Susan Puelz

SO MUCH COLOR!!!!!! It makes my little heart so happy! :) 

So my next landscape artist is Susan Puelz. Her work kind of reminds me of Adela Tavares's work, in how you can tell what she's depicting and the details of the subject matter do have realistic qualities, but there are also bursts of color and contour lines added to the pieces. 

The added color give it almost a dreamlike quality. Or for some of them it looks like it is during a sunset, with the the bright red, yellow, and pink lighting is shining on the rest of the area. 

 Her style is interesting. As always, I look at the amount of detail an artist puts into his or her work. I look at how precise and miniscule are the details that the artist pays attention to. Puelz does pay attention but on the larger scale. She seems to pay more attention to the contour of the elements in her pieces, rather than the  tiniest dots and cracks. She conveys texture well in her seemingly broad-stroke technique. In "Memoirs" she shows the smoother roof and walls, while in  her picture of the Niobrara River, she uses  the squiggly lines to show the wild, voluminous, leafy trees.

Memoirs

The bold colors and contour lines definitely add interest to her pieces. They also add a sense of movement. In the picture at the top of the blog, of the creek, the lines give you a sense of the water swirling around the stones as it meanders down the creek. The same is with her picture of the waterfall. It bothered me at first that contour lines seemed so crazy and not contained, but it does give the idea of the water not being confined either.

Niobrara River

Her style is not one I am familiar with using, but I certainly appreciate it. 

-Maria

http://www.susanpuelz.com/

Frederick Somers

So moving on from portraiture artists, I figured I would look around at some landscape artists. I do love nature and being in it. Some of my friends have experienced me geeking out when I come across something really pretty, like a vibrantly colored sunset. And by now you should know I love colors, and there are a lot of colors out there!

Cannon Oak Canopy

The first landscape artist I want to look at is Frederick Somers. The pieces of his that I am going to look at are done in either pastel or oil paints. These media seemed to enable him to achieve a sense of detail while also leaving some ambiguity, and not defining every single stem, branch or rock.  

Outdoor Wisconsin

On his website he is quoted as saying, "I seek to bring to others an experience of the beauty of light as it bathes creation and to point them to a pathway that reaches into eternity." After I read that and look at his works once again, I do notice the key role that lighting plays. It gives depth and texture to the elements in the different pieces and makes them come alive.

Plums on Prairie Creek

As obvious as this is, knowing the artist's purpose behind the pieces really does add so much to them! I already liked these just because they are beautiful depictions of the beauty of nature, but understanding that Somers strived to specifically get the viewer to appreciate the lighting and its role gives it more meaning and more beauty. Understanding the purpose of the painting gives the viewer more understanding and appreciation of the painting, itself.

Winter Fire on Prairie Creek

-Maria

http://fredericksomers.com/

Adela Tavares

Third time's the charm, right? Well I think that can apply to this third portraiture artist. She does also do other subject matter in her paintings, and I am going to look at at least one of those pieces, too. But right now I'm going to start off by looking at some of her portraits.

Introspection

To say that she has some lively brush strokes in her paintings would be on the brink of an understatement. The thing that I like is that the brushstrokes are intentional and purposeful. They are not just there for the sake of having bold brush strokes in a painting. Rather, she has a purpose for them, whether it's to depict curly, frizzy hair, or to convey movement. 

Lucia

I like her mix of the abstract broad strokes, often of bold colors, balanced by the calmer, smoother strokes and more realistic parts of the painting. Like in the above painting, "Lucia," Tavares used broad, brightly colored strokes to convey the full, frizzy, curly hair of the girl, but then it is balanced by the smooth complexion of her face, neck and shoulders. This technique gives the painting more interest...I like that.

Nightmare

^Haha! I get it. It looks kind of nightmare-ish, but then the colors also make it look like night and it is a horse-- like a mare! So night mare! Ha! Clever! :)

Portrait of an Artist

On the site she says the broad, abstract strokes are also used to convey who the people are. On her site she says, "Indeed, my portraits are intended to say as much, if not more, about me and my vision of the subjects as they say about the subjects themselves." That is a good but challenging combination that she does well.

http://adelatavares.com/gallery/

-Maria

Kay Polk

So the next portraiture artist I want to look at is Kay Polk. She does the more traditional-type portraits. According to her site, she is "nationally known for her charming portraits of children." The site says she  typically uses either oils, pastels, or charcoal.  

Alexandra

To be honest at first I wasn't about looking at this artist because I was worried it would be boring. Of course I like the realism and details in these pieces, but at the same time when I see how the children are dressed, my initial reaction is "Seriously? That is so staged!"

Cami

And I mean, yes, many of them are staged. But that's on purpose. That helps her achieve her "charming" portrayal of the children. So it really depends on what the artist is trying to do, that decides whether the composition of the piece should look "set up" or not. 

Hunt

I do like how some of them don't seem as staged or at least not as "perfect." The above piece, "Hunt," tells more of a story of a hunting trip. And the below piece, "Sunny" shows a smiling girl with blonde hair, shining in the sunlight. Her hair obviously has been tossled and isn't perfect, but more realistic to the fun-in-the-sun that she's just had. Overall it's a more traditional style, but a good style.

Sunny

Virginia

http://www.kpolk.com/TOC.html

-Maria

Gwenn Seemel

Ellis Island Pilgrim (Bosnian-American, Dino Bajagilovic)

So the next few artists I am going to look at are portraiture artists. I like people's faces and especially when there are good, interesting stories behind them and behind why the artist chose to paint them. Gwenn Seemel is the artist I'm going to focus on in this post, and she definitely has some interesting stories behind her portraits!

This Looks Like A Job For A Chicano! (Mexican-American, Luis José Rivas)

 According to her site, Seemel does commisioned portraits as well as pieces that are part of a collection. One of her collections is a result of contemplation of her past, heritage and America. She says on her site that because of her residence in France and connection with other countries, she was not able to identify at first with the pilgrims that came to America. Then she realized that they shared the immigrant identity. So for this collection she focused on different Americans and asked them to define what it meant to them to be an American.

Liberty (French-American, Self-Portrait)

Of course I also LOVE the use of color and brush strokes in her paintings. She gives the people in her paintings such character. I can become so uptight about my paintings-- I only want to use the colors that are normal to the subject matter and that I see. It scares me to use such bold colors that aren't precisely what I think I see. Also the brush strokes are so bold, and I realize that mid-painting it probably did look weird and took til the end for it to come together. Maybe some day I'll challenge myself to try that. ;)

Pat and Eleanor

Here's an example of her commissioned portraits. I love how you can really see the personalities of the ladies in her depictions of them! -->

http://www.gwennseemel.com/index.php

-Maria

Jerry Uelsmann

So my next artist does a style rather different than what I typically do. Jerry Uelsmann is an American photographer. His style of work actually reminds me a bit of that of Salvador Dali's. 

 I like the use of the grayscale in his work. I feel like it makes it less distracting, so that the focus is on the subject matter and the relationships between the elements in the pictures.

 A quote of his, featured on his site, uelsmann.net, says, "The camera is essentially a license to explore." That seems to capture accurately the essence of his works. He seems to play with the relationships of the different subject matter. It kind of reminds me of the Twighlight Zone TV show-- it would take things that we expect to have a certain relationship to each other, and change it around.

Other quotes of his on the site say, "Ultimately, my hope is to amaze myself," and "Decisive moments may also occur within the entire process."His art is not a duty or obligation, rather it is a mode of exploration and discovery that he just happens to share with us. His art is very much for his own benefit , in addition to the viewer's.

-Maria

http://www.uelsmann.net/ <-- check it out!

Don Hatfield

So the next artist I want to look at is Don Hatfield. He is a living artist using an old time style: impressionism. According to kavanaughgallery.com, Hatfield strives to show the beauty in things through his paintings. The website says he also is "preoccupied with the effect of light on form."

Sunset Harbor

Ocean Reflections

                         

Time for Me

His desire to show the beauty of things makes me understand why he then uses the impressionistic style. It's very dreamlike and ideal-- doesn't show the flaws in the details. His focus on the lighting is also apparent in his works. In each of these paintings the scenery is somewhere where I'd like to go. It seems pleasant there. The direction of lighting and how it affects and defines the subject matter is also a noticeable aspect that is found in each of the paintings. 

I think it's interesting how, especially with the people in his paintings, he does not give them defined faces. The website says Hatfield "strives to create paintings that bond themselves to the viewer." I believe by leaving the faces more ambiguous, the viewer is able to put herself in the ideal setting of the painting. That is definitely a way to get the viewer connected to the piece!

Especially in telling stories, which according to the site is also 

a goal of  Hatfield's, it is very important to have your viewers be

able to connect with the picture.

-Maria

http://www.kavanaughgallery.com/Don_Hatfield.html <-- check it out! :)

Roger Bacharach

So I had this brilliant idea of doing 3 blog posts every other day-- that would knock out this bad boy in no time! And I was doing well on Monday....but then life and work set in, and well here I am, 3 days later without having blogged again since.

Anywho. So I started out this blog just looking for artists-- anybody who fit the criteria for the research, and seemed to do something that vaguely related to what I like to do. It wasn't very fun. Then one day I came upon a brilliant idea: what if I research artists who do works that actually inspire and intrigue me?! Crazyness, I know. But that's what I'm gonna try to do for the most part.

Japanese Sea Nettle

 With all that said, my next artist is Roger Bacharach. He's done work in various mediums and styles-- paintings, drawings, prints, collages, etc. I really want to look at his collages, well, because they inspire and intrigue me. These collages are made of tissue paper. I love how he achieved such details and realism in his pieces with such a medium as ripped up tissue paper! It's almost like a puzzle: he made the pieces of tissue paper fit and overlap and work together to create these final products. 

Sea Horse

Not to mention I also love under the sea things. I love water and being in and under the water. And for the most part I love many of the things found in the water. As cheesy as it sounds, it really is like a whole new world.

Long Spine Squirrel Fish

According to his website, he says, "I prefer to paint people, caught in a moment of time, engaging the viewer to share that moment." But he also says that as an artist he stretches himself with other styles, mediums, and subject matter, such as the collages of sea life.

Whether it is the sea life or people he comes across, his works act as storytellers of where he's been and what he's seen. I like that a lot. I can get so wrapped up in the technique or the composition or the subject matter, itself, that I forget how they work together to go one step beyond a pretty picture and actually tell a story.

-Maria
http://www.rogerbacharach.com/about.html

Eric Carle

My next artist is one whose art I have been familiar with since I was young. Eric Carle is the man behind the illustrations of such books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Quiet Cricket. I LOVED these books when I was a kid, and I'm sure that love is shared by many others.

 His illustrations are so different than the typical illustrations. There's texture. Even if the book pages are flat with no variation in the literal texture, you can tell that the original pieces had that texture. There's variation in the coloring and shapes that makes up the creatures and subject matter in the pictures.

 The forms of the creatures that are created are of course not photo-realistic, but they are easily identifiable. They also give the characters in the books personality. They make them unique, as opposed to a generic bear, caterpillar, etc. I believe this helps in bringing to life the story character and its own, individual personality.

The cool thing about his art is that he uses and paints tissue paper for his images. Again, like a collage style-- painting the tissue paper, then gluing the different pieces down to make up the bodies of the characters. I find that very charming-- the process and look of the finished product. I'm probably gonna give it a try in the near future... :)

Check out this video of how he makes his characters!

http://www.eric-carle.com/slideshow_collage.html

http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html

http://www.ericcarleblog.blogspot.com/  <-- here's also his blog you can check out!

-Maria

Linda Mitchell

So the next artist I want to look at is Linda Mitchell. I'm really excited to look at her work because I feel closer to it than other artists' works. This past spring semester, I had the opportunity to intern at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center. While working there, the center hosted an exhibit of some of Mitchell's works. During that time, I got to observe and give a few tours that included her works. So I have grown to not only be familiar with, but love her pieces. 

Quartet Rhino

Mitchell uses a lot of different media and a lot of different subject matter in her paintings. She uses animals (both real and cartooney), plants, words and letters; paints, fabrics, and beads. Some pieces she does on one big canvas, others she creates on multiple canvases. She is intentional with how she does her pieces and with what elements.

Chilly

According to her site, she uses the images and mixed media to connect with her audience on different levels. According to her site, she hopes that the viewers can see different elements in the paintings, and trigger personal memories or emotions.

Her use of color, space and words work so well together to express an idea. In the piece on the left, "Chilly," she uses the large amount of empty space around the sad-looking puppy to convey loneliness. This photo of the piece doesn't do it justice because you can't really tell that the dog's bed has actual texture, in addition to implied texture. Her use of that combination really does make even the piece, itself, seem to have more depth to it than a normal painting. 

Lost and Fountain

She also skillfully places words in the paintings, and even uses them in the titles, to help in the conveying of the message. In the "Chilly" piece you can see the word "FORGET" and the phrase "ERASE ME." They add to the sense of loneliness and abandonment of the piece. In the picture to the left, the cold, gloomy use of blues, and the large amount of empty space, again, convey a loneliness about the hippo in the picture. Her title, "Lost and Fountain" only adds to that sense, playing on the phrase, "lost and found."

I enjoy Mitchell's works. I like how I can look at the pieces for hours and get different ideas. I like how different people can look at the same piece and get different ideas and feelings. I would like to learn more about how to do that, myself.

-Maria


http://lindamitchell.30art.com/index.php?menu_id=2&bid=6667&image_order=4

Shannon Bool

So my next artist does a variety of styles. Shannon Bool has done artworks ranging from collage-style pieces of various sizes, to installation pieces. And I want to look at a little bit of everything. 

Casino Runner

 Like I said, she's dabbled in installation art. This piece, entitled "Casino Runner,"is from her exhibition, "Patterns of Emancipation." According to the Daniel Faria Gallery's site, the focus of the works in this exhibition is "[exploring] the need to obtain freedom from prescribed spaces." This applies both to the actual space that the pieces occupy (notice how the Casino Runner is not confined to the wall, but runs onto the floor, as well), and to the concepts behind the pieces. According to the Daniel Faria Gallery's site, Bool took patterns and things associated with certain groups and periods and displayed them in different way. 

 

The Serpent Heart

In addition to the installation-like pieces, another art style that Bool likes a lot is the photogram. According to the Made In Germany Zwei site, she is "intensely interested in the potentials of photograms." The site says she has figured out different methods and techniques to get the effects she desires in her pieces. This piece to the left is one of her photograms. It's called "The Serpent Heart." I honestly am not sure what it means/signifies. There seem to be root-like things, that could also look like snakes, coming from the woman in the center. 

She's also worked on projects with other artists. In the below piece, entitled "Space Revised," she and other artists, such as Tomas Downes, Giles Round, Andrew Mealor, and Karl Orton, created this piece. According to the Camberwell College of Arts webpage, this piece is part of a larger exhibit that was "combining different previously used wallpapers from its former spaces, in form of a wall-based collage."

Space Revised

Her pieces interest me, especially her collages. I mean, even her photograms could be considered collages, in a way, since they combine different images/things in one piece to convey a meaning. I'm always in awe of how much depth artists put into their pieces; not only are the pieces just aesthetically pleasing and intriguing, but then there are such messages behind the pieces! Bool certainly demonstrates this in her works.

-Maria

http://danielfariagallery.com/exhibitions/shannon-bool-patterns-of-emancipation

http://www.madeingermanyzwei.de/en/Artists/Shannon-Bool

http://newsevents.arts.ac.uk/event/3d-2d-3d-2d/

A Whole New World

So while on the topic of trompe l'oeil, here's another artist who works in that style: John Pugh.

Art Imitating Life Imitating Art Imitating Life at the Cafe Trompe L'oeil

Unlike Conklin, Pugh does work in the large scale, and often on walls. Instead of necessarily having the purpose of giving the audience something to relate to, he gives the audience a new world or experience to see.

Bishop Mural Society

Pugh says that "Once captivated by the illusion, the viewer is lured to cross an artistic threshold and thus seduced into exploring the concept of the piece"
(http://twistedsifter.com/2010/04/trompe-loeil-incredible-3d-wall-art-by-john-pugh/).

This is so true! Once I look at the pieces and realize they are not real, I try to look at all the little details-- seeing where reality ends and the painting begins, and seeing how he's achieved certain views. Just like with Conklin, and really an other artist who works in the trompe l'eoil style, Pugh puts so much focus on the details, not just the marks and textures of things, but also exactly how to portray them so as to get the perspective accurate and uniform.  

The paintings make the used-to-be-plain-and-boring walls SO much more interesting! Shoot! I would much rather walk down the street, to wherever I'm going, and see those paintings instead of the plain walls. Then again, if I did see those paintings, I would probably be late to wherever I was originally going!

Another interesting thing that Pugh mentions about his work is, "Artists must be continually aware that their work can serve as a bridge between diverse cultural backgrounds" (http://twistedsifter.com/2010/04/trompe-loeil-incredible-3d-wall-art-by-john-pugh/). That's interesting! I guess if art is a way of telling a story, and art can be a pretty universal language, then it could share a story about other cultures to people who would not have learned about them before. So what story can I tell others through my work?

Academe'

Siete Punto Uno

Stanford Shopping Center

http://twistedsifter.com/2010/04/trompe-loeil-incredible-3d-wall-art-by-john-pugh/

-Maria

It Looks So Real

All American

So if you haven't noticed already, I really like realism, even if the artist had to use tricks to make it look the way it does. This means that of course I'm gonna love trompe l'oeil, and as these blogs go on, I'm realizing just how great my love for it is! (It's pretty great).

So my next artist does a trompe l'eoil style quite well. But Eric Conklin, the artist in question, seems to more often do small scale pieces. Not that they're tiny, but some people do wall-size trompe l'eoils, while he does smaller ones. Many of his give the illusion that they are framed in some sort of shadow box. 

By focusing on the use of light and shadow, and a fixed viewpoint, Conklin successfully depicts figures and objects with a sense of volume, contained in an area thats back goes further back.

Many of his pieces seem to have a childhood theme. Whether it be with Disney character figurines as the subject matter, or boards that look like blackboard palettes from an old time schoolhouse.  According to the Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Conklin's "goal is to use his illusionist paintings to engage viewers of all ages to look at art with new appreciation" (http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/8aa/8aa280.htm).  And he seems to want to do subject matter that a person, no matter his age, could relate to.

I Hate Snakes

 His wife is quoted as saying, "If it doesn't fool the eye, it's a still life" (ericconklin.com/biography.html). I love that!

According to ericconklin.com, Conklin started his art career quite young actually. And I'm sure it helped that his mother was an artist, herself (ericconklin.com). The site also notes that as he was devloping as an artist and doing pieces, he was very precise and diligent in the details. This is especially important for an artist pursuing the trompe l'eoil style.

Conklin's work encourages me in my artwork. So often I get more focused on the technique of art, that I forget about the purpose or message of it. I admire his goal in getting all people to appreciate art, through his artwork.

Miss Vikki's Class - Chalmer's Coin

http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/8aa/8aa280.htm
http://www.ericconklin.com/applications/PhotoGalleryManager/gallery.asp

-Maria

I feel like I could touch it

Okay, so this next dude's work is pretty awesome. Typically I am more of a fan of the 2-D art, but his pieces have really hooked me. 

Catacomb

The artist in question goes by the name of Victor Malagon. He has this series of works which combines three popular styles of art: painting, graffiti, and sculpture. 

Chikungunya

 I love how all three elements work together. Obviously the cut of the pieces of panel give the works their basic shape, but then the paint adds more interest and the feel of dimension to the pieces, too. All of it with an abstract, graffitti-feeling style.              
                                       
Not only does he use the paint to add more dimension to his pieces, but he takes every aspect into account, including the lighting! The lighting for the Catacomb piece gives it a feeling of more depth, and the lighting on the Chikungunya piece gives it a creepier feel.

Some of his pieces seem like abstractions of bugs or other creatures (like Catacomb makes me think of a shrimp), while others have hidden words in them. There are quite a few pieces of that sort that he's done on commission for various people.
                                                                                                                                                                                       

Laurel Vexer

^Feels like you're looking at normal graffiti with 3-D glasses on

Artist Statement:

I am a painter out here in California. I create work that is a clash of my graffiti style, a bit of graphics and razor sharp points into these shaped panels. All work is flat, just painted to look 3D. I hand cut these wood panels, and paint them with Oils, sometimes with Spray paint. The usual size is about 24x48 inches.

http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php/component/tag/painting    <-- Check it out!!

http://www.victormalagon.com/ShapedPanels.htm  <-- This one, too!

-Maria