artsy forager

Category: Paintings

  • Sparkle in the Decay: Jared Small

    Sparkle in the Decay: Jared Small

    Mr. Forager and I have been talking a lot lately about our eventual home.  We have no idea where exactly it will be located, but we keep honing in on what our wants and needs will be.  While we love the idea of building our own from scratch, so that we suit it precisely to our needs and desires, I can’t help but keep going back to the idea of reviving a home that has lost its luster.  These paintings by Memphis artist Jared Small celebrate the past lives of decaying structures and perhaps give a nod to the potential sparkle still to be found.

    Burnout by Jared Small Jared Small Jared Small Jared Small Magnolia by Jared Small

    Small uses light to great effect in showcasing these structures, using it to add emotionality and personality to each composition.  In some, the houses recede into the darkness, shy and retreating, like a scared child hiding behind his mother’s legs.  But for others, the houses are lit up and gleaming through the darkness like a beacon, letting us know that although the outside may seem run down, there is still hope and joy to be found therein.

    To see more of Jared Small‘s work, please visit his website.  If you happen to be in the Memphis area, you can see his work in person at the David Lusk Gallery.

    Images via the artist’s website and the David Lusk Gallery website.  Artist found via David Lusk Gallery.

  • Vulnerable Abandon: Heather Chontos

    Vulnerable Abandon: Heather Chontos

    I’ve been reading up on the Abstract Expressionists lately and have found myself completely enraptured by the movement and the entire era.  Working intuitively, many abstract artists set out without a clue as to where their composition will ultimately end up.  The work is an extension of who they are in that moment in time– a big part of what fascinates me about abstract work and abstract expressionism.  In the work of Heather Chontos, I see much of that same intuitiveness and freedom.

    Heather Chontos Heather Chontos Heather Chontos Heather Chontos Heather Chontos

    Heather made a name for herself in the world of fashion publications, styling and set designing for the likes of Barneys & Anthropologie.  And in these abstract works, there carries over that sense of composition, you can almost see her rearranging her shapes and lines on each canvas, much in the same way she might stage & style for a shoot– moving things around until it feels just right.  She isn’t afraid to let us in on that process, too.  Smudges in charcoal and paint let us know where perhaps she switched out one shape or line for another.

    Of course, there is beauty in the slick and perfectly painted canvas– but often being able to let go of our need for perfection and allow ourselves to be vulnerable as artists is a deeper challenge.  It is an act of truly putting yourself out there, there is no hiding, you are laid out on canvas for all the world to see.  Completely scary, for sure, but amazingly liberating, too.

    One of my own resolutions  goals for 2014 is to get serious about painting again.  I’ll be starting a little daily exercise over on Instagram ( come follow along! ) and will share more on that later this week.  It’s a daunting prospect, especially as I hope to be busy with freelance work too, this year, but my heart is longing for it.  Artists like Heather are reminding me that the work isn’t always about the result but about learning from the process.

    To see more of Heather Chontos’ work, please visit her website, and follow her on Facebook & Instagram.  You can purchase her work through the Milk Farm Road shop.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Affronting Our Fronts: Tristan Pigott

    Affronting Our Fronts: Tristan Pigott

    We all want to present ourselves in the best way possible.  But with the infiltration of social media into every aspect of our lives, its tempting to cross the line over from putting our best foot forward to presenting an inauthentic picture of who we are.  In his work, artist Tristan Pigott examines our habits of self-projection and the superficiality we often perpetuate.

    Tristan Pigott | artsy forager #art #painting What's Your Point by Tristan Pigott Tell Me by Tristan Pigott Tristan Pigott | artsy forager #art #paintings Waiting by Tristan Pigott | artsy forager #art #paintings

    His compositions employ fashion models in the place of “ordinary” people, to further enforce the notion of the fronts and facades we create for ourselves.  It’s so easy to fall into the trap of wanting every photo we post to be beautiful, to encite envy among our social media followers and to lead them to believe we live a life to which they should aspire.  And maybe we do in some ways.  But in other respects, each life is filled with the same sorts of gunk and uncomfortable human stuff that we are all too often so very careful to edit out.  How many photos have you seen this holiday season of burnt cookies?  Or a child in mid-meltdown because Santa didn’t bring exactly what he asked for?  Not many, I’m guessing. I certainly didn’t post the photos of the burnt Honey Rosemary Pecans I made or my non-made up face upon waking first thing Christmas morning.

    Why?  Because I’m chicken.  I don’t want the world to see the dark circles under my eyes or to know that I occasionally leave food in the oven just a bit too long. ( Oops guess now you know my secret! ).  Like everyone else, I want the world to see my life as beautiful.  But here’s the thing.  Every life IS beautiful.  Filled with beauty.  It may not be magazine spread perfect, but each and every one of our lives is full of moments that take our breath away, that make us laugh and yes, make us mad or embarrassed.  But what makes our lives the beautiful messes that they are is embracing the imperfectness, being able to laugh with and at ourselves.  Letting people into our beautiful mess.

    To see more of Tristan Pigott‘s work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Momentary Souvenirs: Stephanie Brody Lederman

    Momentary Souvenirs: Stephanie Brody Lederman

    Did you make some wonderful memories yesterday, Artsies?  What will you recall?  Will it be the main event, the big moments or will it be the small, seemingly insignificant minutes that you’ll look back on with fondness?  In her latest work, New York artist Stephanie Brody-Lederman in her own visual language, illustrates the moments that capture her emotions and imagination.

    Our Ancestors Lives by Stephanie Brody Lederman Being Human by Stephanie Brody Lederman Lantern & Lamp by Stephanie Brody Lederman At This Late Hour ( Still Swimming Forward ) by Stephanie Brody Lederman Dawn by Stephanie Brody Lederman

    Some people recall certain events in great detail.  That’s never been me.  I remember more the sensuality of memory– the smell of my paternal grandparents’ house, the soft skin of my maternal grandmothers’ hands, the thrill of the first kiss my husband gave me.  In these paintings, it is that untouchable sensation of memory, the emotion of certain moments that Brody-Lederman is capturing.

    In small symbols and still scenes, she evokes a sense of the remembrance of an instant.  After all, our memories don’t necessarily record full scenes like a movie, but more brief flashes and hints of feeling remind us of what has been.

    To see more of Stephanie Brody-Lederman‘s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Sweet Decadence: Heather McCaw Kerley

    Sweet Decadence: Heather McCaw Kerley

    I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things about this time of year is the food!  Putting diets aside, we allow ourselves to focus on the inherent feast for the senses that delicious food can bring.  Nothing beats the scent of freshly baked bread wafting through a home, am I right??  This season is about indulgence and much of it of the decadent sweet kind.  In her Bakery series, artist Heather McCaw Kerley focuses her attention on those baked objects of desire.

    Doughnut with Pink Sprinkles by Heather McCaw Kerley Chocolate Cupcake by Heather McCaw Kerley Doughnut Holes by Heather McCaw Kerley Pink Cupcake by Heather McCaw Kerley Doughnut with Chocolate White Striped Icing

    Isolating these treats, each a monument to delightful indulgence.  “I’ll have just one“, these seem to be saying.  And when we taste the sweetness of icing on our tongues, a wave of satisfaction washes over.  We know we can’t make a steady diet of doughnuts and cupcakes, but oh, if only we could!  How sweet life would be.  Maybe.  Or perhaps, if we were to indulge all the time, special treats would lose their luster.  We would no longer savor them slowly, but devour them without truly tasting their deliciousness.  I think the same can be said of events like holidays, if we were celebrating this way every day, the shine would soon grow weary.  But its the anticipation, the build up, the focus of intensity that makes these days so special.  Let’s savor them like the delectable cupcakes they are.

    To see more of Heather McCaw Kerley‘s work, please visit her website and be sure to follow her on Facebook and Pinterest

  • Artsy Holiday: Casey Matthews

    Artsy Holiday: Casey Matthews

    Mr. Forager & I have been going back and forth about what type of meals we’ll have on Christmas Day.  It’s just the two of us and while that’s never stopped us from making elaborate meals before, we’re thinking a sweet little brunch and then a bit of antipasto later.  But no matter how simple the holiday meal, it always feels more festive when the table is set in an artful way!  So if you’re like me and still figuring out your holiday tablescape, here’s a little inspiration from this month’s Featured Artist Casey Matthews—

    Artsy holiday Casey Matthews

    found via art | ornaments | trees | float | votives | placemat | tableware | napkins | paperweight | glasses

    I mean, those greens are just calling out holiday cheer like nobody’s business!  Add in a judicious dollop of snowy white, rich jewel tones and glittery metallics and you’ll have a table scape perfect for celebrating the season.  Casey’s painting Sitting Pretty at The End of the World is full of delicious shape and color, a Casey inspired table can’t help but sit pretty, too!

    If you’d like to see more artsy holiday inspiration, please take a peek at my Artsy Holiday Pinterest board, where I’ve been gathering all sorts of inspiring holiday images, DIYs and just plain prettiness.  To see more of Casey Matthews‘ work, please visit her website.

    All image sources linked above.  Artwork is a cropped detail of the original.

  • Unfettered Sensibility: Corey Mason

    Unfettered Sensibility: Corey Mason

    I have a firm belief that if you are a creative person, your artistic sensibility needs multiple outlets, it fairly oozes out of you not only in the form of art, but maybe in the way you prepare a meal, decorate a home, write a letter or design a garden.  Landscape designer and artist Corey Mason of Clyde Oak extends the creativity he lavishes on his outdoor designs into his wonderfully unaffected mixed media abstract work.

    Salem II by Corey Mason Voyager Queen by Corey Mason Caballos by Corey Mason Old Man Holds Tight to the Pole by Corey Mason Untitled by Corey Mason

    Mason’s work has that kind of loose, scribbly feel that I personally struggle so hard to let into my own work.  Each piece is so perfectly imperfect.  From the smudges on the page to the backwards text so reminiscent of a child’s handwriting.  And did you spot the chicken?!  We are becoming acquainted with our landlords’ chickens.  I’m learning to delight in them so much!

    Back to Mason’s artwork– truly in looking at these I see that unfettered, naive sensibility that I think so many artists are striving for but that perhaps has been educated out of us.  I don’t know whether Corey is a trained or self taught artist, but either way, he is drawing with the carefree spirit of a child, an aim even Picasso strove to reach.

    To see more of Corey Mason‘s work, please visit his art page on the Clyde Oak website.

    All images via the Clyde Oak website.  Artist found via The Fresh Exchange.

  • Handle With Care: Yrjo Edelmann

    Handle With Care: Yrjo Edelmann

    I have yet to wrap a single Christmas gift.  But the online orders are due to arrive any day and I am supplied and ready to dive in.  I love this part!!  Every year, I would wrap my gifts just so, often thinking of what type of wrapping the giver might enjoy as much as making it look artful and pretty.  Some may think, “what’s the point”?  It’s what’s inside that matters, right?  Well, not entirely.  You see, to me, the gift is the entire process– spending the time choosing something the recipient will enjoy, carefully and lovingly wrapping the gift, and seeing their surprise and delight when opening it.  In these paintings ( yes, paintings! ), Swedish artist Yrjo Edelmann presents us with meticulously painted images of hastily and carelessly wrapped packages.  Are these treasures or leftovers from “the gift closet“?

    Magnetic Field Energy by Yrjo Edelmann An Important Property of Green by Yrjo Edelmann Critical Solution and Close Packing of Two by Yrjo Edelmann Packaged and Stringed Grey Powder Fields by Yrjo Edelmann A Packed View Over Harmonic Blue Fields by Yrjo Edelmann

    Now, just because a gift isn’t perfectly wrapped doesn’t mean that the giver didn’t put a lot of thought and effort into it.  Maybe wrapping just isn’t their thing.  Maybe they’re being ironic in a isn’t it more artsy this way kind of way.  But don’t we give more care to the things we find important?  Would you wrap a Picasso all willy-nilly?

    Sometimes I think we are so materially blessed in this country that we are rarely truly grateful for even the smallest of things.  I remember my grandmother telling me the Laura Ingalls-ish tale of being delighted in receiving an orange every Christmas as a little girl.  An orange! Not an orange iPhone, not an orange Lexus.  A piece of fruit.  And she looked forward to it every year.  This season, its my hope and challenge to give and receive freely and thoughtfully and with a gracious heart.  Every gift will be as precious to me as an orange.

    To see more of Yrjo Edelmann’s work, please visit the website of his representing gallery, Galleri GKM.

    All images via the Galleri GKM website.

  • Life, Lived Larger: Andrew Salgado

    Life, Lived Larger: Andrew Salgado

    For many, our life may seem filled with adventure.  And at times, it is.  But most days, its a normal sort of existence, the kind that consists of work, laundry, dirty dishes and too much tv.  These large scale paintings by Canadian artist Andrew Salgado have made me stop and think about how to live a bigger life.

    Now and Forever by Andrew Salgado Modern Painters by Andrew Salgado Subject by Andrew Salgado Stare by Andrew Salgado Year of the Silencer by Andrew Salgado

    I’ve always been a small person.  Always a little slip of a thing ( until getting married that is, Mr. Forager put curves on me! ), one of my long time best friends who towers over me has always called me “Little One”.  Because next to her, I was always the little one!  But this littleness isn’t just physical.  I have a naturally shy, retiring nature, the complete opposite of a “larger than life” type of personality.  I don’t hate the spotlight, but I don’t go out of my way to seek it out, preferring to be the one behind the scenes, these days behind the computer.

    These large scale portraits by Salgado are full of texture and vulnerability and delicious messiness.  Sometimes, I think we let our quest for control and order get in the way of a bigger life.  It’s so in my nature to stay safely in my shell, coming out only when coaxed, like a little hermit crab.  But where is the adventure in that?  How many of us will be able to look back on a life lived largely and to its fullest?  I’m striving against my own temperament in my quest but its a fight I’m willing and eager to take on.

    To see more work by Andrew Salgado, please visit his website.  Salgado has solo exhibitions coming up in 2014 in South Africa, New York and London.  You can also follow the artist on his Facebook page.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Artsy Lately: Christina Foard

    Artsy Lately: Christina Foard

    I know I should be unbiased and objective.  But art is subjective ya’ll and I have my faves.  And this artist, dear Artsies, is one of them.  If you’ve been reading the blog for awhile, you’ve seen her work before.  If you’re new, well then I’m happy to introduce you!  Jacksonville, FL ( soon to be Athens, GA ) artist Christina Foard continues to amaze me each time she puts brush to canvas.

    Foard_That Sweet Night Foard_Oil Spill Garden Foard_Sliding Falls Foard_The Not So Still Life Foard_Tangled Below the Surface

    Christina creates work that is so incredibly layered with texture and color, with physical and visual depth, photos on a digital screen barely do them justice.  Not to mention size– Christina often works on a large scale, Sliding Falls, 3rd down is downright monumental at over eight feet wide.

    There is so much to see, so much to take in on each canvas, your eye almost isn’t sure where to begin.  But once you dive in, it is so wonderful to get lost in beautifully interconnecting lines and shapes.  Your eye will eventually find its way through to the lovely, light filled swaths of color, a beautiful respite among the glorious chaos.

    If you’d like to see more of Christina Foard’s latest work, please visit her website.  If you’re in North Florida, Christina will be showing work in the upcoming Our Shared Past exhibition at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, opening December 17th.

    All images are via the artist’s website or Facebook page.