Happy Memorial Day to all the US Artsies! Thank you to all who have served so that we may enjoy each day in freedom. Be back in full Artsy mode tomorrow!
artwork by Holly Farrell, May Featured Artist
Image found here.
Category: Paintings
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Lives at Still: Tollef Runquist
When I was painting in college, I worked on a series of paintings of interiors. I absolutely loved doing them, but abandoned them as in my silly young mind, I thought, “Who wants to see a painting of a room?” In those days before Instagram, I didn’t realize that interior life paintings are a way of capturing the beauty in an ordinary, fleeting moment, something done so well in the work of Tollef Runquist.
I love these little glimpses he depicts in abandoned corners and tabletops. I can almost feel the presence of the person who just left the laptop to answer a call, who arose from the chair to greet a visitor at the door. His use of pattern and light truly brings these spaces to life, leaving us to guess as to the warmth of the light, whether the breeze blows cool through the sheers. Days tick by so quickly, filled with work and the monotony of living, yet even in those ordinary hours, we can still find plenty to celebrate.
To see more of Tollef Runquist’s work, please visit his website. I’ve been trying to make it a ( near ) daily habit of capturing the beauty of an ordinary moment in my Instagram feed. How are you celebrating your daily beauties?
Top & bottom images via Dowling Walsh Gallery, middle three images via Ober Gallery.
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Artsy Lately: Margie Livingston
As artists, we are pretty obsessed with our materials and mediums. Photographers baby their cameras and lenses, sculptors take precious care of their tools. And painters, well, we love paint– the way it smells, the way it looks, the way it behaves. Seattle artist Margie Livingston, whom we last heard from in October 2012 during her run as Featured Artist, has been continuing her own wild love affair with the properties of paint.
Stretching, pulling, carving, slicing, dicing, Livingston pushes paint to its ever expanding limits. This latest group of work seems to have an elegant electricity about it, in the juxtapositions of graphic black & white against super charged neon purples and pinks. Then she spins that on its head with her gloriously shroud-like draped paint sculptures.
Poured, Sliced, and Draped, a show of Margie Livingston’s latest work, opens at Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle today, with the opening reception taking place during First Thursday on June 5th. If you’re in Seattle, don’t miss her Artist Talk this Saturday, at 11:30am, see the Greg Kucera site for details! Aaaah, some days I really miss Seattle.
And of course, be sure to check out Margie Livingston’s website for more of her work.
Top, second & fifth image via the artist’s website. Other images via the Greg Kucera website.
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Pattern Recognition: Duane Cregger
Our lives don’t exist in a glossy, one dimensional universe. We are surrounded each day by a myriad of patterns and textures. From the paint on our walls, to the weave of our garments, even the skin covering our bodies, texture fills our vision every day. In his work, Virginia artist Duane Cregger heaps layer upon layer of painted texture and pattern to create canvases that are a feast for the eyes.
But not only is life full of physical texture and pattern, but it’s there mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, too. We fill our heads and hearts up each day with the sights, sounds, and thoughts surrounding us, so that they become one with who we are. On any given day, our spirit might be quenched by the sounds of nature and the warmth of light, or worn down by the incessancy of a ringing phone and arguing children. Each “texture” piles, one on top of the other, some peeking through more than others, to create a pattern of self that is unique to each one of us.
To see more of Duane Cregger‘s work, please visit his website.
All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via House of Turquoise.
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Atmospheric Excitations: Macarena Ruiz Tagle
If you’ve been following along my own little artistic journey, then you already know I’ve been a bit obsessed with color lately. Color has an incredible psychological effect on mood and atmosphere and when I saw the work of Chilean born, Berlin based artist Macarena Ruiz Tagle on The Jealous Curator last week, I immediately fell in love.
The series, aptly titled Atmosphere is a collection of works of acrylic and watercolor on paper. Amazing, right?? With their deep, tunnel-like darker center, we are plunged into these worlds of color. As the hue radiates out from the middle, lightening toward the paper’s edges, the fields of color almost seem to be these moving and vibrating auras. These are pieces it may be tempting to just pass by, but with a second look, there is so very much to see.
If you’d like to see more of Macarena Ruiz Tagle‘s work, please visit her website.
All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via The Jealous Curator.
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Behind the Hedges: Cary Reeder
We never know what someone else’s life is really like. Oh sure, we see carefully edited glimpses of the lives of others on Facebook, Instagram and the like, but often what we are seeing ( and sharing ) is exactly what we want to see. Houston artist Cary Reeder emphasizes the secrets kept behind the suburban blinds in her Neighborhood series.
Why do we have the tendency to close the world out when we’re at home? When we’re out in public, we’re usually not shy about letting others in. Certainly, there are particular homebound acts we’d rather not share, but what about those days when we’re just hanging out? I love seeing glimpses of happy couples and families through open windows. In these times when we rarely get to know our neighbors, it’s reassuring to see slices of the lives being lived in the other boxes around us. How about throwing those windows open this weekend, Artsies?
To see more of Cary Reeder’s work, please visit her website.
Images via the artist’s website and Facebook page. Artist found via New American Paintings.
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Finding My Own Artsy: A New Series
If you follow me over on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been a bit obsessed with flowers this spring. Growing up in Florida, we really only had two seasons, summer and not summer. Until we started traveling out West, I’d never really experienced a true Fall, Winter, or Spring. Spring in the Northwest is especially lovely given all the amazingly beautiful blooming trees, shrubs and wildflowers! Ever since my first glimpse of cherry blossom petals littering the Seattle sidewalks, I’ve been smitten by Spring here.
left| cherry blossoms, right| Seattle Sidewalks, acrylic on paper, 18×24
The juxtapositions of colors and textures inspired me to begin a new series on paper, Rain and Rhododendrons. I’m still continuing with the Feminine Wiles series, but was itching to get back to painting in a larger format and thanks to a nice big pad of Canson Mixed Media Paper, a portable drawing board, and a sturdy travel portfolio gifted to me by Mr. F for my birthday last month, I was ready to dive in.
Forest Blossoms, acrylic on paper, 18×24
Like the Feminine Wiles series, these too are color studies, but I’m enjoying experimenting with a looser style, being able to work much more quickly and freely on larger paper than I’ve been able to ( so far! ) on small panels.
top| Arcata Marsh Wildflowers, acrylic on paper, 18×24, bottom| Allen Pond with wildflowers
I haven’t had dedicated painting time in a few weeks and I am itching to get back in, especially after Mr. F and I took a camping trip this weekend up to the Trinity Alps. I am so full of inspiration for this series, I am about to burst! So there will undoubtedly be more to come, soon.. In the meantime, you can see full shots of each of the pieces I’ve already completed in the Rain and Rhododendrons gallery page. And in case you missed it, there is also a Feminine Wiles gallery page, both under the My Work heading in the top navigation bar. I’ve also added an artist statement and bio on the My Work page– so much harder to write those things for yourself than it is to help others!
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True Confections: Stefan Dunlop
You know that phrase, you get more flies with honey? Candy-coated truths always seem a bit more digestible. Whether its revealing political truths through comical satire or historical truths in frosted palettes as in the work of Australian artist Stefan Dunlop, difficult ideas can be approached more easily from a less threatening perspective.
Dunlop’s simple use of form and bright pastel palette immediately draw the eye, thinking we’re in for a fun ride. But his subject matter and old master-like composition lead us to want to investigate a bit further. There is a darkness lurking beneath that cotton candy surface.
To see more of Stefan Dunlop‘s work, please visit his website.
All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via The Jealous Curator.
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Finding Truth: Michael Cusack
One of the things that draws me again and again to abstract work is its ambiguity. We can never know for certain the source of the artist’s inspiration and every viewer carries to the work their own interpretation. The work of Irish Australian based artist Michael Cusack uses a consistent language of simple shapes and fields of white, each piece leaving us to determine exactly what it is we see.
For each viewer, the reality of what they see is unique. In viewing and living with abstract work like Cusack’s, we find ourselves on a quest to determine the truth of what we see. But we all look at each work through our own goggles of perception. Our experiences, memories and associations color our interpretation, giving these kinds of works a universal veracity unique to each viewer.
To see more of Michael Cusack‘s work, please visit his website.
Artist found via Art Hound. All images via the Martin Browne Contemporary website.
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Wild Women: Jennifer Nehrbass
Just last night over a glass of wine and chocolate marscapone cheesecake, Mr. Forager and I were talking about where I saw my studio work going and I told him I didn’t really have a desire to become a figurative painter. And then this morning I came across the work of Jennifer Nerhbass. In her work, the New Mexico artist explores “The relationships of women to themselves and their environment”. Ok, maybe I’ve changed my mind.
As women, we get so caught up in society’s idea of what we should look like and who we should be. We find ourselves spending hours looking for that perfect little dress, even when we’d rather be outside. Since we’ve been traveling, I’ve been slowly stripping away those artifices I’d built up for so long. That closet filled with shoes, many of them rarely worn. Drawers filled with make-up and perfume. I’ve learned that Mr. F sees me at my most beautiful when we are hiking together– not in heels but hiking boots, no makeup, hair usually a mess. But what he’s seeing is the inspiration and peace that fills and recharges my spirit and soul. We so often forsake that for ourselves.
In her work, we see Nehrbass’s women often out of place in the wild, like they’ve suddenly been plucked out of their urban existence and somehow landed in the midst of wilderness. I see so many parallels with how we live as modern women and these paintings. We become so obsessed with creating beauty in ourselves that we lose touch with the life and beauty around us.
To see more of Jennifer Nehrbass‘s work, please visit her website.
Second image via Mirus Gallery, all other images via the artist’s website.
