The incredibly talented Mary Jane Ansell has made portraiture her focus, with incredible results. Â Aside from the skillful painting technique on display, Ansell also demonstrates a great directorial eye, choosing just the right moments to capture, as her subjects often exist in expressive moments that speak of contemplation and complexity. Beautiful work.
Ok, I realize that this is Paintblog, and that Katie Muth is a printmaker, but I’m going to justify her inclusion by pointing out that she sometimes adds small elements of colour to her linocuts with watercolour.
Aw, who am I kidding, I don’t need any more justification than the fact that she creates astonishing images that deserve to be recognized as such. Enjoy!
Some artist’s work looks at our world from within it, taking an insider’s approach to reflect on the day to day, and possibly illuminate forgotten corners and those we never knew existed. Â Then there are artists like Brian Despain, who create their very own worlds, populated with their own distinct forms of life. Â These artists are also capable and likely to reflect on our reality, but from a new vantage point, a vantage point that allows for a bit more distance, and often a bit of humour.
Anyway, this is my long winded way of saying that I love Brian Despain’s world of painted robots, and I think you will too.
Sky Glabush has made suburban rental homes the subject of his latest series of paintings. Â His slush and snow-filled scenes devoid of figures feel a bit lonesome to me, and yet strangely comforting in their familiarity. I’m curious what mood they would conjure up in someone who has spent their life closer to the equator and outside of suburbia.
The dreamy and idyllic quality in so much of Isca Greenfield-Sanders’ work is what first pulled me in, but I quickly noticed the clues that suggested the dream was just that, and reality was in fact breaking into the image as I looked on. Â Mathematical grids dissected warm days on the beach and sunny pastoral fields, and suddenly these worlds became even more than the dreams they started out as.
After a very long weekend I’m in need of some fun, so I’m heading over to Peter Ferguson’s site where fun abounds. Â In fact, it’s also where talent, imagination and creativity abound, so I might be there awhile.
Randall Sexton paints with a loose and confident brush stroke that allows his work to be as much about the process as the subject matter, in effect allowing the viewer to really experience the world through his eyes and hands. Â In my opinion, this is one of the best things art can do; give the viewer the ability to look at the world from a fresh perspective.
Hovering between abstractions and nature studies, Laurie Skantzos‘ paintings are an incredible blend of colour, form, and texture. Enjoy!
I don’t always expect to find a sense of alienation and loneliness in the same painting that is exhibiting a wry and subtle sense of humour, but I can reliably find both elements in any of Bruce Cascia’s paintings. Â Granted, the balance between these perspectives can shift dramatically depending on the series he is working on, but regardless which side weighs heavier the work is always a joy to behold.
I consider it an act of generosity for a painter to offer up his work online for public scrutiny, as Terry Miura does on his website, but Miura does something more than that on his blog; he opens up his process and approach with great depth and intelligence. Â He is a painter who thinks deeply about what he creates, and is not afraid to share those thoughts with the world.
Plus, the paintings themselves are incredible, so you can’t lose.
