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Escape to Wonderland: Kelly O’Connor

I don’t know about you, but I could really use an escape right now. To Wonderland, to the Chocolate Factory, to anywhere I don’t have to answer emails, make dinner or otherwise in any way be a grown up! I want to go to a place where no one speaks an unkind word and everyone is insanely happy. Where trouble melts like lemon drops. Truly, what I want is to get lost in the crazy wonderland of Texas artist Kelly O’Connor.

OK, perhaps I take it back. Like the fictional Stepford, O’Connor’s collages of vintage vacation destinations juxtaposed with candy colored geometrics and crazy-eyed mid-century ladies is a bit loopy. But then it’s meant to be. From the artist “My intention is to create an immortal or dreamlike space, such as one that could only exist in a person’s subconscious.” These worlds are like those dreams from which you wake, feeling exhilarated, but relieved that it wasn’t real.

To see more of Kelly O’Connor’s work, please visit her website. If you happen to be near Houston, be sure to check out Kelly’s solo show Blinded by the Light at David Shelton Gallery, up until June 7th! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put on my sparkle ray glasses and get back to work.

Top two images via the artist’s website. Other images via David Shelton Gallery website.

May 19, 2014
Behind the Hedges: Cary Reeder

We never know what someone else’s life is really like. Oh sure, we see carefully edited glimpses of the lives of others on Facebook, Instagram and the like, but often what we are seeing ( and sharing ) is exactly what we want to see. Houston artist Cary Reeder emphasizes the secrets kept behind the suburban blinds in her Neighborhood series.

Why do we have the tendency to close the world out when we’re at home? When we’re out in public, we’re usually not shy about letting others in. Certainly, there are particular homebound acts we’d rather not share, but what about those days when we’re just hanging out? I love seeing glimpses of happy couples and families through open windows. In these times when we rarely get to know our neighbors, it’s reassuring to see slices of the lives being lived in the other boxes around us. How about throwing those windows open this weekend, Artsies?

To see more of Cary Reeder’s work, please visit her website.

Images via the artist’s website and Facebook page. Artist found via New American Paintings.

May 16, 2014
Finding My Own Artsy: A New Series

If you follow me over on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been a bit obsessed with flowers this spring. Growing up in Florida, we really only had two seasons, summer and not summer. Until we started traveling out West, I’d never really experienced a true Fall, Winter, or Spring. Spring in the Northwest is especially lovely given all the amazingly beautiful blooming trees, shrubs and wildflowers! Ever since my first glimpse of cherry blossom petals littering the Seattle sidewalks, I’ve been smitten by Spring here.

left| cherry blossoms, right| Seattle Sidewalks, acrylic on paper, 18×24

The juxtapositions of colors and textures inspired me to begin a new series on paper, Rain and Rhododendrons. I’m still continuing with the Feminine Wiles series, but was itching to get back to painting in a larger format and thanks to a nice big pad of Canson Mixed Media Paper, a portable drawing board, and a sturdy travel portfolio gifted to me by Mr. F for my birthday last month, I was ready to dive in.

Forest Blossoms, acrylic on paper, 18×24

Like the Feminine Wiles series, these too are color studies, but I’m enjoying experimenting with a looser style, being able to work much more quickly and freely on larger paper than I’ve been able to ( so far! ) on small panels.

top| Arcata Marsh Wildflowers, acrylic on paper, 18×24, bottom| Allen Pond with wildflowers

I haven’t had dedicated painting time in a few weeks and I am itching to get back in, especially after Mr. F and I took a camping trip this weekend up to the Trinity Alps. I am so full of inspiration for this series, I am about to burst! So there will undoubtedly be more to come, soon.. In the meantime, you can see full shots of each of the pieces I’ve already completed in the Rain and Rhododendrons gallery page. And in case you missed it, there is also a Feminine Wiles gallery page, both under the My Work heading in the top navigation bar. I’ve also added an artist statement and bio on the My Work page– so much harder to write those things for yourself than it is to help others!

May 15, 2014
Messy Utopias: Scott Sueme

Some people dream of a perfect utopian existence. But utopias always seem more Stepford-ish to me, communities where every house looks perfectly the same, every person has the same ideals, there is never any conflict. But where there is no conflict, there is no contrast and it’s in the differences that true life comes through and true beauty shines. The work of Vancouver artist Scott Sueme exposes those contrasts found outside of the perfect.

Sueme uses landscape like compositions mixed with graffiti ideology to reference human interaction within nature. Whether it be from overdevelopment filled with strip malls or a small cabin in the woods, landscape is different and loses its sense of balance and perfection once the hand of man has been laid upon it. It’s hard to imagine a world without street lights and signs and parking lots. Would we even recognize it?

To see more work by Scott Sueme, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

May 15, 2014
Design Foraging: Studio Joo

My favorite aesthetic is work that feels both organic and modern. Maybe it’s my competing loves of cities and the woods. The work of Brooklyn artist Elaine Tian in her Studio Joo ceramics embodies that juxtaposition in the most elegant way.

Light washes of color remind me of wispy landscapes seen through squinted eyes, her translucent glazes making each piece seem as polished as a river rock. The shapes and palettes feel organic in nature, but there is a restraint and simplicity to the forms that create a collection that is thoroughly modern. I’ll take one of each, please!

To see more work from Studio Joo, please visit the website. Pieces can be purchased through the Studio Joo Big Cartel site.

All images via Studio Joo on Big Cartel.

May 14, 2014
True Confections: Stefan Dunlop

You know that phrase, you get more flies with honey? Candy-coated truths always seem a bit more digestible. Whether its revealing political truths through comical satire or historical truths in frosted palettes as in the work of Australian artist Stefan Dunlop, difficult ideas can be approached more easily from a less threatening perspective.

Dunlop’s simple use of form and bright pastel palette immediately draw the eye, thinking we’re in for a fun ride. But his subject matter and old master-like composition lead us to want to investigate a bit further. There is a darkness lurking beneath that cotton candy surface.

To see more of Stefan Dunlop‘s work, please visit his website.

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

May 14, 2014
Live the Artsy: Holly Farrell

Post WWII prosperity ushered in a turning point in the world of advertising and manufactured goods– packaging and design were no longer concerned mainly with function, even the most mundane of objects were created with an appealing aesthetic. This month’s Featured Artist Holly Farrell celebrates the beauty in these old objects, breathing new and fresh life into designs of the past.

How would it be to live out Farrell’s aesthetic?

art | found here

interior a | found here

interior b | found here

With a bright and light modern palette, accentuated with touches of muted color. Pops of graphic, retro pattern along with sleek metals recall the dawn of the industrial age, with those colors and a few carefully placed wood tones keeping the view warm and fun. I can’t decide which of these looks I like best! Which is your fave?

To see more of Holly Farrell’s work, please visit her website. The above painting, Soap, is a 10×24 acrylic and oil on masonite, available through Holly’s studio.

Image sources linked above.

May 13, 2014
Finding Truth: Michael Cusack

One of the things that draws me again and again to abstract work is its ambiguity. We can never know for certain the source of the artist’s inspiration and every viewer carries to the work their own interpretation. The work of Irish Australian based artist Michael Cusack uses a consistent language of simple shapes and fields of white, each piece leaving us to determine exactly what it is we see.

For each viewer, the reality of what they see is unique. In viewing and living with abstract work like Cusack’s, we find ourselves on a quest to determine the truth of what we see. But we all look at each work through our own goggles of perception. Our experiences, memories and associations color our interpretation, giving these kinds of works a universal veracity unique to each viewer.

To see more of Michael Cusack‘s work, please visit his website.

Artist found via Art Hound. All images via the Martin Browne Contemporary website.

May 13, 2014
Wild Women: Jennifer Nehrbass

Just last night over a glass of wine and chocolate marscapone cheesecake, Mr. Forager and I were talking about where I saw my studio work going and I told him I didn’t really have a desire to become a figurative painter. And then this morning I came across the work of Jennifer Nerhbass. In her work, the New Mexico artist explores “The relationships of women to themselves and their environment”. Ok, maybe I’ve changed my mind.

As women, we get so caught up in society’s idea of what we should look like and who we should be. We find ourselves spending hours looking for that perfect little dress, even when we’d rather be outside. Since we’ve been traveling, I’ve been slowly stripping away those artifices I’d built up for so long. That closet filled with shoes, many of them rarely worn. Drawers filled with make-up and perfume. I’ve learned that Mr. F sees me at my most beautiful when we are hiking together– not in heels but hiking boots, no makeup, hair usually a mess. But what he’s seeing is the inspiration and peace that fills and recharges my spirit and soul. We so often forsake that for ourselves.

In her work, we see Nehrbass’s women often out of place in the wild, like they’ve suddenly been plucked out of their urban existence and somehow landed in the midst of wilderness. I see so many parallels with how we live as modern women and these paintings. We become so obsessed with creating beauty in ourselves that we lose touch with the life and beauty around us.

To see more of Jennifer Nehrbass‘s work, please visit her website.

Second image via Mirus Gallery, all other images via the artist’s website.

May 12, 2014
Who We Inherit: Marie Hudelot

One of my favorite things about babies and children of family and friends is looking at them and seeing how their parents come through. Whether in their physical attributes or personalities, it always amazes me to see glimpses of parents or grandparents in a new unique little personality. In her Heritage series, French artist Marie Hudelot explores the cultural heritage between an East and West family legacy, specifically France and Algeria.

Just as we are each conglomerations of generations of hereditary history, in Hudelot’s conceptual portraits we see symbolic aggregations to create emblematic figures. Faces covered, the figures could be anonymous representations of previous generations. How much of who we become is influenced by those who came before? Whether genetic or cultural, we are all in some way the product of past generations.

To see more of the work of Marie Hudelot, please visit her website.

All images via the artist’s website. Artist found via Trendland.

May 9, 2014

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artistic pathfinding by lesley frenz

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