Lush color and luminosity? What could be better! Head over to Escape Into Life to check out this week’s Artist Watch on New York artist Kristine Moran.
Category: Daily Artsy
Artists featured in a solo spot on Artsy Forager
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Face Paint: Greg Hart
The advent of photography has really shaped us into an incredibly visual society. While having a portrait painted was a luxury usually afforded to the most privileged, photographs were soon accessible to people of all classes and incomes. Photography became a common experience, faces of us all, captured forever. Charleston artist Greg Hart takes his inspiration from historical portraits, concentrating on the emotional expression of the sitter.
Bandage, charcoal, graphite, coffee, acrylic, oil and gesso on wood panel, 11×14 Hart pours through historical archives, searching for a face that grabs him. He strives to remain ignorant of the details of each person’s background, preferring instead, to give us new portraits, carrying the same emotional intensity made even more impassioned by color blocking and dramatic rendering against isolated backgrounds.
Firebrand, graphite, acrylic and coffee on paper, 15×22 
Bygone, mixed media on paper, 22×30 Serious, stern faces are rendered more warmly, softly reminding us that behind these steely facades are real people who lived and loved, just as we do.
Forward March, mixed media on wood panel, 9×12 To see more of Greg Hart’s work, please visit his website and be sure to check out his shop at Big Cartel to make one of these intriguing portraits your own!
Featured image is Firebrand ( cropped ). All images are via the artist’s website and Big Cartel shop.
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September Facebook Featured Artist: Christina Foard
If you’ve been reading Artsy Forager long, you’ve seen me gush about the work of this month’s Facebook Featured Artist, Christina Foard. Christina is an artist whose work is as much about her mental and spiritual journey of creating as it is about the physical result of paint on canvas.
Urban Falling, oil on board, 36×34 Each canvas is a labor of intense devotion, worked and reworked until the artist is satisfied with her destination.
Lovers Behind the Wall, oil on canvas, 24×24 
Grey Land, oil on canvas, 24×24 As she works the canvas, adding layer upon layer or excavating what lies beneath, the resulting textures become a large part of the story, until the composition she is longing for emerges.
Pink Wall Two, oil on canvas, 40×30 To see more of Christina Foard’s work, please visit her website and be sure to check out her album on the Artsy Forager Facebook page! If you’re near the Jacksonville, FL area, you can still catch Christina’s show with July Featured Artist Thomas Hager at the Jacksonville International Airport, but only until the end of September. She’s currently working on a special long-term collaborative project I hope to share with you once she’s ready. Stay tuned.
All images are via the artist’s website.
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Astronomical Manifestations: Monica Petty Aiello
Our first full day in Glacier, while Mr. Forager & I were on our big camping trip this summer, we did a 15 mile hike. The longest I’d ever hiked before was around 7.5 miles. And I need new hiking boots. This combo equalled some pretty painful, ugly blisters on both my little pinkie toes. I love hiking, but I’m not a huge fan of anything that causes me physical pain. Mr. Forager was appropriately contrite and to make it up to me, a few days later let me drown my pain in pizza, huckleberry ice cream and a little artsiness in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was there that I discovered some of the most striking work I’ve seen in a while– the work of mixed media artist Monica Petty Aiello. [ Warning: Online images do not do this work justice! The richness of the colors and texture can really only be appreciated in person! 😉 ]
TheTwins at Babbar’s Edge, acrylic, ink, fiber and paper on panel, 72×48 Upon first view, I was drawn to Aiello’s work for the way it reminded me of the beauty of the geological wonders we’d just begin to explore in Yellowstone. These were familiar, yet most excitingly foreign.
Many Faces of Prometheus 3, acrylic, ink, fiber and paper on panel, 32×32 
Many Faces of Prometheus 2, acrylic, ink, fiber and paper on panel, 32×32 The pieces are “actually topographical landscapes of the planets and moons within our solar system”. Not what you were expecting? Me either! Once I heard that, I could see it, but I also see other possible inspirations– such as fossils, lichen, microbiological imagery, geodes, underwater life.. the list goes on. It’s the ambiguity of these that is much of their appeal. We’re looking at a glimpse into another world, but which one?
Many Faces of Pele, acrylic, ink and fiber on panel, 28×28 To see more of Monica Petty Aiello’s work, please visit her website and the website of Diehl Gallery. What do you see in these?
All images are via the Diehl Gallery website.
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Art to Inspiration: Lani Trock
Last month, I was an Art to Inspiration delinquent. The monthly post just had to fall off my huge to-do list before we went on our big camping trip. But this month, I’m back with a vengeance! Our inspiration artwork for September, Blue Moon by photographer Lani Trock, is the perfect inspiration for the transition into the autumnal months.
Hello Moon by Lani Trock As is my usual motis operandi, I’ve put together a little gallery inspired by this month’s work. Trock’s photo brings to mind camping and playing under the stars during an Indian summer, so I’m calling this little collection Night Moves. Check it out below!
Dance Floor by Jeremy Mangan, acrylic on panel, 18×24 
Gypsum by Lia Halloran 
Waiting by Barbara Kacicek, oil on linen, 8×8 
They Sacrificed Everything to the Stars by Amanda Blake Jeremy Mangan | Lia Halloran | Barbara Kacicek | Amanda Blake
To see more from each artist, check out their websites, linked above.
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!
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Action Figuration: Betsy Cain
When I took figure drawing in college, I recall my professor telling us that once we mastered drawing the figure realistically, that’s when the real fun begins. For once you understand the hollows and bumps of the human figure, you can then abstract your representation to your heart’s content. Savannah artist Betsy Cain’s work energetically fuses the figure with the abstract in gorgeous layers of color.
Red Yellow Love Melt, oil on canvas, 60×80 Like the work of other abstract expressionists, Cain’s work appears to be purely non-representational, but often you can detect a figure coming through the energetic fever of the canvas.
Neural Nude, oil on canvas, 54×72 
Nature of Not Knowing, oil on canvas, 60×60 Each work consists of layer upon layer of colorful, expressive strokes which may end in a purely abstract composition yet each gives us a glimpse into the artist’s connection between her mind, the paint and the canvas.
Nerve Flower, oil on canvas, 60×60 To see more of Betsy Cain’s work, please visit her website. If you happen to be reading from North Florida, you can check out Betsy Cain’s solo exhibition, Selections at Florida Mining in Jacksonville, opening this Friday, September 7th!
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Artsy on Escape Into Life: Karen Knorr
I find there is such a mystical, magical quality to the culture of India. Such a juxtaposition of riches and poverty, exuberance and isolation. The India Song series of photographer Karen Knorr explores the roles of power in Indian society and I find them both visually stunning and intellectually striking. See more of Karen’s work on my Artist Watch over on Escape Into Life today!
The Sound of Rain, Junagarh Fort, Bikaner -
Sculptures of Earthly Delights: Laura Moriarty
Most of the time, we never seem to think about what is happening beneath our feet. When we visited Yellowstone this summer, we couldn’t help but be confronted by the reality of what is going on beneath the earth’s surface. The countless hot springs, geysers and mudpots reminded us that our planet is on fire underneath us. New York artist Laura Moriarty‘s unique sculptural paintings are her own interpretations of what is happening beneath our terrain.
Natural Bridge, encaustic on panel, 11x14x6.5 
Volcanic Bomb, detail Her layers of liquid color mimic the stratifications in the earth’s core, flowing in and around each other like lava.
Time Suck, detail, encaustic on panel, 10x10x5.75 
Steep Inclination, encaustic on panel, 16x16x8 You can watch Laura’s amazing process in the video The Way Paintings Go here. See more of her work on her website, including beautiful monotypes created as a by-product of her sculptural paintings.
All images are via the artist’s website.
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This Lovely Life: Janet Hill
I love artwork that transports me into a different world. The paintings of Ontario artist Janet Hill gives us a peek at a sweet and beautiful life, where all is loveliness and cheerful color.
Goldfinch Her figures, lovely and graceful, entrance and enchant, her palette of sepias punctuated with bright, saturated color takes us back in time like faded photographs.
Giraffes 
General Custard Hers is a world that feels like that magical afternoon hour.. you know the one.. when the sunlight is just the right shade, streaming through the window and giving everything in its path a magical glow. A world that is accessibly glamorous, where even the most mundane task is done with delicious joie de vivre!
Entanglement Seriously, doesn’t her work just make you smile? See more of it on her website and in her Etsy shop– lots of beautiful, affordable prints to be found! Perfect for girlie girls, big and small.
Featured image is Lady and the Lobster. All images are via the artist’s website.
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Wear the Artsy: Painted Jewels
Artsiness isn’t just about the art we create or appreciate. It is the way we live, the way we treat others, how we carry ourselves. Over the course of the last year, I’ve read so much regarding how the way we chose to clothe ourselves says so much about who we are or who we are trying to be. I’m a firm believer in artsy self-expression in any form! In this new feature, Wear the Artsy, we’ll pair a piece of artwork with a piece of clothing or accessory that captures the spirit of the art.
In today’s pairing, our inspiration piece is this gorgeous, colorful abstract by artist Dura Hana AKA D.U.R.A. What better way to wear those beautiful jeweltones than with that cheery Tom Binns Riri Painted Swarovski Cuff?
Do you have suggestions for a piece of art to be featured on Wear the Artsy? Comment below and let’s see how we can wear our favorites!
