Without Guile: Catriona Miller

There is so much cynicism to be had in this world, that sweetness and innocence seem to get lost in the shuffle.  What drew me to the work of Scottish artist Catriona Miller is its charming purity.

Brighton Belle

Her figures gaze coyly to the side, just a hint of a smile on their lips.  It’s as if they carry a delicious secret they cannot tell.

Daisy Daisy

Small World

River Man

Isn’t it interesting how we might often feel sorry for “simple” folks,  yet how much more happy might they be than we?

Jack Jarrett

To see more of Catriona Miller’s work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Drops of Jupiter and Other Cosmicness: William Loveless

In the book I’m currently reading, The Opposite of Fate, author Amy Tan writes a great deal about the concept of fate, how much of what happens is in our own control or predetermined or even mere chance?  In that same vein, how much control does an artist truly have in the creative process?  Yucca Valley, CA artist William Loveless takes his own chances with the action & reaction of his materials in his series of glue paintings, which I first saw ( and fell in love with ) last weekend at The Red Arrow Gallery here in Joshua Tree.

#116 ( Resonance Strategy ), mixed media on panel, 36×36

Through this work, Loveless is able to “probe the intersection where the creative act meets the mystery of creation itself. Through experimentation with materials and their various autonomous interactions, I seek an organic empathy with the complex patterns and processes of the physical world.”

#12-53, mixed media on panel, 3.5×3.5×1.5

#12-13, mixed media on panel, 3.5×3.5×1.5

Although the primary way in which the materials will react is known, what cannot be foreseen is the unique end result of every interaction.  The final result being a record of a unique synergy to be found between the materials in that one moment.

#1204, mixed media on panel, 10x10x1.5

I see these interactions as similar to the way in which we connect with the world around us.  Each moment we exist is a unique interchange between other individuals, other creatures, and the world around us.

To see more of William Loveless’s work, please visit his website/blog.  If you’re Southern California, you can see his work in Culver City, in the exhibition ELEMENTal at Fresh Paint Art and in Joshua Tree at The Red Arrow Gallery.

All images are via the Fresh Paint Art website.

Mod Scene: Gary Peterson

I grew up around Mid-Century culture way before it was hipster cool.  No, I’m not old enough to have experienced it first hand!  But my dad did and we were heavily involved in a 1950s classic car club, one that celebrated mod style by restoring vintage cars, showing them off and even putting on the occasional sock-hop.  Needless to say, when I spotted the California pop-tastic abstract work of New York artist Gary Peterson, it reminded me of the innovation and fantastic design that came from the atomic age.

What’s Between Us, acrylic and oil on masonite board, 16×20

Peterson uses overlapping and intersecting lines to create forms that play with our sense of perspective and place.

Step Up, acrylic and oil on masonite panel, 16×20

Passage, acrylic and oil on masonite board, 16×20

Don’t Go Anywhere, acrylic and oil on masonite board, 16×20

While perhaps the shapes may seem random, they create a palpable sense of movement across the canvas and even between each other.  To see what I mean, try scrolling through down & up the post kind of quickly.  The shapes seem to move, don’t they?  Totally groovy.

Surround Sound, acrylic on masonite panel, 16×20

To see more of Gary Peterson’s work, please check out his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

On the Verge: Kevin Peterson

You may have noticed that moving over the website didn’t happen yesterday.. things didn’t quite go as planned.  Working on it again today! 

In just a few days, I’ll be seeing my beautiful nieces for the first time in over a year.  They’ve gotten older and taller and I can tell from photos that they are on the brink of leaving childhood behind.  The work of Houston artist Kevin Peterson looks at that the journey out of childhood and into a fractured world.

Oil on panel, 27×34

Acrylic, metallic paint on panel, 36×36

As children, we’re so quick to want to grow up, we can’t wait to go on our first date, get our driver’s license, go off to college, be able to sit at the “grown-up table”.  But isn’t it amazing how swiftly we would go back to swing sets and school holidays, once we get a glimpse of the cynicism and cruelty of life among the full grown.

Bubbles, oil on panel, 27.5×31

Lovely, oil on panel with corrugated metal, 40×57

While entering adulthood has its carefree qualities ( hello, ice cream for dinner! ), there is a delicious freedom when you’re a kid that only grown-up children can recognize.

To see more of Kevin Peterson’s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.

Art to Inspiration: Linda Monfort

I’ve been out to lunch Art to Inspiration-wise lately.  I love this collaborative exercise, but alas, there just wasn’t time for it last month with our moving 1300 miles south and all.  But this month’s inspiration piece is so lovely, I couldn’t resist!  The inspiration artwork for November, The Other Side by painter Linda Monfort, is full of the vibrant color I’m longing for after my first few weeks of living in the desert.

The Other Side by Linda Monfort

I’ve put together a gallery of work of varied styles that tie in beautifully with the palette, texture, and energy of Monfort’s piece.  I give you, Color Riot!  Hope you enjoy!

Glow One by Liz Tran

Love Me Two Times by Kirra Jamison

Avant Garden by Karen Klassen

Square ( Equipose ) by Michael Velliquette

CUBEN series by Simon C Page

Liz Tran | Kirra Jamison | Karen Klassen | Michael Velliquette | Simon C Page

To see more from each artist, check out their websites, linked above.

You can find more information on Art to Inspiration here and if you would like to participate in the next Art to Inspiration, just fill out this form! Follow me and all the other Art to Inspiration bloggers on Twitter by subscribing here.  Let the inspiring begin! 

A Luminous Grace: Jennifer JL Jones

An artist I met recently regaled me with tales of how she painted with “glow in the dark” paint.  While I can certainly understand the desire for work that glows, I prefer to see the luminosity achieved instead by the deft use of color, layering, and a way of revealing light in a more natural, less neon-sign kind of way.  Case in point, the work of Atlanta artist Jennifer JL Jones glows gracefully, as if lit from within.

Bluebird, mixed media on wood panel, 48×48

Taking her cues from nature, Jones builds layer upon layer of material, creating a canvas as ever changing as the scenes they reflect.  As the seasons change, different aspects of the landscape advance and recede.  So too, in Jones’ work, as we gaze upon it the elements in each work seem to float and fluctuate in a delicate dance.

Radiant Flux I, oil on wood panel, 40×40

Prelude to Spring, mixed media on wood panel, 40×40

These paintings have an ethereal mystery to them, like a wooded lake shrouded in mist or standing behind the veil of a waterfall.  What we see isn’t quite clear, but we know there is beauty.

Ojai, mixed media, 60×60

To see more of Jennifer JL Jones’ work, please visit her website.  If you’re in the Atlanta area, don’t miss her show Wet Ink with fellow artists Courtney J. Garrett and Kathryn Jacobi at Alan Avery Art Company.  I’m looking forward to seeing what new work Jennifer has at Stellers Gallery when I go home to Florida in a few days!

All images are via the artist’s website or the website of her Santa Fe representing gallery, Hunter Kirkland Contemporary.

November Facebook Featured Artist: Susan Melrath

There are some artists whose work I’ve been following and admiring long before my blogging days.  I first spotted this month’s Facebook Featured Artist, Susan Melrath’s work in print form during my art consulting days in Florida.  I was always drawn to the beauty in her limited palette and the way her distilled compositions were powerful in their simplicity.

Party Table, acrylic on board, 22×19

Charger, acrylic on board, 12×12

In her Figurative series, Susan takes those quick little moments that often pass by unnoticed, capturing the sweetness of this particular day, that particular party.

Landscape, acrylic on panel, 30×25 framed

Although her shapes are simple, Susan uses color and pattern to create depth and visual texture, especially evident in her Garden series ( although she’s now playing with pattern in her Figurative series as well! ).  Her use of floating, layered patterns give her florals a colored gossamer effect, leaving them distinct yet beautifully distorted.

Memory of Magnolia, acyrlic on paper, 20×26 framed

To see more of Susan Melrath’s work, please visit her website and be sure to check out her gorgeous cover image and album on the Artsy Forager Facebook page.

All images are via the artist or her website.

Intuitive Scenes: Julie Schumer

To paint the feeling of a person or place, rather than a representation of your subject can be quite the task.  An artist must be able to interpret their impression into nothing but line, texture, color and form.  Through her abstract work, Los Angeles artist Julie Schumer gives us fleeting glimpses into the world around her.

Crowdscape, mixed media on canvas, 84×64

Through her use of color, expression, and texture, each canvas is given a sense of place.  You can feel the swish of people rushing by, feel the shade between the canyon walls, sense the warmth of the sun beating down.

Landscape Composition 21, mixed media on panel, 42×36

Canyon Suite 3, acrylic and cold wax on panel, 30×40

Just as music can abstractly transport us to another time and place, so can art like Julie’s.  It speaks to us visually, perhaps not in a language we speak, yet one that can understand.

Canyon Suite 1, acrylic and cold wax on panel, 40×30

To see more of Julie Schumer’s work, please visit her website.  Her work can currently be seen at several galleries across the country– see her website for more info on one near you!

All images are via the artist’s website.

The Poetic Palette: Brianna Angelakis

Reading an enthralling tale comes pretty close to the joy I get from viewing incredible artwork.  Some of my absolute favorite books have been the work of “classic” female authors such as Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen.  I still pick up my well-worn paperback of Persuasion from time to time.  North Florida artist Brianna Angelakis marries her own passion for literary characters with feminist  surrealism in work that is as wonderfully layered and moody as any Bronte novel.

God’s Orchestra, graphite and oil on canvas board, 36×24

Angelakis explores the idea of isolated femininity by placing her female subjects alone in wild landscapes and in her most recent series, Wonders of the Invisible World, we see young women falling from an unknown place to an unknown destination.

Neurathenia, graphite and oil on wood, 24×24

Modern Hero, graphite and oil on wood

Her use of a cool, limited palette add to the eery mood of Angelakis’ work.  We are caught in the midst of the story she is telling and left wondering.. and wanting to hear more.

Blind Contentment, graphite and oil on canvas board, 24×36

To see more of Brianna Angelakis’ work, please visit her website.  The painting above, Neurathenia, can be seen as a part of the Folio Weekly Artist Invitational at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, FL until December 6th.  Her work can also been seen beginning in December in Minneapolis, MN and in the United Kingdom.  More details on her website!

All images are via the artist’s website.

Flashbacks & Snapshots : Diego Gravinese

There are some artists whose work I respond to on a visceral level, visually.  I see it.  I love it.  I don’t have to know what it’s about or the super secret story behind the meaning of each piece.  The paintings of Argentinian artist Diego Gravinese grabbed me when I spotted one on Pinterest last week.

The Love of Renault and Burritoes Obsequious ( diptych ), acrylic and enamel on canvas, 79×51

The artist’s earlier work ( such as The Love of Renault.. & In the Future.. ) are conglomerations of painted memories.. scenes from childhood and current memories mix with nostalgic elements to give us visual tales of how each experience builds on the ones that came before it.

Milk Girl, oil on canvas, 40×27.5

The Method, oil on canvas, 71×47.2

Mimesis, oil on canvas, 71×47.2

His more current work, ( Milk Girl, The Method & Mimesis, above ), leave behind the nostalgia, focusing instead on fleeting everyday moments.  Painted in a photorealistic style, the palette of each painting seems carefully selected and limited, so that not only do we get a sense of situation and place, but the resulting image is arrestingly graphic.

In the Future, We Will Colonize the Exterior Planets, acrylic on canvas, 75×39.5 ( overall )

To see more of Diego Gravinese’s work, please visit his website.

All images are via the artist’s website.