Archives for Landscape

Emotionally Engaged

Emotionally Engaged

July 2, 2020 | by

Natasha Isenhour is having a great year, even if it’s not quite the year she had expected. “I’m doing awesome,” she says. “Suddenly, finally, all this work has begun to come to fruition, and 2020 was set up to be just this amazing year. I was invited to do Cowgirl Up!, and that was huge. My gallery in Santa Fe, Ventana Fine Art, is giving me my first solo show. Then I was asked to be the featured artist for the Mendocino Plein Air event. And there’s more.” In mid-April, with much of the country under lockdown because of COVID-19,
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Making Art Sing

Making Art Sing

July 2, 2020 | by

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
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The Studio of Kyle Ma

The Studio of Kyle Ma

May 4, 2020 | by

Kyle Ma is an art prodigy who began drawing nature scenes at age 4 in Taiwan, where he was born in 2000. Ten years later, he and his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Austin, Texas, where he began his art career in earnest. He astonished the art world by raking in multiple awards and gaining the attention of galleries and museums by the time he was 18. It’s been said he has the ability to create magic from street scenes, still lifes, landscapes—nearly anything he chooses to paint. Where does Ma work his magic? He does so
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A Lifelong Journey

A Lifelong Journey

May 4, 2020 | by

“Landscapes taught me how to paint.” That is how Dave Santillanes describes his fine art training. The Colorado artist had earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in graphic design from Colorado State University, but had no formal training in painting until he began painting landscapes near his home after work and on weekends. Today he has several awards under his belt, including first-place honors in the Signature Division of the Oil Painters of America’s recent online showcase. He also has earned awards at several plein air events, including Best of Show at the 2011 Crested Butte Plein Air Invitational
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Chasing His Dream

Chasing His Dream

May 4, 2020 | by

Eleven years ago, when Tim Oliver walked into his house in Lubbock, Texas, his wife Missy took one look at him and asked, “What’s wrong?” “I don’t know,” he replied. The next day, when he received an email advertising a four-day classroom and plein air painting art workshop, he realized what it was that was bothering him. For 30 years he had put aside his desire to paint, but that email brought it back to the surface. “I had hit the 50-year mark, and I thought that all those things I said I’d do I better do,” he recalls. “I
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The Studio of Luke Frazier

The Studio of Luke Frazier

March 2, 2020 | by

For more than three decades, a working studio located in the serene Cache Valley of northern Utah has provided inspiration for Luke Frazier’s magnificent paintings. It’s a homey space filled with a plethora of items that he knows and loves and that gives visitors the opportunity to know him on a more personal level. “When my wife Angela and I built our home, its design included a great room, which was intended to serve as my studio,” Frazier says. The room’s footprint measures approximately 20’ by 30’, and its 18-foot high ceiling easily accommodates his sculptures as well as large
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It’s A Beautiful Life

It’s A Beautiful Life

March 2, 2020 | by

Shanna Kunz’s landscape paintings tend toward the complex and moody: winding rivers lit by an unseen sun, autumn foliage beneath overcast skies, dark forest-scapes emerging from banks of thick mist. But Kunz herself is pure sunlight, a self-described and unapologetic glass-half-full personality who loves every minute of her creative life and overflows with enthusiasm for the things she loves best: the artist’s life, relationships with family and friends, and the beauty of nature. “I’ve been painting for 26 years now, a long time,” Kunz says. “And I still put a brush in my hand and feel like it’s new. I
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Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland

December 13, 2019 | by

Something magical, almost mystical occurs with a snowfall. It brings with it great joy, which is readily apparent when you watch a young child seeing snow for the first time, or attempting to swallow the flakes as they fall. They also seem compelled to lay down in it, swinging their arms and legs to and fro as they create snow angels. Snow evokes a myriad of emotions. It can carry with it a sense of peace and wellbeing that for some involves sitting inside by a fire and watching the snow gently falling outside. On the other hand, it can
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Joseph Alleman Perfectly Imperfect

Joseph Alleman Perfectly Imperfect

December 12, 2019 | by

There’s only so much time you can spend driving, trying to find that perfect barn,” says Joseph Alleman, whose very livelihood depends on the quality of barns he’s able to locate and depict. Sometimes he renders them in dense, saturated watercolor; more often, he uses oils to achieve the opaque surfaces and clean lines for which he’s known. Driving in search of those barns, Alleman recites the inner monologue that kicks in as the mile markers pass: “I’ve got to get out of the car. I’m wasting too much time. Let’s just stop here and make the best of it.”
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Unique Expressions

Unique Expressions

December 5, 2019 | by

Summers are hot in Texas—and this past summer was one of the worst that Nancy Bush can remember. She was born and raised in the Lone Star State and has lived there almost all of her adult life, so for the most part she’s used to the heat. But this summer, she says, was harder than usual. “It was a brutal summer this year—warmer than past summers,” she says. “But hot is hot, and that’s what we have down here now. Of course, most everyone has air conditioning here, or there would for sure be a massive migration to the
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