artsy forager

Posted on February 27, 2015

I’ve been called intense several times in my life and each time I take it as a compliment. I’m not unfriendly, but I’m also not super outgoing and smiley, which often leads to well meaning strangers telling me to smile. I am afraid, though, that sometimes my serious demeanor may make me seem less approachable or happy than I am. When going through the website of a fellow Florida artist I’ve admired for a long time, Sean Mahan, I was struck by how much his slightly sad-seeming figures reminded me of my own misunderstood facade.

This pattern of assumption and misapprehension goes both ways, too. Sometimes the people who seem the happiest and most jovial are deep down incredibly sad. We put on a display for other people.. it’s what is expected, what makes them comfortable, no matter whether or not it is true to what we feel inside. It’s taken me a long time to be content with my own temperament, to be OK with being the quiet observer instead of the life of the party. But it is who I am and I’m cool with that. Just don’t tell me to smile.

To see more of Sean Mahan‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on February 26, 2015

We each have a unique way of interacting with the world around us. Whether through the way we approach each day, our manner of address or dress, or how we set a table, we all have our own brand of ourselves. We paint with broad strokes or fine detail. We are our flourishes.

These quirks might seem insignificant, but every one of these tiny traits make us unique. So, too are the brushstrokes of each artist. These broad, sweeping strokes by Minneapolis artist Kayleigh Fichten draw me in with their rhythmic repetitions and their candied colors. According to her artist statement, she’s telling us, in her own strokes, of her own examining “of physical utopias and imagined place”. We can each visit the same place, in the same moment, but we will all reinterpret that place and point in time in our own language.

To see more of Kayleigh Fichten‘s work, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via Buy Some Damn Art.

Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on February 25, 2015

Do you ever find yourself envious of birds? Mr. F and I love watching the larger birds soar and the smaller ones flit about. It seems such a carefree way of life, doesn’t it? They live by instinct and opportunity, always able to fly on to sunnier skies if necessary. These beautiful encaustic paintings by Betsy Eby remind me of that way of moving, freely and without care.

We like to think that this gypsy lifestyle we’ve currently adopted creates such freedom, but still find ourselves being tied down in so many ways. Sure, we’ve managed to free ourselves from a lot of baggage, but we still have to work to eat, to have a place to live, heck, just finding a place to live can be a struggle at times! But what we’ve learned is to have faith like the birds, to know that we will be provided for, that we’ll find a spot to build our nest and won’t be without a place to lay our heads. The birds don’t worry about such things, why should we?

To see more of Betsy Eby‘s work, please visit her website. See the artist talk about her work and her process in this beautiful video–

All images are via the artist’s website.

Daily Artsy Photography

Posted on February 24, 2015

It’s interesting sometimes, to think about all the influences, large and small, that have contributed to the people we’ve become. Whether we grow up among those who are like us, or always feeling like the outsider, we feel their affect, regardless. We become composites of all those experiences that we encounter. Photographer Patrick Winfield creates his own composited scenes in which disparate elements come together as a unified whole.

Each individual photograph, beautiful on its own, becomes an integral part of the larger composition. We take in each whole in its entirety, finding it lovely, yet each individual element draws us in, we go in search of the undiscovered detail. How like meeting a new friend, don’t you think? We meet, find ourselves attracted to the whole, whether through mutual interests or similar personalities, but then over time, we discover all that has gone in to making the individual.

To see more of Patrick Winfield‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Collage Daily Artsy Figurative Photography

Posted on February 23, 2015

Mr. F and I have been doing a lot of breaking it down lately. No, that isn’t some sort of euphemism and no, I don’t mean breakdancing. We’ve been apartment hunting in Marin County, where we’ve just landed for the next three months ( and hopefully by the time you’re reading this, we’ve found a home! ) and have been analyzing every possible rental backwards and forwards. It’s pretty amazing how a place might look like a fabulous bargain until we start breaking down extra costs associated. These photo collages by Jean Faucheur remind me of the way our perspectives change once we come at something from all possible angles.

Just a minut shift to the left or to the right can alter our perception completely, perhaps allowing us to become aware of details we just couldn’t see before. Have you ever found yourself going steadily along one way of thinking only to suddenly experience a revelation that causes a monumental shift? Feels like I’ve been experiencing a lot of those lately. Dizzying at first, but ultimately clarifying!

To see more of Jean Faucheur‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Daily Artsy Landscapes Paintings

Posted on February 20, 2015

I find it amazing to experience a place through different days, different seasons. As Mr. F and I travel, such encounters are a rare treat, for we are usually only in the same spot for a season. But as life and light shifts, so too, does the atmosphere of a place. In his large scale paintings, Missouri artist Doug Freed brings us into the aura of light and mood in the landscapes around us.

In these intensely hued, yet softly toned paintings, we seem to be viewing the world through varying filters and lenses, the landscape changing ever so slightly with an alteration in light and shadow. The paintings seem to quietly call upon all of our other senses– can’t you feel the mist on your face, hear the gentle lapping of the water against the shore?

To see more of Doug Freed‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on February 19, 2015

In just 48 hours, Mr. F and I will exchange one temporal locale for another. We’ll drive a few hours down the Coast to spend the next three months in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. Each one of these moves involves a lot of conversations and communications, between ourselves and with strangers, both those who remain so and those who become friends. In her abstract paintings, San Francisco artist Heather Day captures the interactions happening between mediums on her canvas.

Each day, we interact with the people around us in a myriad of ways– with a look, a smile, a kind word or even an um, not so kind gesture, we are communicating with each other even when say nothing. Our exchanges can be like a dance, initiating, giving, taking, some gestures larger than others– just as Day’s marks upon her canvases.

To see more of Heather Day‘s work, please visit her website. You can follow Heather’s work and studio practice on Instagram, as well!

All images are via the artist’s website.

Abstract Art Daily Artsy Paintings

Posted on February 18, 2015

I have a bit of a tendency to get caught up in details. I’m detail oriented, which can be a big plus in some ways, but it does tend to make me a bit of a can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees- type sometimes. So it’s good for me to get some distance, both literally and figuratively. These small paintings by New York artist Katte Geneta reveal impressions of places distant from sight, distant from memory.

I first spotted Katte’s work in my Instagram feed, I think a fellow artist recommend her. And these small, quiet paintings seemed a spot of calm among the cacophony of sunsets, cats, and selfies in a typical day’s feed. As we look back upon a place, our memory often recalls the strongest impression– a line here, light there, this or that color. But that impression is what stays with us and Katte’s interpretations of that sense of place are incredibly strong. I can feel the cool air, the fog, the warmth of the setting sun.

To see more of Katte Geneta‘s work, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website or Instagram.

Daily Artsy Watercolors

Posted on February 17, 2015

For most of my life I’ve lived surrounded by friends and family, so being without a home never seemed like a very real possibility to me. As Mr. F and I travel, we do occasionally find ourselves “between homes” temporarily, but that usually just involves a few nights in a local hotel while trying to find a rental. While living this past year in Eureka, we’ve encountered a homeless population to rival larger cities. I always wonder about them, how they came to where they are– was it a series of bad luck? Was it by choice?

We find ourselves walking by them, not making eye contact, trying not to notice them so they won’t notice us and make us uncomfortable. Perhaps through no fault of their own, these are the cast-offs, society’s discards that we’ve thrown away and never given a second thought. Because if we really think about them, we might see ourselves in their eyes.

These watercolor paintings from New York artist Alvaro Naddeo focus our attention on the consumption and consequent dumping of what was once needed, shiny and new. To see more of Alvaro Naddeo‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist.

Daily Artsy Figurative Paintings

Posted on February 16, 2015

I love a good story. Be it novel, film, or just an anecdote, I can’t get enough. Mr. F is a marvelous storyteller, far better than I’ll ever be. He has more stories than the Grimm brothers. While abstract painting has my heart, I do love the intricacies and narrative intrigue of allegorical painting, and in the work of Andrea Kowch, the visual storytelling shines.

It seems to me that with the advent of social media, as a society, we’re rediscovering our storytelling roots. On Twitter, we’re challenged to set a scene with just 140 characters. Instagram allows we visual folks to tell our stories through photos– often more powerful than words. Kowch’s figures with their sly, knowing gazes and hair in wild disarray drew me in when I first saw them in the Get Real show at MOCA when I was home in Florida. In the way her characters interact with each other, the viewer, and the world around them we seem to be catching them in the midst of a private scene– one whose true story is known only to the artist, but perhaps not even she.

To see more of the work of Andrea Kowch, 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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