Archives for Still Life

Magical Connections

Magical Connections

November 19, 2016 | by

While strolling through a gallery, a painting catches your eye: an intricately portrayed primitive clay pot set against a stark black background. It’s a complicated design, dramatically displayed. You’re drawn to the simple artifact, looking deeper for meaning you can feel but can’t see. That is exactly the effect Santa Fe, New Mexico, artist Roseta Santiago hopes to elicit. Painting these artifacts, she says, is like looking into the window of the ancient peoples’ souls and retelling their history. When she looks at a piece of pottery, Santiago doesn’t see just a geometric, complex design, although it’s clearly visible. What
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The Studio of Lori Putnam

The Studio of Lori Putnam

November 20, 2015 | by

An affinity for Italy led Lori Putnam and her husband Mark to sell everything they owned in 2008, pull up stakes, and move there for eight months, where Putnam spent the time absorbing the countryside and translating that experience into her art. When they returned to the United States early the next year, the economy was beginning to tank. Mark was searching for a suitable job and, rather than get tied to a mortgage, they chose to rent an apartment, until they felt more stable. The only logical option was to build a studio they could live in. The result
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Following His Dream

Following His Dream

September 22, 2014 | by

In early July, recently returned from a trip to Alaska, Daniel Keys is happily painting back home near Fresno, California. Although he enjoyed the experience, which included giving painting demonstrations for an art group on a cruise and being exposed to the majesty of Alaska, Keys says he was a little homesick and “more than ready to see something other than glorious mountains; I think I’m a city boy at heart.” No matter where this talented young artist is, he is creating magnificent paintings that are infused will brilliant colors and light. Daniel Keys Roses & Lilies Oil 12″ x
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No Restrictions

No Restrictions

September 22, 2014 | by

Jenness Cortez had several ideas in mind when she started planning her recent painting titled Conversations with a Cowboy. She knew she would build the composition around Frederic Remington’s painting Stampede by Lightning and that she wanted to include photographs of real cowboys with it. She also had a Charles Russell painting in mind to include, along a bronze sculpture titled Buckaroo. Jenness Cortez The Color of Night Acrylic 24″ x 18″ “This is a tribute to Frederic Remington’s nocturnes that explored the mysteries and drama of night.” Jenness Cortez Native American Medicine Acrylic 30″ x 24″ “Facilitating connections between
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Infinite Possibilities

Infinite Possibilities

March 22, 2014 | by

Jeffrey Legg’s still life paintings are stunning. The colors, the textures, the strategic lighting all combine to create paintings that have earned a myriad of honors. Last year alone, Legg walked away with several awards, including the Donors Award of Excellence at the Oil Painters of American National Juried Exhibition, Best of Show Award at Plein Air Rockies, and the Artists’ Choice and Best Quick Draw Painting awards at Weekend in the West. Jeffrey Legg (Colorado) Luminous Progression Oil 12″ x 16″ “The light pouring across the forms and the subtle gradations has always interested me.” Jeffrey Legg (Colorado) Copper
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‘It is Still Magical’

‘It is Still Magical’

January 22, 2014 | by

Richard Schmid is a painter’s painter, an artist’s artist. The truth of that statement is evident not only in his magnificent paintings, which have garnered countless awards and are included in collections throughout the world, but in the popularity of the books he writes and the workshops he conducts. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1934 and currently living in New Hampshire with his wife, Nancy Guzik, a talented artist in her own right. Richard Schmid (Vermont) Nasturtium Sketch Oil 9” by 12” “Nasturtiums, like pansies, beg to be painted, because they lend themselves so readily to simple, bold brushwork and
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Their Walls are Alive

Their Walls are Alive

November 25, 2013 | by

To describe Bob and Curtice McCloy as avid art collectors would be a gross understatement. The couple shares a voracious appetite for art, one they have satisfied during more than three decades by amassing a collection of almost 300 paintings. That collection—or rather a portion of it—is featured in “Patrons Without Peer,” a 240-page, hardcover book that was published in 2009 by Collectors Covey with text written by Tom Davis. Included within its pages are reproductions of more than 260 paintings and sculptures by a myriad of artists. Bob Kuhn Fox in the Ferns Acrylic 13.25″ x 18″ William Acheff
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Let There Be Light – And Shadow

Let There Be Light – And Shadow

September 25, 2013 | by

The last time we featured Kyle Polzin in the pages of this magazine, it was in an article we titled “Young Guns.” That was five years ago, when he was 34. He’s still going strong, and his paintings continue to sell at an almost unheard of pace. Polzin has never had a show that hasn’t sold out. Kyle Polzin The Offering Oil 23˝ by 35˝ “I love the atmosphere of this painting. There is a slight haze to the air that gives the feeling that the pipe had just been smoked, and the incense of tobacco is in the air.”
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The Language of Painting

The Language of Painting

July 25, 2013 | by

Sherrie McGraw is in the midst of preparing for what she says will be the highlight of her career. The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, will host a solo show for the talented artist September 14, 2014. The event will showcase 50 to 60 of McGraw’s paintings and drawings—including approximately 35 new pieces—and by April of this year, she already was hard at work creating new pieces for the show. Two days after our visit, McGraw was heading out to teach a workshop, then was to teach a portrait drawing class and judge the portrait competition for
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I’m Not Trying to Stay Safe

I’m Not Trying to Stay Safe

May 25, 2013 | by

Laura Robb admits that, as a teenager, she was such a misfit that she didn’t even fit in with the other misfits. Those days are long past, and today she creates still life paintings that are beautifully composed and masterfully painted. The colors, the light, the textures are skillfully combined to create paintings that are a sheer delight. And that is how Robb has planned it, spending hours to create a painting that looks effortless but that is an artistic jewel. Laura Robb (New Mexico) Sunflowers And Green Apples Oil 30″ By 16″ These stunning variegated sunflowers were from the
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