Hans Holbien - A Lady With a Squirrel and a Starling

Hans Holbien -  A Lady With a Squirrel and a Starling

I really love seeing two of my favorite themes combined in this piece, Nature and Portraiture. Holbien's smooth rendering of her milky skin pulls me in as well as the startlingly brilliant background.

I have a photograph of my daughter in which her face has familiar classical quality to it. After seeing this picture I have a better sense of the setting to put her in. Once it is finished I will post it here for comparison. 

I have also been reading up on painting with glazes so this will be an excuse to try a new approach.

Darcie Peet

OK, sometimes I come across an artist that just makes me feel like I have been living life in the slowwww lane. Darcie Peet has such an impressive body of work, depicting so many gorgeous vistas, I don't know how she does it! Especially if you look at her biography and realize that she has achieved excellence in other fields as well.

Her website is so impressive, due to the huge collection of impeccably rendered landscapes. She has real talent for capturing the many moods of mountain light. It makes me feel like I have just been on a great backpacking trip. The vivid colors suck you in to take in all of the subtle details. I will have to keep coming back to appreciate all that there is to offer!

Darcie, if you see this I wanted to get permission to post this, but I couldn't find contact info, so please let me know if you want it removed!

Ray Roberts

I've been looking at the paintings of Ray Roberts for a while on the internet. I admire his dramatic use of color and contrast, the physicality of his brush stroke, and his sense for keeping the compositional elements simple without losing the details that make a painting interesting. His work has got me thinking as I drive through the landscape of Northern California about all of the painting possibilities!

Roberts' work can be found on his website.
As well as through:James J. Reiser Fine Art,
Medicine Man Gallery,
and Diana Ferrone Gallery

Willard Leroy Metcalf

I found out about Willard Leroy Metcalf's work today as I was looking at the website for Vose Gallery! Then I found a nice short Biography on a blog called Best American Art.

His compositions are so dynamic, his warm colors reflect his spiritual relationship to his art. He was interested in capturing something he called "Summerland". Here is a quote from Best American Art.

Metcalf's vision of "Summerland"—a world of perpetual sunshine and perfect repose was not just another pretty concept; instead, it epitomized his spiritualist concept of the afterlife.

I can identify with the Summerland concept, or at least it's mood. When I really feel like I captured what I am trying to get at in a painting, it feels a lot like the feeling I get going out to the river on a perfect summer day...

One mother thing I admire in Metcalf's work is that he really contriols the color, instead of letting the subject in front of him make all the descisions. I guess that is something I am working at; learning to put in colors that are right for the painting, verses what colors are directly in front of me.

Other sites I found images from are:
The Athenaeum - Amazing image archive on this site!
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The Metropolitan
The Art Institute of Chicargo

Len Chimiel

OK, this is really a fun project! I just got an email from one of the artists I featured yesterday and he gave me a list of names of artists he likes. Len Chimiel's work stood out to me. I really like the sense of movement and texture in his landscapes, and those colors are just yummy!

Len, if you see this, I usually try to write for permission to host images, but I couldn't get your email, I'm happy to remove this if needed...

Scott Lloyd Anderson

Scott Lloyd Anderson's work has inspired me to look at my environment for unusual compositions, for movement, and for balance.

Robert Lemler

I came across Robert Lemler's work as I was surfing the web for landscape painters. Something I noticed about his work is that he has an interesting sense of design. I really find the still life on the top to be exciting. I like the idea of composing a still life off of a notion of limited color palette. I also like the view point from above, which makes for composition that can float a bit more.