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Tag: figurative art

Humanity. Heidi Draley McFall.

I see it every day among my friends and family on social media. Division. Us vs. them. Outright hatred. It is so disheartening to see such vitriol leveled against people we don’t even know. It all seems so pointless. A waste of time and energy. We are more alike than we are different. We were all born in the same way, we all die the same death. We are all one race– human.

These hyperrealistic drawings by Heidi Draley McFall touch on that link between us all– our humanity. We laugh, we cry, we are sad and vulnerable, angry and joyful. Every person of every color on every inch of this planet feels these same emotions, has the same physical needs, and most of the time, we just want to be happy. So why do we allow prejudices and judgements against our fellow humans to steal our joy? It seems a most useless endeavor. Imagine what kind of world this might be if we all tried to treat our fellow humans not as the enemy, but as ourselves.

To see more of Heidi Draley McFall‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via the New American Paintings blog– check out Ellen Caldwell‘s Process of a Painting with the artist for a glimpse into her studio process!

July 27, 2015
Chicness. Ryan Jones.

Once upon a time, I was one of those girls. Saturdays were for shopping. Fashion magazines were poured over. Hours were spent pursuing just the right pair of shoes. Rinse and repeat. For years. Now don’t get me wrong, I still love a little shopping spree here and there. But I don’t obsess over the things I have or what I wear. It doesn’t define me.

In his large scale oil paintings, Bay Area artist Ryan Jones immerses his viewer in the world of luxurious living, where skin is perfectly toned and tanned, life is perfectly chic.

Some folks seem to have been born with the chic-gene. Even if they aren’t a part of the Beverly Hills elite, they still seem to carry themselves with that certain something. I’d like to think that I fit that description, but I’m doubtful. More than likely, my shoes are worn from travel, my hair is windblown and unkempt, my clothes probably stained with paint.

In exchange for the pursuit of chic, the quest for the latest fashion, I am reaching for the next moment of inspiration, the next place to explore, the next adventure.

To see more of Ryan Jones‘ work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

July 20, 2015
Temporal. Bill Armstrong.

This is my first blog post since my mom left this earth. It has been seventeen days. We were lucky in that we had time to prepare, time to say goodbye, but it still doesn’t seem real. I can still hear her voice in my head, that musical little “Hi Les!” that always greeted me on the other end of the phone line. I still see her in my dreams, but she is never sick, always whole, always the way I most remember her, the way I want to remember.

It was a harrowing, heartbreaking experience, to watch someone you love so much slowly slip away. The hospice nurses marveled that she held on as long as she did– that she must have had some sort of unfinished business to tend to. But those who knew her well knew that she would let go of her tortured body in her own good time. Always the boss, always organized and in control, she would decide when.

If there is anything I’ve taken away from this last year of my mom’s life, it is that we have no guarantees. She never should have been gone at only sixty seven. There were still plans to be made, life to be lived, grandchildren to watch grow up. If my mom could be gone, then so could my husband, so could my brothers, so could I. I’ve been left with a resolve to follow my passions more fully, bask in each day more completely, love more abundantly. I have today and for now it is enough.

These photographs by Bill Armstrong reminded me of the fleeting nature of our lives on this earth. To see more of his work, please visit his website.

Artist found via Dolby Chadwick Gallery. Images via the artist’s website.

July 13, 2015
Colors. James Rieck.

Beauty is often found in its purest form– a hidden waterfall, the smiling face of a child, the soft wrinkles of a grandmother’s hand. But other times, perfection is manufactured and beauty hides a darker truth. In his ColorSafe series, Los Angeles artist James Rieck spins the glossy glamour of 1960s and 70s catalogue models into a look at social contradictions happening then and now still.

Rieck takes the ubiquitous catalogue model poses and reinterprets them– painting them in such a hyperrealistic way that they take on a now too-glossy, unreal quality. In pairs, one light skinned model, one dark, the figures wear the same brightly colored and patterned fashions of the day, similar smiles on their cropped faces. The playing field seems oddly leveled– equality, acceptance and coexistence seemingly achieved. But there’s an underlying tension. The dark skinned figure usually slightly behind the lighter or somehow leaning in to her counterpart. Subtle, but there. Equality in idea, but not in reality.

To see more of James Rieck’s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via It’s Nice That.

June 8, 2015
Wrinkles. Elizabeth Chapin.

Aging is not for the faint of heart. Now that I’m truly and well into my, ahem, forties(!!), I know this to be true. Metabolism is no longer my friend and each day seems to bring a new grey hair spotted, an ache in a previously undiscovered muscle. Our culture celebrates, even idolizes youth. Instead of seeing the elderly among us as founts of knowledge, wisdom, and experience, we cast them aside. We search instead for the latest in what is fashionable among the young.

These paintings by Austin artist Elizabeth Chapin seem to celebrate the dignity and beauty that comes only with age. I’m not immune to longing for more youthful days– especially when I was a smaller by a few dress sizes. But I recently listened to an interview with actress Frances McDormand on aging and something she said really struck me– those lines on your face are a map of your life. Every wrinkle was earned in some way, whether through hard work or a life filled with laughter. What we lose in smooth skin and toned muscles we gain experience no fountain of youth can replace.

To see more of Elizabeth Chapin‘s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website. Artist found via Wally Workman Gallery.

June 5, 2015
Carefree. Charlotte Evans.

With the advent of Memorial Day last week, full blown summer is just around the corner. It seems like we never outgrow that old “schools out” feeling of the summer months! We want to linger a little longer, explore, leave our stresses and cares behind like last year’s books. The paintings of Brooklyn artist Charlotte Evans bring to mind those slow, carefree days spent running nowhere special.

As the artist recounts on her website, “resolutions for one painting might be found in another- a thread of narrative emerges.” These painted memories could be glimpses of every summer, the scenes we see when we close our eyes mid-winter and dream of what is to come.

To see more of Charlotte Evans‘ work, please visit her website.

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

June 1, 2015
Memorials. Mackenzie Reynolds.

Happy Memorial Day to all the US Artsies out there! And happy Monday to everyone else! Considering today’s holiday, the What It’s Worth series by Wisconsin artist Mackenzie Reynolds, which explores the visual memories lost from one generation to the next, seemed a fitting feature.

While my grandmother was a relentless notetaker ( the majority of our family photos have names and dates on them, thanks, Mimi! ), when my mom and I went through the huge stacks of black and white photos, many of the older images weren’t identifiable. Luckily, my mom could make some pretty good guesses based on clothing and context. As a family, we’re very lucky to have these momentos of our generational history. But even we have had to discard some photos that weren’t identifiable or obviously a part of our family. Photos of friends or acquaintances of my grandmother’s from when she was very young, people we never knew, my grandmother our only connection. It’s a bit sad to think that someday another generation will discard our own images, or even worse, that in this digital age, there won’t be any physical record left of us once we are gone. A hard pill to swallow, for sure, but if we know we’ve lived our best in this life, then we’ll care only for what happens now, not what is looked back on once we’ve left.

To see more of Mackenzie Reynolds‘ work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

May 25, 2015
Pale. Kat Hannah.

When you’re hurting, the color seems to go out a bit from the world. Having just spent the two weeks by my mom’s side, watching her struggle against a body that is failing, witnessing her spirit soar in one moment, only to crash in the next, it seems strange to get back to “normal”.

On one hand, I want to savor each day with fervor, for now more than ever, I know there is no promise of tomorrow. But then something will grab hold of me, the whisper of a memory grips my heart and I am undone.

It’s a struggle to climb out of that hole, once you’ve lost your footing. Everything goes pale. The colors fade like old sheets washed too many times. But eventually, given time and love, slowly the washed out places will become renewed and refreshed. I know that I’m not in my palest period, yet. But I also know that the loss of color won’t last forever. It will return in even greater brilliance.

It is ok to languish in the pale for a while, though. It has to be.

The paintings featured today are by Kat Hannah. You can see more of her work in her Etsy shop and on her blog.

All images are via the artist’s Etsy shop.

May 18, 2015
Dreamscapes. Jeffrey Beauchamp.

Sometimes the world we enter when our eyes close at night is a bit scary, a bit malevolent. But often I find myself in a place that is one part memory, one part fantasy. The paintings of San Francisco area artist Jeffrey Beauchamp call to mind those fanciful dreamscapes where ordinary things come to life in extraordinary ways.

I find places from my childhood cropping up quite often in my own dreams, which may be why I responded most to Beauchamp’s paintings of children. The places I played, explored, pretended are almost always prominent. After one such dream last night, I found myself wondering why some places stay with us so strongly. Is it our connection to the place itself or the people who were there? Or maybe they become part of our dreams because of how much they captured our imagination in life.

To see more of Jeffrey Beauchamp‘s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

April 27, 2015
Coasting. Lisa Golightly.

Growing up in Florida, we spent a lot of summer days at the beach. It’s just what you did. My favorite thing about beach days was the way it felt when we left the sand and surf behind. Salty skin, tangled, wind blown hair, a bucketful of found treasures. There was a feeling of ease and freedom, elation mixed with contented exhaustion. Those beachside impressions are the subject of the paintings of Portland artist Lisa Golightly.

Using found photos as the catalyst for her paintings, Lisa explores memory, how photographs of experiences influence our perceptions. Am I more likely to remember those beach days fondly thanks to the old square photos in worn albums looked through a hundred times? Pushing back memories of jellyfish stings and sand in places it should never be, we look back with eyes that see only the wonder and magic.

All of the paintings featured in today’s post are available as prints in the Artsy Forager gallery on Great.ly! Just click on each image for a link to each print’s detail page. To see more of Lisa Golightly‘s work, you can also visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

This post contains affiliate links. As a Great.ly Tastemaker and curator of The Trove, I receive a small commission on each piece sold from The Trove boutique gallery.

April 24, 2015

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