The work of South African artist Karin Miller caught my eye on Pinterest and I was blown away after visiting her website. Check out the examples of her work I’m featuring over on Escape Into Life today!
Category: Daily Artsy
Artists featured in a solo spot on Artsy Forager
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Heightened Senses: Elizabeth Terhune
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 linen 
Crosshair’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.
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Undone Beauty: Cristina Troufa
Very often, negative space is just as important to our understanding of form as the form itself. Think about clouds– their beauty is most apparent when surrounded by bright blue sky. In Portuguese artist Cristina Troufa’s work, the painter uses simple lines and negative space to punctuate her compositions, choosing to highlight the flesh which makes her figures essentially human.
Pedestal, mixed media Her concentration of color and light on the exposed flesh of her subjects speaks to our tendency to judge on appearance, often unable to look past the person we think we see and notice each other for who we really are.
Pelo Ralo, mixed media Her compositions are simple, the backgrounds stark, only a detail left to us here or there.
Degraus, mixed media What do we see when we fill in the blanks? Who are these women, this boy? What is this moment we’ve caught them in? Have we been there before?
Etapas, mixed media 
Sombras No Sotao, mixed media To see more of Cristina Troufa’s work, please visit her website and her page on Meseon.
Featured image is Salto. All images are via Cristina Troufa’s page on Meseon.
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Artsy on Escape Into Life: Sean Mahan
Sorry for the reposting, turns out there was a little hiccup with EIL last week and Sean’s work didn’t get posted last Tuesday! Uh oh. So you’ll find it on EIL today!
There are artists whose work just sticks with me. I still remember when I first saw the work of Sean Mahan, way back during my gallery days in Florida. We all loved his work, but it wasn’t quite the right fit for the more conservative, corporate-ish gallery I was working in. So when I happened to see his work featured over on The Art Cake, I was super excited for him. He has such a unique style and vision, I just had to share his work with the Escape Into Life readers today. Please take a little jaunt over to EIL to see more!
Invisible Weight 3 by Sean Mahan Sean Mahan on Escape Into Life
PS– I know I usually post twice on Tuesdays, but since things have been sooo hectic lately, this will be my only post today. Hope to have blog life back to normal next week!
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Cosmic Primality: Rana Rochat
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, 42×42 
Untitled ( 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 ).
Artist found via David Lusk Gallery.
Featured image is Untitled ( 87 ), encaustic on panel, 48×42. All images are via the artist’s website.
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June Facebook Featured Artist: Geoff Mitchell
I first discovered the work of LA based artist Geoff Mitchell when he opened a solo show at Steve Williams’ Florida Mining Gallery last year. Steve has impeccable taste in art, so of course, I was immediately intrigued and blown away by Geoff’s work. In case you missed it, you can read my initial feature on Geoff’s work here. Since that first feature, Geoff has been busy creating new work and collaborating on a book project– more about his book later today!
The Emperor’s Night Garden, mixed media on panel, 97×105 While the images with which Geoff works are representational in nature, his method of composition is free and intuitive. Images are chosen for their sheer beauty, interest or what they may bring to the composition texturally. Chosen found imagery doesn’t necessarily relate to the other images around it, or at least not intentionally.
Crossing the Needles, mixed media on panel, 97×105 Geoff works from the principal of the sensation of pareidolia, a “psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus, often an image or sound, being perceived as significant”. His works are telling stories, but not of the artist’s making, but of the viewers. He provides the stimuli, we fill in the story with our own memories and meaning.
Stage 3, mixed media on panel, 20×20 
Ivory Lolly, mixed media on panel, 20×20 To see more of Geoff Mitchell’s work, please check out his ( newly designed! ) website and his cover image & album on the Artsy Forager Facebook page. If you happen to be near Biloxi, MS, don’t miss his solo exhibition, Chaos at the Confessional at the Ohr-O’Keeffe Museum, opening June 12, on display until November 24, 2012.
Featured image is a detail of The Emperor’s Night Garden. All images are via the artist.
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Friday Faves: Canvas, Paper, Scissors
I distinctly remember our section on collage in my Drawing 101 class. It was kind of painful for me. I wanted to create interesting beautiful work, but had a hard time getting past memories of third grade art class and Elmer’s glue. So it isn’t any wonder that some of my favorite work is of the cut and paste variety.. These artists have found the secret to what I was longing to do!
Ben Giles 
Giorgio Russo 
Nono Bandera 
Mario Wagner Be sure to come back on Monday to see more from another fabulous collage artist, this month’s Facebook Featured Artist Geoff Mitchell!
Ben Giles | Giorgio Russo | Nono Bandera | Mario Wagner
All images are via the artists’ websites, linked above.
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Model Character: Luis Cornejo
I admit it. I love a pretty fashion magazine as much as the next girl. Pages and pages of beautiful people contorting their bodies into strange positions to sell gorgeous clothes can sometimes enthrall me for hours. But then, I find myself needing a break from the beautiful. That may sound strange, but so often, the perfectly styled and photoshopped images create an unreal world, one that I can only take so much of. El Salvadoran artist Luis Cornejo takes these idealized images as his inspiration but infuses them with cartoonish humor.
Paff!, oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 51×75 Isolating the figures gives each painting an almost classical composition, seeming to compare the fashion models of today to the artist’s muse of the past.
Untitled ( #5 ), oil and acrylic on canvas, 47×58 The models retain their “fierce”, pouty poses, while Cornejo’s added illustrative elements remind us to not take this artificially created world too seriously.
Untitled ( #6 ), oil and acrylic on linen, 31×39 
Untitled ( #7 ), oil and acrylic on linen, 35×53 To see more of Luis Cornejo’s work, please visit his website.
Artist found via The Jealous Curator.
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Art to Inspiration: Jill Ricci
I’ve been having so much fun with the Art to Inspiration project! The first month I participated, the inspiration work was by Pakayla Biehn, an artist whose work I’d already fallen in love with when I featured her on Artsy Forager a while back. The next month gave me an opportunity to fall head over heads for Jo Howe’s organically inspired work. So I was thrilled when my suggested artist, Jill Ricci was chosen as the inspiration for June!
Jill is one of those artists whose work I never tire of and I hope you don’t either, because I have a tendency to want to feature her work every chance I get! One of my favorite elements running through Jill’s work is the urban, graffiti-like graphics. So for this Art to Inspiration, I’ve put together a Ricci-inspired gallery of street art!
The inspiration-
Float by Jill Ricci, mixed media on canvas, 40×40 The gallery-
NeSpoon ( via Recyclart ) 
By Sainer from Etam Crew, on Urban Forms Foundation in Lodz, Poland ( via Street Art Utopia ) 
Artist unknown, ( via Street Art Utopia ) 
By Speto, Sao Paulo, Brazil ( via Wooster Collective ) 
Obey by Shepard Fairey ( via My Modern Metropolis ) Be sure to click the photos above for more of each artist’s work and to see more inspiring street art. You can also check out Artsy Forager’s Artsy On the Streets Pinterest board to keep up with all the street art I’m finding!
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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Guest Forager: Kaitlyn of isavirtue– Austin Power
Hi Artsies! I’m taking a tiny break for a few days, while we visit with some dear friends from Florida. Please welcome fellow art lover and blogger, Kaitlyn Patience, who blogs and creates gorgeous stationery over at isavirtue!
Hello! My name is Kaitlyn. I blog at isavirtue and I will be guest posting on Artsy Forager today!
Jovie, watercolor on paper, 8.5×11 Not to be confused with the comedic British movie character, artist Austin Power has made a name for himself as well. His unique portraits, which almost never depict an entire face, are at once eerie and intriguing.
Esther, watercolor on paper, 11×15 
Emmanuel 2, watercolor on paper, 12×14 I would have guessed that the artist only paints those details that have made an impression on him. For example, I feel most connected to my husband’s eyes, and my best friend is known for her ski slope nose. So I assumed that the artist was simply recording the most intimate features on his friends and loved ones (As in his series “21 Portraits of People I Miss”). But the artist has a different train of thought than I.
Amy, watercolor on paper, 10×15 
Jayme, watercolor on paper, 11×15 Power describes his reasoning for leaving out a nose, or a mouth, or a pair of eyes, “I am interested in showing the difficulty and discomfort in fully understanding a person. I leave my subjects incomplete to highlight their limitations, as well as my own inability to see the subject beyond the influence of myself.”
Featured image is Self-Portrait by Austin Power. All images via the artist’s website.
