her poem:
BARNS OF MY YOUTH
I miss the barns of my youth,
The ones that read, “See Rock City.”
Hungry Caterpillars ate them alive,
Spitting out nails
To become thorns in the side
Of crawling asphalt,
Erasing small towns
To link big cities
They die hard, these old barns,
Leaning on the everlasting
Shoulders of Time
That cushion the fall of rotting boards.
Light seeps through decaying skeletons,
Causing shadows to tiptoe
Like ballerinas dancing the waltz of the wind.
In our hurry to get there
We destroyed the landscape:
Masterpieces of America.
AF | You are very involved in children’s art activities, like Art Camp. What do you see as the most important creative lesson a child can learn?
DH | Since I have two children myself (2 and 6), exposing children to the arts is very near and dear to my heart, and I think the most important creative lesson a child can learn is that art can be used to express yourself in ways that nothing else can. That you can actually say something with your art.
AF | Obligatory question. If you weren’t an artist, what would your dream job be?
DH | It’s so hard to answer that question because I am living my dream job…. but let’s see, since I love to travel, I always thought Samantha Brown had the coolest job ever to tour the world and work for the Travel Channel show, “Great Hotels”. How cool would that be?!
That would be a pretty sweet gig, but I have a feeling most folks would trade with you in a heartbeat! Thanks so much for opening up your studio to us, Deann!
To see more of Deann’s work, please visit her Deann Hebert website and the City Mouse | Country Mouse online show and sale in Found Gallery here at Artsy Forager. Big thanks to Ray Sanduski of With an Eye Photography for the gorgeous shots of Deann’s creative space and process. Be sure to check out Ray’s website!
It’s March. This time last year, we were in Northern Idaho and I’m pretty sure we were still wearing heavy sweaters and boots. But spring has officially sprung here in the desert! Although the emerging season definitely looks different here. The paintings of Temre Stanchfield remind me that somewhere there is a spring filled with soft petals, not cactus blooms.
Starlight, oil on canvas, 36×36Truffle, oil on canvas, 30×36
The artist’s floral groupings have a delicate strength, much like the plants themselves. Only slightly reminiscent of traditional floral still lifes, these bouquets seem much more fresh and alive.
Chortle, oil on canvas, 24×24Twinkle, oil on canvas, 36×36
As seeds float away from petals, we are reminded that the blooms we cherish so much are just one part of the life cycle of the plant. That the more quiet, dormant periods of a life are essential to the blossoming.
Art to Inspiration is back! The time for this collaborative blogging project is here once again and this month’s inspiration is being provided by artist Laura E. Pritchett. I have always loved the possibility inherent in the disappearing path.. One of the artists showing in our City Mouse | Country Mouse exhibition in found gallery, Deann Hebert, also has a love for roads that lie before us. So for my Art to Inspiration, I’ve put together a little gallery of Deann’s own paths taken.
The inspiration–
Out of the Woods by Laura E. Pritchett
The gallery–
The Path**Country Road**Gracefully Growing**The Good LifeThe Path I’ve Chosen
Asteriked work can be found ( heh, get it? ) in the City Mouse | Country Mouse exhibtion. The other work by Deann can be found on her website. What paths are you contemplating these days?
You can find more information on Art to Inspiration here and if you would like to participate in the next Art to Inspiration, just fill out this form! Follow me and all the other Art to Inspiration bloggers on Twitter by subscribing here. Let the inspiring begin!
Confession: there are times when I am bored by art. Not often, but Mr. Forager will testify that it’s pretty obvious when I’m not crazy about the work I’m looking at.. my eyes just kinda glaze over or even worse still, I take one glance, shrug my shoulders and walk on in hopes of finding something more interesting. But the work of today’s artist? Nu uh. I couldn’t stop looking and agonized over which work to include for you. Yep, Brisbane artist Simon DeGroot knows how to capture my attention.
Maintain Pleasure Personally, screenprint, acrylic and oil on board, 600x800mmCopia Avis with Purple, screenprint, acrylic and oil on board, 800x800mm
First, there are these wonderfully absurd collages, filled with seemingly incongruous imagery like traditional Dutch still lifes, toy trucks, shelter magazine shots and of course.. Big Bird. How do they all fit together? Is it really necessary that they do? DeGroot makes the compositions work using color, form and line, keeping our eye moving. Keeping us guessing.
But Is It Fragile, 600x600mmGarnish, 105x150mmSmall Overload, 300x325mm
Then there are the more purely abstract works– studies in vivid, expressive color against the pale or the black of an abyss. Simple lines and shapes put together in that wonderfully it-seems-random-but-it-works-so-well-it-can’t-possibly-be. Splashes of color and looping lines. Perhaps more free than their collaged counterparts, but the compositions remain as grounded and sure as any classical still life.
In Real Time, 600x600mm
There is much more abstraction and absurdity on Simon DeGroot’s website. Pixelated floral still lifes? Wrapping paper collages? He’s got ’em. Be sure to check them out.
It takes a very keen eye for palette and composition to put together simple shapes and sometimes incongruent hues and come up with something pleasing and interesting to the eye. The work of Austin artist Xochi Solis exemplifies those characteristics perfectly. I want a whole wall full of these little mixed media works! See more from Xochi in my Artist Watch on Escape Into Life here!
We’ve been living in Southern California for the last six months. Joshua Tree, CA to be exact, a tiny little hamlet full of Seussian spikey trees just outside the Joshua Tree National Park. It’s an artsy, hippy community full of off-the-grid houses and uh, herbal self-medication. Just an hour to the South of us is a whole other world! The slick, mid-century vacation haven of Palm Springs. Photographer Nancy Baron turns her lens to the habitations and inhabitants of the tropical desert town in her series, The Good Life.
Backyard MorningFluffy Pillows
I get myself down to Palm Springs at least once a month. Because sometimes this longtime suburban city dweller just needs to get a Target fix. Each time, I’m struck by the juxtapositions at work in Palm Springs. Beautiful, iconic mid-century style architecture dwells together with big box stores and strip malls ( which I admittedly frequent when there ).
Mike and BobRed Sweater
Baron chooses to photograph mainly the architecture and older generation of Palm Springs residents. These are the pillars on which this affluent community was built. I often wonder, will the next generation move into the next world with as much grace, dignity, and elegance?
Bob’s Red Car
The people of Palm Springs have much in common with the signature modern architecture. Elegant, secure in their own tastes, with just enough style to make you sit up and take notice. May we all be graced with such.
To see more of Nancy Baron’s work, please visit her website.
I may have mentioned Mr. Forager has taken up beer making. Lately he has been obsessed with finding out the best methods and practices for brewing the perfect beer. He recently told me about a fellow brewer he found online that worked for over twenty years to perfect one particular brew recipe. Talk about practicing and perfecting your craft! This month’s Featured Artist, Peri Schwartz is equally tenacious in striving to capture every nuanced surface, angle and corner in her own studio.
Studio IX, color monotype, 30×34.5Studio XXX, oil on canvas, 38×48
By narrowing her scope of work and field of vision, Schwartz frees herself to carefully explore her space, the forms inhabited therein, and the light that enters and retreats each day. Although her overall style and palette remains consistent, we can see her exploring how the space and objects are represented.. sometimes they are mere planes of color, other times their shapes are more concrete.
Studio 12, ink and charcoal on mylar, 12.34×27Studio #13, ink and charcoal on mylar, 13.30x28x25
In other instances, as in her black and white drawings above, she is carefully studying the effect of light on the familiar surfaces, carefully watching and interpreting the reflective play between light and shadow.
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
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!
