artsy forager

Category: Paintings

  • September Facebook Featured Artist: Christina Foard

    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.

  • Art to Inspiration: Lani Trock

    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! 

  • Action Figuration: Betsy Cain

    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!

  • Sculptures of Earthly Delights: Laura Moriarty

    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.

  • This Lovely Life: Janet Hill

    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.

  • Contemporary Muses: Hope Gangloff

    There are certain times, especially when he lays on the floor for a power nap, that I long to break out my charcoal and sketch my husband.  I’m moved to capture the beauty of his face and his peaceful position.  As I’ve mentioned, figure drawing took me a while to master but once I did I truly began to see the magic in the body of each person.  Our expressions, our posture, our countenance is all unique to who we are.  The paintings of Hope Gangloff capture every day moments of ordinary people, rendering them in an extraordinarily beautiful way.

    Her figures in repose, bear stylistic resemblance to masters such as Schiele, Matisse, Cassatt and Toulouse-Lautrec.

    Queen Jane Approximately, acrylic on canvas, 108.5×67.5

    But these are contemporary muses, this is the way we live now.  Friends come over and take their shoes off and relax with us, the parlor has been replaced by the kitchen and the patio.  Conversations remain unchanged– we talk politics, relationships, art and music.

    Catherine Despont, acrylic on canvas, 48×72
    Upstate Neighbor ( Gavin Anderson ), acrylic on canvas, 84×56

    Gangloff’s figures are familiar.  They are our friends, our neighbors, our world.  To see more of Hope Gangloff’s work, please visit her website.

    Artist found via Booooooom.  All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Friday Finds: Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Art

    Friday Finds: Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Art

    Ya’ll, I am a long time fan of The King.  Not a crazy-I-have-an-Elvis-room-in-my-house-and-make-a-yearly-pilgrimage-to-Graceland fan, but I will sing along with him every time he comes up on the iPod.  Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of Elvis’s death and I’ve been seeing a lot of artists drawing inspiration from Mr. Presley lately, so thought I’d round up a few of my faves for you!

    Sticker Elvis by Jim Blanchard
    ( Elvis ) Beyond the Bend by Deborah Scott
    The Dr. Martin Luther King of Rock & Roll by Troy Gua
    Thank You, Thank You Very Much by Sarah Ashley Longshore

    Jim Blanchard | Deborah Scott | Troy Gua | Sarah Ashley Longshore 

    Be sure and check out all these artists’ websites, linked above.  If you happen to be in the Seattle area, don’t miss Elvistravaganza!, a curated show featuring works inspired by The King during Bumbershoot, Sept 1st-3rd.  All the cool kids will be showing, including Deborah Scott, Jim Blanchard and more!

    All images are via the artists’ websites, linked above.

  • Dreams of Doris Day: Tracey Sylvester Harris

    Dreams of Doris Day: Tracey Sylvester Harris

    In my much younger years, many a Sunday afternoon was spent glued to the television, enraptured by the movies of my parent’s generation.  Each one filling my impressionable mind with images of the perfectly coiffed hair, sophisticated fashions and charming coquettishness of starlets like Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron.  The work of California artist Tracey Sylvester Harris hearkens back to those glamorous days of my dreams.

    Convertible, oil on canvas, 24×30

    Those old films and their heroines led me to believe in a world in which women wore heels to the swimming pool, men were redeemable rakes and an awkward bookworm could be transformed into a beautiful swan.

    Light Blue Slip, oil on canvas, 60×40
    Starlet, oil on canvas, 60×40

    They caused me to prance around our house in my mom’s high heels and a floating negligee dreaming of the glamorous and romantic life I would lead when I grew up.  But soon, reality taught me its hard lessons and I realized that the worlds I so admired weren’t real after all and the world of my dreams began to look a little different.  A bit more earthy and down to earth.  A little less frothy but a lot more fun.

    Cocktail Hour, oil on canvas, 36×48

    But that doesn’t mean I don’t still occasionally long to thrown on a little black dress and pearls.  Old dreams die hard.

    To see more of Tracey Sylvester Harris’ work, please visit her website.  You can also see her work in person, if you’re in the Los Angeles area, at Skidmore Contemporary.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Unknowing Symbiosis: Nick Lamia

    Unknowing Symbiosis: Nick Lamia

    Spending more than a week immersed in natural beauty, away for the most part, from the pull of technology, makes for a difficult re-entry into the realm of satellites and social media.  We tend to forget, while living in either world that the other exists.  The abstract work of Nick Lamia reminds us that though we often think of them separately, society must coexist with the natural world in order for either to thrive.

    Untitled, oil on panel, 45×48

    Lamia’s juxtaposition of street map-like grids over landscape-ish scenes give us glimpses into how we integrate ourselves into nature and vice versa.

    Untitled, oil on panel, 30×32
    Untitled, oil on canvas, 66×72

    As societies, we are responsible for the care of the natural world around us.  In return, that world repays us providing food, resources, enjoyment and inspiration.

    Untitled, oil on canvas, 36×42

    To see more of Nick Lamia’s work, please visit his website.

    Artist found via Design Milk.  All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Artsy on Escape Into Life: Elena Vera Solodovnikova

    I love it when talented artists reach out and ask to be featured on Artsy Forager.  And when they are from another country?  That just thrills me even more!  Very talented Barcelona artist Elena Vera Solodovnikova recently emailed me her work and I couldn’t wait to feature her in my weekly Artist Watch on Escape Into Life!  Head over to EIL to check it out!

    Elena Vera Solodovnikova on Escape Into Life