artsy forager

Posted on March 13, 2015

As Mr. F and I continue our travels, sometimes I think about the way we drift into and out of a community– for a time, we’re locals, we begin to become recognized at the local coffee shop and grocery store and then *poof* suddenly we’re gone. It’s as if we were never there. I do wonder, are we missed? Do folks speculate about happened to that bearded man and his lady? Miami photographer Jane Krupp, in her Day Ghosts series captures the way daily our interactions are so fleeting.

Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.

This quote by Anita Desai came up in my Facebook feed this morning and it’s something I think of often. How each place we go, whether a physical location or mental, emotional, or spiritual spot, influences us in ways we may not realize until we have vacated it. I think it is the same with the people we come into contact with. We never know the impact we make, for better or for worse, on the people in our presence. I hope our fleeting existence leaves a wake for good.

To see more of Jane Krupp‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on March 12, 2015

When we’re out hiking, I can’t help but run my hand along the surface of a tree, touch the softness of a patch of moss, gently dip my hand into cold, clear water. No matter where we are exploring, whether desert, woods, or mountains, there are always countless delicious textures to be experienced! The paintings of Seattle artist Drie Chapek with their thickly painted surfaces echo the intricate webs of textures to be savored.

Just as the plants and water and rocks and tress exist in wild spaces, one tumbling over and onto another, so do Chapek’s layers interweave and run through each other. We catch glimpses of one while contemplating another.

To see more of Drie Chapek‘s work, please visit her website.

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

Daily Artsy Landscapes Paintings

Posted on March 11, 2015

I think, in this world there are perhaps three kinds of people– those who love the desert, ocean lovers, and lake/river people. Mr. F and I are definitely not desert people and it’s taken us a while to realize we aren’t ocean people either. Both have their beauty, yes, but neither stir our souls the way a crystal clear mountain lake or river can. The love of lakes, for me, happened I think in childhood. I spent a good deal of time every summer on a lake– either at camp or with my aunt and uncle who lived on a tiny lake in Northern Florida. Two years ago we spent a summer on a lake in Idaho and it remains one of my favorite spot in all of our travels.

There is an easiness to lake life that creates an ease with the people around you– neighbors seem more neighborly, interactions are more likely to take place from boat to shoreline than by telephone or email.

Maine artist Amy Bennett‘s paintings capture the feeling of this unique existence. The artist begins by meticulously creating dioramas, which she then paints in oil on panel. The scale of the dioramas, when recreated in paint, gives the feeling of a world created by a child– doll houses and toy boats and tiny people. It makes me recall the innocence of those days, how everything appeared very soft, and fresh, and innocent and I was discovering a world that would come to be a part of me.

To see more of Amy Bennett‘s work, please visit her website.

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

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on March 10, 2015

Boundaries are healthy. That’s what we’re told. But when do we cross the line over into compartmentalization? As artists and in turn, as people, every experience we have informs another. Lines and lives blur and maybe we worry that we are losing control, no longer able to see where one thing ends and another begins.

The work of St. Petersburg artist Jules Cozine finds the beauty in the blurriness, shapes shift and colors bleed as our pupils try to focus in on the details, but finding none, we are forced to see the whole. Just as when we concentrate our energies on one aspect of life for too long, the others fall apart. We are meant to take in the whole. To blur the lines, to collide our worlds.

To see more of Jules Cozine’s work, please visit her website.

Images are via the artist’s website, her Facebook page, and the website of Anne Irwin Fine Art.

And just for a little fun, if you’ve scrolled down this far..

Daily Artsy Figurative Paintings

Posted on March 9, 2015

Every day, we’re faced with thousands of decisions, some seemingly insignificant, others life changing. But with each decision is our choice to go down this path or the other. Sushi or pizza. Turn left or turn right. In the paintings of Katie O’Hagan, I’m reminded that no matter what the alternatives, in every circumstance we have a say perhaps not in what happens but in how we react to it.

We have to be careful not to think too very much about what could be the significance of every tiny decision we make– we run the risk of freezing in fear. Instead, we make our choices and know that we chose what we thought was right at the time. We may turn out to be wrong, but better to find ourselves in the wrong place than nowhere at all.

To see more of Katie O’Hagan‘s work, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website.

Daily Artsy Figurative Paintings

Posted on March 6, 2015

As artists, our sources of inspiration and interest are as varied as we are. Those who chose the figure as their subject find an endless supply of stimuli, since what’s that old saying– wherever you go, there you are? We are surrounded by other human beings and even alone, there is still the figure that looks back at us in the mirror. Santa Cruz artist Linda Christensen explores the essence of the human form as it moves from moment to moment.

Whether caught in action or repose, Christensen’s figures still seem in transition, waiting to move or moving toward rest. It can be tough to find ourselves in those moments. We’re anticipating what is ahead, but still find ourselves needing to move within the now. By necessity, we focus on what is instead of what may be. And we find ourselves content with just being.

To see more of Linda Christensen’s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on March 5, 2015

One of the joys of having worked in the fine art industry for a good long while has been the pleasure of watching the evolution of so many artists. I absolutely love looking back on an artist’s older work and seeing glimpses of what was to come! The journey of Nashville based artist Megan Cosby has been one of my favorites to watch and in her new work, I see her artistry growing and glowing.

Megan and I are from the same hometown, graduated from the same college, and we’ve both decided to find our way in new places. Starting over in a new place can be stressful and intimidating ( I should know, we do it all the time! ), but a change of scene can offer an adjustment in perspective that happens to be just what we needed. And it seems as if the neon glow of music city is shining through in Megan’s abstract paintings. Like a beautifully composed song, there is a balance of light and dark, depth and nuanced delicacy that shows that she isn’t just a painter but an interpreter of moments.

To see Megan Cosby‘s older work, you can check out her website and for her latest, check out the website of her representing gallery, Stellers Gallery.

Images via Stellers Gallery & the artist’s Facebook page.

Daily Artsy Paintings Watercolors

Posted on March 4, 2015

I never thought I’d say it, but I think Instagram may be surpassing Pinterest as my new favorite social media tool. I do still lurve Pinterest, but am finding Instagram to be much more friendly, creatively and socially. And it’s become quite the source for finding artists, too! Case in point with today’s artist. I discovered watercolor artist Marta Spendowska on Instagram and have been marveling at her juxtapositions of soft strokes and bold color.

Social media, for the most part, isn’t much about delicacy. It’s more about who screams for attention the loudest. But once in a while, a whisper breaks through the noise, as in the case of Marta’s work.

To see more of Marta Spendowska‘s work, please visit her website and be sure to follow her on Instagram!

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy

Posted on March 3, 2015

When Mr. F and I first arrived here in the Bay Area, we were without WiFi at home for a few days. We never realize how very reliant we are on technology until we are forced to be without it, am I right?! But certain artists have learned to use these addictive technologies to their advantage. Artist Max Morris creates these amazing digitized paintings that almost seem to still be wet with pigment.

Technology is indeed a powerful tool, but we don’t have to be slaves to it. It helps me feel connected to my loved ones on the other side of the country, to feel an intimacy almost as good as being there, to share in our every day lives together. Through the same kind of sharing, even with strangers, bonds can be created and relationships formed that are as real as if we’d met in person. And we can use technology to find new ways of seeing– a photograph can be zoomed in on, enhanced, so that a detail we may have missed catches our eye. We see things not just as there are, but perhaps as they could be.

To see more of Max Morris‘ work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Daily Artsy Paintings Photo Realism

Posted on March 2, 2015

Mr. F and I are settled into our temporary Bay Area home and you guys, we are beyond excited!! Not only are we surrounded by incredible natural beauty ( which, thankfully, we’ve been lucky to have nearly everywhere we’ve traveled ), but we are just a short drive/bus ride/ferry ride away from one of our favorite cities, San Francisco. Although I feel most at home in a less hectic environment, every once in a while, I need to be in a city– to feel that urban energy. The paintings of San Fran photo realist artist Jessica Hess celebrates the graffiti that transforms derelict spaces into urban canvases.

Every city has spaces that aren’t gleaming and new, that’s a big part of their charm. While I don’t condone vandalization of someone else’s property, I do sometimes love a glimpse of bright paint among the rack and ruin. These colorful caches of creativity remind us that there is still life among the neglected.

To see more of Jessica Hess‘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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