No matter what Cyrus Afsary paints, he makes his subjects sing. The Arizona artist infuses his landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and anything else he paints with head turning beauty that stops you in your tracks.

That is his goal with each painting. “My primary objective is to have a viewer stop and wonder how I managed to express the light, color, or composition in the paintings,” he says. “I want them to look at the work in wonder, not pass it by too quickly.”

How does he do it? “I don’t know,” Afsary says thoughtfully, going on to compare art with music. “I’m familiar with music. When you want to play an instrument, you don’t really know why you want to play, but you put your fingers on it and then you play. Painting is like that, too. If you’re ready you just do it.”

Read the entire article in the July/August 2020 issue.

San Juan Capistrano

Oil
14″ by 18″

“This is a favorite place for not only for myself but for many visitors, who appreciate the tranquality of this very special old mission. It has been a place I have enjoyed painting over the years since my first visit, and it has always given me peace during the process. When I sit back a look at the finished painting and remember the vistas while walking, I’m taken back to a special time.”

Red Scarf

Oil
18″ by 24″

“The young girls caught sight of something red floating and decided to try to fish it out of the running stream. It was a red scarf, maybe lost by someone further up stream. They decided to hang it on a branch to dry along the hiking trail by the stream in hopes the owner might find it while hiking.”