Encaustic painting is a favorite medium of mine. Their waxy, frosting-like texture sends me over the moon. Every time I’m in a gallery, I will be drawn to the encaustics, guaranteed. So for this Friday round-up, I’m sharing with you some of my favorite waxy painters.
Why Stream Upstream by Mary Farmer, encaustic on canvas, 40×40
Whirl #1 by Wendy Franklund Miller, encaustic on wood, 12×12
Interplay by Nancy Natale, encaustic with fiber, oilstick and oil paint on birch, 24×24
Do you have any favorite encaustic artists I should know about? Do tell! To see more work from these fabulous encaustic artists, please visit their websites.
Featured image is Crossroads by Nancy Natale. All images are courtesy of the artist’s websites.
PS– As the hubby and I prepare to move from Aberdeen to his new assignment in Grants Pass, OR AND enjoy some camping and a visit from my mom-in-law, Artsy Forager will be rerunning some older posts over the next two weeks. Hopefully, this will give new readers a chance to see some artists that were featured back when the only people reading were my family and friends. 🙂
Upon first seeing Lori Nix’s photographs, you might think she must have an unbelievable knack for scoping out interesting places in various states of destruction and decay. But look a little closer. These places aren’t real at all. They are tiny apocalyptic scenes of the artist’s own making.
Laundromat, 2008
This Brooklyn-based artist designs and creates a miniature diorama for each scene, always keeping in mind the angle from which the scene will eventually be shot. The tiny models can take up to seven months to complete and two weeks to shoot. The photos are reproduced at a large scale, so attention to even the minutest detail is crucial.
Library, 2007
Why the images of destruction? Nix spent her childhood in rural Kansas, where natural disasters are a way of life. As a child, she remembers the destruction as exciting, something new and unexpected breaking up the doldrums of every day life. She is also influenced by the Hudson River School for its characteristics of romanticism and The Sublime movement, which focused on an “evocation of profound emotion”.
Aquarium, 2007
There is something quite fascinating about these images of devastation, in the wonderment of what could have wreaked such chaos, whether natural disaster, human neglect or perhaps something more sinister and subversive.
Fountain, 2008
In the deconstruction of the scenes, there is created a greater depth than there would be in an intact space. We are caught in the midst of a story, like beginning a dream in the middle of the action.
Beauty Shop, 2010
I first saw Lori’s work in ClampArt gallery in NYC in 2009 and it stayed with me. If you like it as much as I do, be sure to check out the artist’s website and Facebook page. If you’re in the Portland, OR area, her work can be seen at G. Gibson Gallery or in New York at ClampArt.
Featured image is Natural History 2005 by Lori Nix. All images are courtesty of the artist’s website.
So many times when we think of paintings, it brings to mind mostly oils and acrylics. But there are a few artists out there who are creating artwork on canvas utilizing a medium usually reserved for more prosaic pursuits– like making out grocery lists. Artists like Joan Salo are creating large scale artwork using pens.
These aren’t your traditional pen and ink drawings. These are pen-drawn abstract paintings on canvas, as rich and vibrant as any oil painting. These are like the spirographs we did as kids, taken to a whole new, grown-up level. Vibrant colors, rendered in an organic, yet orderly composition. These paintings have such a sense of movement, they almost seem alive.
Untitled, pen on canvas
Some patterns are creations of color and shape woven together like textiles, creating a plaid-like composition.
Untitled, pen on canvas
While others seem more like representations of wavelengths..
Untitled, pen on canvas
… or call to mind a colorful cave filled with stalactites.
Untitled, pen on canvas
Whatever it is that we see in Salo’s abstract works, she is reminding us that artists have long taken every day tools and used them to create the extraordinary.
To see more of Barcelona artist Joan Salo’s work, please visit her website.
Today, I have a case of the mean reds. If you know what that means, you’re awesome. If you don’t know what that means, you need to watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s asap. Holly Golightly’s cure for the mean reds is to get in a cab and go to Tiffany’s. Well, there is nothing even closely resembling a Tiffany’s here in Aberdeen. It wouldn’t be my happy place anyway. Anthropologie would be more like it, but there’s nothing like one of those here either. So today, I’m trying to cure the mean reds by enjoying some artwork featuring Miss Golightly herself, the fabulous Audrey Hepburn. Yes, I know I’ve already done a feature on Sarah Ashley Longshore’s Audreys. But she’s been busy painting some new ones, so I think they deserve a second look. And a third and fourth look. Really, as long as she’s painting them, they’ll be showing up here.
Now that is all the chatting I feel up to today. Enjoy Sarah’s Hepburns. Don’t be surprised if you’re suddenly seized by the urge to put on a little black dress and pearls.
Mariposa, acrylic on canvas with high-gloss resin, 60×72Audrey With Peacock, acrylic on canvas with high-gloss resin, 48×72Audrey Underwater With Goldfish, acrylic on canvas with high-gloss resin, 24×24Audrey Rojo, acrylic on canvas with high-gloss resin, 24×24
You can see more of Sarah Ashley Longshore’s work on her website or by visiting the Gallery Orange website, her representation in New Orleans.
I am a lover of stories. Ever since I was a little girl, cuddled in my grandmother’s arms, listening to her read me story after story, I adore being drawn into another world, wondering what will happen next. Whether in novels, the spoken word, song or artwork, I adore anything ( and anyone! My hubby George is a wonderful storyteller ) with a tale to tell.
So when I came across the work of painter Shannon Richardson at the RiverSea Gallery in Astoria, OR, I was drawn in by their narrative quality. Each painting feels like the viewer is walking into the midst of a story.
Traveling Companions, oil on canvas, 24×24
These are illustrations of stories, but not completely fictional ones. What Richardson paints, is memories of illusions of her own memories. Not always as they actually occurred, but how they live in her mind, heart and dreams.
Wedding Belles, oil on canvas, 24×18
In these visual narratives, Richardson creates a fantastical world that is at once familiar and foreign. Dream-like visages filled with other worldly characters and landscapes, but the feelings surrounding the imagery are universal– hopefulness and helplessness, elation and despair.
The Casual Departure, oil on canvas, 18×24
Each image is a fable to which we can relate, not because of our experience of the fantastical creatures or dreamlike quality, but because we have all been in situations of betrayal, soaring happiness, quiet contentment and such. We all have our memories of the heart in common.
Time for Togetherness, oil on canvas, 36×48
To see more of Shannon Richardson’s work, please visit her website. In addition to RiverSea Gallery, you can also see her work in person at The Churchill Gallery in Newburyport, MA and The Joanne Artman Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA.
The featured image is The Companionship of Memories.
The world as seen from high above is such a simple, orderly place. I still remember the first time I looked out an airplane window and saw the neatly composed patterns of farmland down below. And the rows of surburban homes lined up like so many monopoly houses on cul-de-sacs. The snaking lines of rivers and mountain ranges.
This Friday’s round-up is full of images from artists who also find inspiration in the what can be seen from the sky. Hope you enjoy the view!
The Cummer Museum by Christina FoardFarmland Aerial by Wm. Coleman MillsAerial View by Sally King BenedictPortage Bay by Suzanne DeCuir
1. Christina Foard ( featured image is CSX Storage by Christina Foard )
I love it when an artist’s work causes me to do a double take. When I spotted the ceramic sculptures of Anne Goodrich amongst the work at Guardino Gallery in Portland, I almost passed them by. From afar, they just seemed like botanical ceramics, which would likely just have elicited a “nice” from me. But upon closer inspection, I saw that these were something more.
Wall 10
These beautifully formed ceramics, in their soft pastels and rich earth tones play a delightful little trick on the mind. At first glance, you may think you know what you’re seeing– Oh, pretty seashell, no wait, flower, no wait, gourd.. snail? alien? What is it?!
7A
It is in the ambiguity that Goodrich’s work finds its simple, sweet power. We aren’t sure exactly what these forms are, but even still, they speak to us. They are achingly familiar, like the face of a stranger who reminds us of a long lost friend.
Wall 4
They may remind us of forms that exist inside our own bodies. Or of organisms surrounding us, both seen and unseen.
Nest 1 by Anne Goodrich
Whatever they are, I want to bring one home, give it a name, let it speak to me and discover its mysteries.
To see more of Anne Goodrich’s work, please visit her website. If you’re lucky enough to be in or near Portland, OR, you can see her work in person at Guardino Gallery in the Alberta Arts District.
The mixed media work of artist Steven DaLuz glows with an ethereal luminosity. His atmospheric work explores the use of light to create ambience, whether it is a hazy and serene or deeply dramatic.
Threshold, mixed media on panel, 48×60
The self-described “Neo-Luminst” is creating work that is “concerned with the glowing effects of light”. Instead of creating work with an inherent message or narrative, DaLuz instead prefers to let the emotionality of the light and color in his work allow the viewer to draw on their own perception and experience to invoke meaning. Or to simply allow the imagery to speak for itself.
Opus 110, oil on metal leaf on birch, 48×48
For me, these seem to be rare glimpses into another world. These are transcendent, the light, texture and composition all joining together to transport the viewer into a world that may or may not exist within our realm of experience.
Ovum 2, oil and mixed media on panel, 36×36
What one viewer may see as delicate and heavenly, another may view as foreboding and alien. Or, like me, you may be drawn to the richness of color and elegance of the composition, which is enough to spark my own imagination.
Portal, oil and mixed media on panel, 36×48
To see more of this artist’s work, please visit his website or stop by his Facebook page.
Featured image is Cloud Bank by Steven DaLuz. All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.
A man gives many question marks, however, a woman is a whole mystery. ~Diana Stürm
Artist Brad Kunkle is a creator of feminine mysteries. Haunting, glistening visual fairy tales which are at once throwbacks to the past and yet thoroughly modern.
Candela, oil and silver leaf on wood, 33×32
His work takes inspiration from the Pre-Raphaelite era, as evidenced by the medieval-feel of the compositions, near photographic precision and intricate surface detail.
The Quickening, oil and gold and silver on linen, 44×22
But don’t be mistaken, Kunkle’s figures and compositions are not antiquated, but rather fresh and current. The paintings are like pages of out a Vogue magazine fairy tale– and I mean that in the best possible way. These aren’t helpless ingenues, but contemporary women caught up in circumstance.
Afela’s Nature by Brad Kunkle, oil and gold and silver on linen, 16×14The Arrangement, oil and silver leaf on linen, 34×18
These are the modern daughters of Eve, tempted and tempting, the subject of desire and blame. Filled with sensual strength tinged with sadness. Kunkle tells the story of their past by placing them in classical compositions and poses, but the elegant background treatments and inherent edginess keep them firmly on current ground.
The Source, oil and gold and silver on linen, 26×18
To see more of Brad Kunkle’s work, please visit his website. If you’re in the New York area, his work is represented by Arcadia Gallery, where he will exhibit a solo show in Spring 2012.
Featured image is “Girl With Serpent and Pearls”, oil and gold and silver on linen, 25×30.
I’m a sucker for furniture. I love the mixture of function and design. And paintings of furniture? Well, those hold a special place for me as I went through my own “chair” phase while I was studying painting in college. So when I spotted the work of Gabriel Fernandez at Guardino Gallery in Portland this weekend, he had me at hello.
Eichler Book on Table, oil on canvas, 24×36
Fernandez creates scenes using furniture as another artist might use human models. He sets the stage to tell a story, of a moment that just happened or is about to occur. His compositions focus on the beauty of the objects themselves, the lives that they have led.. maybe an interesting life in a public place or a spiritless existence in a warehouse.
Orange Chair In Front of Radiator, oil on canvas, 25×21
The artist seems to be exploring the relationship of the objects to their environment, as an important player in a larger scene. His use of light and shadow create a sense of emotion and mood, keeping the images from becoming mere still lifes, but instead imbuing them with a sense of story.
Coos Bay Laundromat, oil on wood, 14×19.25Green Chair With Three Suitcases, oil on canvas, 20×22 Green Chair With Three Suitcases, oil on canvas, 20×22
These are objects with soul, with personality, experience. A past, a present and a future.
Green Chair With Three Suitcases, oil on canvas, 20×22
To see more of Gabriel Fernandez’s work, visit his website. Or, if you’re lucky enough to be in or near Portland, OR, drop by the Guardino Gallery in the Alberta Arts District.
