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  • Fresh Graphics: Kate Mullin

    Fresh Graphics: Kate Mullin

    Days are getting shorter, nights are cooler, and kids everywhere are headed back to school.  Summer’s end is near, and as much as I’m looking forward to the arrival of my favorite season, I do hate to see some summer things go!  The bright, happy colors of flowers with their faces turned to the sun never fail to make me smile.  These graphically painted floral still lifes by Charleston artist Kate Mullin just might get me through the coming cold and rainy months.

    Sally by Kate Mullin
    Sally, oil on canvas, 22×28
    Pink & Pink by Kate Mullin
    Pink & Pink, oil on canvas, 16×20

    Mullins’ use of flattened planes seems to be a deliberate nod to vintage paint-by-numbers ( which I love and have a few of my own in storage! ), but she amps up the modern feel by mixing in bright, saturated color and graphic blacks.

    Zinnia Arrangement by Kate Mullin
    Zinnia Arrangement, oil on canvas, 24×24
    Teal Zinnias by Kate Mullin
    Teal Zinnias, oil on canvas, 28×22

    Mullins’ bouquets are full of light and life.  They fairly drip with color and vivacity!  The perfect antidote for the coming dreariness. 😉

    Coral by Kate Mullin
    Coral, oil on canvas, 16×20

    Want to see more work by Kate Mullin?  Be sure to check out her website and Facebook page!

    All images via the artist’s website.

  • Puzzle Me This: Kent Ambler

    Puzzle Me This: Kent Ambler

    I love it when you guys write to me to tell me about an artist’s work!  Even more than that, I love gallery owners who are passionate about promoting their artists’ work.  So when Art & Light Gallery owner Teresa Roche emailed me about this artist, I was intrigued.  Then I went to his website and fell in love! These woodcut pieces of Greenville, SC artist Kent Ambler are full of texture and pattern and I can’t get enough of them.

    Ambler2 Ambler3Kent draws inspiration from the life and simple objects around him– his dogs, the woods surrounding his home, birds, etc.  His woodcuts feel like quick little sketches of every day life and familiar adventures.

    Ambler5 Ambler4

    While I love his single woodcuts, for me, it’s when they are put together in these Block Contstructs, that they really shine.  The colors and patterns harmonize so well together, there is a wonderful energy about them.  They remind me in the most glorious way of those old plastic sliding puzzles I used to get as a prize at school carnivals.  You know the ones in which you slide the little blocks around until the picture is completed?

    Ambler1

    I hope you are as delighted by Kent Ambler’s work as I am!  You can catch a few glimpses into his process in this video.

    If you’d like to see more, please visit his website.  If you happen to be near Greenville, he just opened a show at the Caine Gallery— go by and check it out!  And Greenville folks, be sure to mark your calendar for the 2nd Annual Block Party October 1st-15th at Art & Light, featuring 100 hand selected retired woodblock prints by Kent Ambler available for a limited time.

    PS–I know Fridays are usually for Design Foraging, but since I took the day off to unpack on Monday, I wanted to squeeze in another artist post!

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Wear the Artsy: Candace Fasano

    Wear the Artsy: Candace Fasano

    You know sometimes I love a piece of artwork so much I wanna wear it.  Like all day, every day.  This month’s Featured Artist, Candace Fasano has oodles of lovely new work, but this particular piece, Bird Pod, just keeps speaking to me.  Alas, the painting is sold ( lucky duck,  whoever you are! ), but that won’t stop me from dreaming about it!

    WTA_Candace Fasano & Anthony Roussel

    art | Bird Pod by Candace Fasano

    jewelry | from top: Branch Bangle, Fan Ring, Geo Colour Bangle by Anthony Roussel

    Don’t these sculpted pieces by jewelry artist Anthony Roussel remind you of Bird Pod? That same organic, cosmic magic could still be mine.  Oh yes it could!

    Check out more work from Candace Fasano on her website and the Artsy Forager Facebook page.

  • Hope in the Dark: Wendy McWilliams

    Hope in the Dark: Wendy McWilliams

    As much as we would love to be happily skipping through life at all times, there will always be moments that get us down.  We get stressed, overwhelmed, and sometimes just plain sad.  But in the darkness, there is always a light of hope.  These abstract paintings by Tennessee artist Wendy McWilliams illustrate in paint that feeling of glimpsing the light in our dark moments.

    McWilliams_feeling the pinch 36 x 36 $500

    I’m not sure this was the artist’s purpose when she set out to paint these canvases, but it is what these pieces are speaking to my own, slightly stressed mind today.. There is always something happening, something or someone clamoring for our attention.  Sometimes the noise is welcome, other times, not so much.  But in the light and color of McWilliams’ work, today I’m reminded that the stress doesn’t last forever.

    McWilliams5

    McWilliams1

    We always manage somehow to come through the chaos, to tackle the seemingly insurmountable tasks before us or to just plain grin and bear it until it’s all over.  Whether it is through our own strength, help from another or above, we get through it.  The color returns and so does the light.

     McWilliams2

    Want to see more work from this artist?  Check out Wendy McWilliams’ website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • In the City: Daniel Everett

    In the City: Daniel Everett

    As much as I love the quiet of rural settings, there is something undeniably appealing about the structures in urban life.  As we were showing Mr. F’s sister around Seattle last week, she was in awe of the architecture and I was reminded, too, to look up and around and take notice.  The work of artist Daniel Everett takes those intriguing bits of urbanity and isolates them in all their glory.

    Untitled, from Monument series by Daniel Everett
    Untitled, from Monument series
    Untitled, three pieces by Daniel Everett
    Three recent untitled works
    Untitled, from Monument series by Daniel Everett
    Untitled, from Monument series
    Untitled, from Monument series by Daniel Everett
    Untitled, from Monument series

    Sometimes, the structure is set starkly against a colorful, seemingly computer generated hue, and then others seem to almost melt into a white sky, pastel lines graphically juxtaposed.  Everett is taking those slices of urban infrastructure and challenging us to see them in a new way, for someone, this is the spot where they spend each day, perhaps a job they worked hard to get or their refuge from the rest of the world.

    And just because it’s awesome and I loved it too much to not include it, I give you..

    Artist Statement II by Daniel Everett
    Artist Statement II, gum

    Want to see more work from Daniel Everett?  Check out his website and Tumblr.

    All images via the artist’s website or Tumblr feed.

     

  • This Artsy Life: Settling In

    This Artsy Life: Settling In

    We’ve done it again.  Mr. Forager & I have moved just a bit south of Seattle to a small town just outside Olympia.  After a whirlwind week of showing Mr. F’s sister around our favorite city, we had just a few hours on Sunday to empty our Seattle apartment, pack up our car, clean said apartment, drive down & unpack here in Shelton. Whew!  Needless to say, this Artsy was pretty pooped yesterday evening, so not much unpacking was accomplished.  And so, dear Artsies, I’m taking the day today to try to get us settled into our new home.  But don’t feel too sorry for me– check out my view!

    Backyard

    This is our backyard for the next three months.  So inspiring!  Perfect for an artsy life. Can’t wait to share more photos of our new home.  It’s small, but artsiness abounds!

    Image by Artsy Forager on Instagram.

  • Design Foraging: Got Milk

    Design Foraging: Got Milk

    It will be a sad day if I ever develop lactose intolerance.  I love milk.  Especially with a big piece of chocolate cake. 😉  It looks like there are some other artsy folks who can’t get enough of the white stuff either!  Check out these artsy milk carton designs–

    1 and 2x Half Full by Marus van der Made
    1 and 2x Half Full Lamps by Marus van der Made

    found here

    DF_Milk_Rysgaard

    found here

    DF_Milk_Ricochet
    Best Before by Ricochet Studio

    found here

    And, of course, actual artsy milk cartons courtesy of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam paired with local dairy Albert Heijn.

    DF_Milk_rijksmuseum-milk-cartons

    found here

    Mmmm.. now I’m craving a big slice of cake!  Happy Friday Artsies!

    All images linked above.

  • A Sublime Display: Jan de Vliegher

    A Sublime Display: Jan de Vliegher

    Maybe it was all the costume dramas I watched with my mom as a kid.  Or maybe it was all those fairy tales my grandmother read to me.  This abstract-lovin’ Artsy is also a sucker for all things with a romantic past.  These porcelain plate paintings by Flemish artist Jan De Vliegher take decorative museum pieces and amp them up to larger than life works of art.

    No title available by Jan De Vliegher
    ( no title available ), oil on canvas

    De Vliegher takes photos of plates in museum displays– you know the ones in the room off to the side that people take one peek in and then turn around in search of the Picassos– then uses the photos as reference for his larger than life paintings.  He takes these precious little objects, hiding behind their glass cases and pumps them up in size and energy.

    Sevres, Dancing Girl by Jan De Vliegher
    Sevres, Dancing Girl, oil on canvas, 43×43
    ( No title available ) by Jan De Vliegher
    ( No title available ), oil on canvas
    Flower and Saz by Jan De Vliegher
    Flower and Saz, oil on canvas, 79×79

    These are no photorealistic depictions of prized antiques.  De Vliegher doesn’t concentrate on detail, but rather turns his attention and brush to capturing the essence of the atmosphere of each of these pieces in their little glass houses.  They almost come to life with the way in which he freely and loosely sketches their likenesses.  Cold porcelain resurrected.

    Cleopatra by Jan DeVliegher
    Cleopatra, oil on canvas, 79×79

    Hear the artist speak about his process and see installation images in this video in which Vincent Zambrano interviews Jan De Vliegher.

    Want to see more work by Jan De Vliegher?  Check out his artist’s page at Mike Weiss Gallery.

    Images via Mike Weiss Gallery and Beautiful Decay.

  • White Out: Caitlin Lonegan

    White Out: Caitlin Lonegan

    There can be abundance found with restraint.  When a bush is pruned correctly, it blooms more profusely, doesn’t it?  In her series of White Page paintings, Los Angeles artist Caitlin Lonegan doesn’t shy from letting the white of her canvas show through.  In fact, she embraces it.

    Untitled ( White page, Brown ) by Caitlin Lonegan
    Untitled ( White page, brown ), oil on canvas, 72×78
    Untitled ( White page, writing III ) by Caitlin Lonegan
    Untitled ( White page, Writing III ), oil on canvas, 48×60

    Instead of the white canvas being just a surface to be covered, it becomes part & parcel in the composition– a place of rest for the eye, an expanse of space in which the marks made by the artist’s brush are not just strokes but the subject.

    Untitled ( White Page, Teal ) by Caitlin Lonegan
    Untitled ( White Page, Teal ), oil on canvas, 72×78

    The confidence an artist must have to allow her marks to be laid so bare is humbling and astonishing to me.  Every little stray swipe of the brush, every little drop of paint is there for the eye to see.  And it is in these little gestures that I find the most depth and delight.

    Untitled ( White Page, Writing ) by Caitlin Lonegan
    Untitled ( White Page, Writing ), oil on canvas, 48×60
    Untitled ( White Page, Blue Line ) by Caitlin Lonegan
    Untitled ( White Page, Blue Line ), oil on canvas, 48×60

    Want to see more work by Caitlin Lonegan?  Please visit her website by clicking through on her name.

    All images are via the artist’s website.  Artist found via Little Paper Planes.

  • Shared Wonder: Beth Hoeckel

    Shared Wonder: Beth Hoeckel

    Mr. Forager’s sister has been visiting with us since Saturday and it has been so fun watching this bro & sis duo together!  But it’s got me missing my own brothers like crazy.  Our siblings are our first conspirators in adventure, first sharers of secrets, first partners in memories.  The Point of View series by Beth Hoeckel captures that time of imaginative connection we have with our earliest companions.

    Glacial by Beth Hoeckel
    Glacial

    There are places and objects that have deep meaning for us due to the memories they hold.  Even more than that, the things that we experienced together can immediately take us back to that moment in time.  To this day, anytime we hear a certain type of whistle– my brothers and I do a double take, thinking that it’s our dad, calling us home for dinner.

    Count Sheep by Beth Hoeckel
    Count Sheep
    Magic Carpet by Beth Hoeckel
    Magic Carpet

    As we grow older our appearance changes, yet when we look into the faces of our siblings, we still see the mischievous countenance that signaled the beginning of an adventure, a game of hide and seek or a deeply competitive game of Monopoly.  We don’t see the gray hair ( or lack thereof! ), the extra pounds, the wrinkles.

    Mountain Rangers by Beth Hoeckel
    Mountain Rangers
    Ranges by Beth Hoeckel
    Ranges

    I was really hoping we’d be in Seattle long enough to get one or both of my brothers out to visit.  They have to see this.  And we need to make some new memories together!

    Want to see more of Beth Hoeckel‘s work?  Be sure to check out her website ( click on her name for the link ).  And, bonus, she has prints of some of these pieces available at great prices in her Big Cartel shop!

    All images are via the artist’s website.