artsy forager

Posted on July 29, 2015

Gems are cut to take advantage of the quality and color in the stone– for optimal sparkle. In the cutting and shaping we might assume that we’d lose the natural beauty of the stone, but instead, the process of refining the angles means the gems brilliance can be fully taken advantage of.

We are much the same. We begin as raw material and years of learning and living shape and refine us. Our first stage, that most natural state is beautiful in its purity, but as we are cut and polished by experiences, the light hits our depths and we truly sparkle.

The paintings featured are the work of Kurt Pio. To see more of the artist’s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via The Jealous Curator.

Posted on July 28, 2015

Mr. F and I have been doing this travel thing for over four years now. That’s four years on the road.. four years of not knowing, four years of adventuring. We are getting ready to think about our next spot, taking off and landing again in a new place, awaiting discovery.

Each fresh spot brings not just a new landscape, but new environments, new vibes, new spaces. Every place comes with its own sense of being. Australian artist Richard Claremont interprets the character of landscapes near his South Coast home in paint and color.

I like to look back on the places we’ve been and think about our time in terms of what we felt and experienced in each one. Claremont’s paintings with their pink light and lush brushstrokes evoke the warm and loving feeling of a landscape well loved. We’re looking forward to finding our own well loved landing.

To see more of Richard Claremont‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via Christina Foard on Facebook.

Daily Artsy Drawing Figurative

Posted on July 27, 2015

I see it every day among my friends and family on social media. Division. Us vs. them. Outright hatred. It is so disheartening to see such vitriol leveled against people we don’t even know. It all seems so pointless. A waste of time and energy. We are more alike than we are different. We were all born in the same way, we all die the same death. We are all one race– human.

These hyperrealistic drawings by Heidi Draley McFall touch on that link between us all– our humanity. We laugh, we cry, we are sad and vulnerable, angry and joyful. Every person of every color on every inch of this planet feels these same emotions, has the same physical needs, and most of the time, we just want to be happy. So why do we allow prejudices and judgements against our fellow humans to steal our joy? It seems a most useless endeavor. Imagine what kind of world this might be if we all tried to treat our fellow humans not as the enemy, but as ourselves.

To see more of Heidi Draley McFall‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via the New American Paintings blog– check out Ellen Caldwell‘s Process of a Painting with the artist for a glimpse into her studio process!

Daily Artsy Landscapes Paintings

Posted on July 24, 2015

Our time here in the Bay Area is getting short. As of today, we have less than a month left in Marin County. We’ve tried to take full advantage of the area’s beauties, but every time we venture out for some peace and quiet, something gets in our way. All the other humans.

These paintings by Melbourne artist Kate Shaw, with their layers of ink, glitter, and powder, speak to the way we as humans are corrupting the natural world we claim to love and appreciate so much.

Mr. F and I don’t want to come off as crotchety old so-and-so’s ( although, maybe we are! ), perhaps it’s just that our expectations of what it means to spend a day in wilderness areas are a bit high. We want to see and experience renowned beauty, but in places that are so heavily populated, the enjoyment seems to come with a price. The best thing about these places is that they should be refuges of peace, but it’s hard to commune with your thoughts as Rhianna is blasted down the trail. While Shaw’s work deals more perhaps with chemical devastation and destruction, I feel like there is a spiritual decimation happening, too. Or maybe we just need to find a cabin in the woods for a while.

To see more work by Kate Shaw, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on July 23, 2015

A tree isn’t just its trunk. To thrive, a tree needs healthy branches. It needs to be reaching for light, nourished to its tips from within. Those branches become the homes of birds and squirrels, providing subtle, swishing music on breezy days and shelter from rainstorms.

In our current home in Marin County, our apartment in the hillside is nestled in the treetops. We see the world through a filter of blowing branches. Ember Fairbairn‘s paintings remind me not just of our view, but of the way we need to branch out in order to bloom.

Just as a tree can’t survive without its branches, so too do we need to continually reach out for new experiences in order to learn and grow. If we don’t we may become stagnated and overtaken by stronger, greedier vines.

To see more of Ember Fairbairn‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Sculpture

Posted on July 22, 2015

It doesn’t always take another person to imprison us. We can often bind ourselves up without any outside help– whether by our own thoughts, or actions, or expectations. It’s a challenge just to get out of our own way.

In this sculpture series, artist Pava Wulfert binds together painted canvas and wooden racks, illustrating in three dimensions a sense of captivity.

We don’t always recognize our own confinement– like Wulfert’s elements painted in bright, happy colors, we may be blissfully ignorant of our lack of liberty. It’s interesting that Wulfert uses typical artists’ materials like paint, canvas and rack pieces in these bound sculptures. Perhaps how we see ourselves as artists can be a prison of sorts? Certainly thinking of ourselves only in one artistic dimension limits our boundaries!

To see more of Pava Wulfert‘s work, please visit the artist’s website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on July 21, 2015

Having spent the last two summers on the Northern California coast, where the water doesn’t warm up too much between winter and summer, it’s been a while since I took a swim. When I was young, spending summers at camp and at my aunt & uncle’s lake house, I loved the water. One of my favorite things was to hold my breath and sink to the bottom. Time slowed down, the world became distant and muted. It felt like an immersion into summer.

These paintings by Wendi Turchan seem to illustrate that feeling of submersion. Fluid background colors seem to melt into each other, while bright geometric shapes float and sway. It feels like diving to the bottom of the pool for a sunken treasure.

To see more of Wendi Turchan‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Daily Artsy Figurative Paintings

Posted on July 20, 2015

Once upon a time, I was one of those girls. Saturdays were for shopping. Fashion magazines were poured over. Hours were spent pursuing just the right pair of shoes. Rinse and repeat. For years. Now don’t get me wrong, I still love a little shopping spree here and there. But I don’t obsess over the things I have or what I wear. It doesn’t define me.

In his large scale oil paintings, Bay Area artist Ryan Jones immerses his viewer in the world of luxurious living, where skin is perfectly toned and tanned, life is perfectly chic.

Some folks seem to have been born with the chic-gene. Even if they aren’t a part of the Beverly Hills elite, they still seem to carry themselves with that certain something. I’d like to think that I fit that description, but I’m doubtful. More than likely, my shoes are worn from travel, my hair is windblown and unkempt, my clothes probably stained with paint.

In exchange for the pursuit of chic, the quest for the latest fashion, I am reaching for the next moment of inspiration, the next place to explore, the next adventure.

To see more of Ryan Jones‘ work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Photography

Posted on July 17, 2015

Re-entering the real world after so many hours, weeks, months spent by my mom’s side has been more of a struggle than I might have imagined. There was, of course, a desire for a return to normality, to get back to a world in which each ring of the phone didn’t follow with a sense of fear and foreboding. But lurking constantly, just beneath the surface, are emotions that threaten to float to the top of my throat, sting my eyes, and take over.

I’m trying to walk the line between acknowledging and allowing those emotions but not giving them complete control. It is natural to feel this swirl of hurt for someone I loved so fiercely and miss so terribly. But as much as she would appreciate and understand those emotions, she would absolutely hate to see me overcome by them. So I let them come and then I let them go.

The images above are photographs by artist Kim Keever. See more of Kim’s work at his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on July 16, 2015

If I could think of any one way to honor my mom’s memory in my life going forward– it could be summed up in one word. MORE.

These paintings by Melbourne artist Amanda Krantz teem with color, movement, and life, seeming ready to burst from their canvases. They embody what I would like my own life to be.

In the last year of Mom’s life, there was less of the good, less of what she loved and enjoyed. That was perhaps one of the toughest challenges we, as those who loved her, faced. Watching that light fade as she couldn’t eat what she wanted, couldn’t go and do as she had always done, her life seemed merely a struggle for survival.

For her, and for myself, I want what is left of my own existence to be abundantly more. More colorful, more adventurous, more days spent doing what I love rather than merely surviving.

To see more of Amanda Krantz‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

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All posts are written by Lesley Frenz, unless otherwise stated. If you would like to repost something you see on Artsy Forager on your own blog, please provide a link back to the original post. All artwork images are the property of the individual artists, please link to this site or theirs when reposting and credit the artist appropriately. Artsy Forager contains some contextual affiliate links. An affiliate link means that I receive commission on sales of the products that are linked to in noted posts. So if you click on a link and make a purchase from an affiliate site, such as Mantle Art or Great.ly, then I may make a commission from that purchase. Those affiliate links may also be found on my Pinterest page. Artsy Forager reserves the right to delete any comments deemed as inappropriate. Play nicely, please.

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