The plans for “Trouble” began in Wickenburg, AZ at Rancho de los Caballeros. Ann was photographing the horses running to pasture and the wrangler was having trouble with slow poke. At one point, the wrangler turned back to get him, and some bucking and rearing ensued! Ann was glad to be able to capture that brief moment of tension, fear and excitement.
“Trouble” has shown at The Southeastern Wildlife Juried Exposition as well as the Women Artists of the West National Juried Exhibition, where it won Best in Show, Signature Membership Category. “Trouble” has been juried into the Oil Painters of American 2021 Salon Juried Exhibition, hosted by Quinlan Visual Arts Center, located in Gainesville, GA which will run June 10 through August 7, 2021.
Philippe Gandiol painted this scene from a study of a sunset on the Yolo Bypass floodplain. This area is a wonderful preserve for wildlife and regulates the Sacramento river. He often writes a poem that goes along with his work. Here is the one for that piece:
When light drips on your lap.
There is that moment When looking up at the sky seems to reflect your whole life. A flash so ephemeral and yet loaded with substance, So thin, wavy. Still draws you in. Astonishing as it reaches deep, And so easy-comfy. That is the moment when light drips on your lap.
Philippe was born and raised in France and moved to California in his early 20s. He has painted with oils for over 30 years. Philippe likes to paint a variety of subjects including landscapes, cityscapes, still life and figures “en plein air” or in the studio. He works as much as possible from life, believing that only life can really bring the full range of light, color, spirit and mood that he wants in his paintings. He teaches privately out of his studio or in the outdoors. He also offers painting workshops.
Upcoming shows and events:
August 2021 Frank Bette Plein Air Paintout September 2021 Sonoma Plein Air
Gallery Representation
John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
New Masters Gallery, Carmel by the sea, CA Vanessa Roth Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA
Record Highs
By Lori Putnam
36 x 48 in.
Oil on linen
$13,500
Available through Mary Williams Fine Arts
Record Highs is aptly named from the trip that sparked its conception. A studio work, it was completed following a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, to paint studies during a record-breaking heat wave. The poppies were also especially tall that year.
When viewed in a photograph, Putnam’s work may appear tightly rendered. But upon seeing it in person, viewers are instantly engaged by thick, expressive paint. The artist is rarely interested in any specific subject. Like a magnet, she is immediately attracted to natural harmonies, rhythms, and patterns. She believes it is important to draw the viewer in, then let them explore her paintings. They become artists themselves for a brief moment, and begin to see the world in a different way.
Lori Putnam’s paintings have received many highly-coveted awards, including most recently, the $15,000 Grand Prize in the PleinAir Salon’s 10th Annual Awards announced in April, 2021.
The artist paints small to medium-sized works en plein air and creates large paintings in her studio in Charlotte, Tennessee. Visit www.loriputnam.com for more.
Café Milan
20 x 24 in.
Oil on canvas
$3,840
Available through the artist or at www.muglia-art.com
Liliya Muglia:Café Milan is a painting that was created in Italy, Milan, Piazza Duomo, where I visited in 2019. After visiting the Museum Royal Palace of Milan, I stopped by this café to have a cup of coffee and saw this beautiful lady fashionably dressed sitting with her dog and reading a book. I love dogs, and I asked her if I could take a photo. Later, I was looking through my pics and noticed that the scene was compelling and worth painting. I noticed the young man looking at the lady rather shyly but with interest, trying to make a connection, and I found the psychological attention intriguing and decided to paint the scene. A moment in the life of Café Milan.
Café Milan was inspired on my last travel before the pandemic, and this work helps me to remember the normal life and freedom that existed when we were able to move between countries. Currently I reside in Toronto, Canada, and produce work in both my home studio and my commercial studio at the Academy of Realist Art from which I graduated in 2013.
A Cottage on the Cape
By Lisa Cunningham
16 x 20 in.
Pastel
$2,150
Available through Cooper & Smith Gallery
“A piece inspired by an early morning walk while taking in the beauty of Cape Cod. The sunlight on this home was just perfect, highlighting subtle shadows on the facade and bringing flowers to life.”
Lisa is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the Pastel Society of New Jersey. Her award-winning work is held in many private and corporate collections, and exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country. She is also a member of American Women Artists, The Salmagundi Club, and the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club.
Joan Drennan is a native Californian with a BA in English and Spanish from Fresno State University and a Life Teaching Credential from San Jose State University. After her teaching career, she turned to art, continuing her education at SJSU and later studying with master California plein air painters Anita Hampton and Susan Sarback. Joan also gained invaluable knowledge from the many painters who share their knowledge every year at the Plein Air Convention and Expos.
Joan excels in painting flowers, but not exclusively. She also enjoys portraiture, animals, and landscapes. She has been juried into many national shows with Oil Painters of America, as well as California Art Club, and has won many awards in Bay Area shows.
Joan learned to paint from realistic impressionist artists who followed the tradition of Monet and colorists Charles Hawthorne, Henry Hensche, and California plein air painters who sought to show the effects of light on landscapes and everyday objects.
Joan says, “If I can open a world of greater joy to the viewer by virtue of my artistic direction, my thankfulness reflects back to my Creator. That process is what gives me happiness.”
Cape May Garden
By Nancie King Mertz
9 x 12 in.
Soft pastel on mounted UART (demo for a Zoom class)
$1,050
Available through ArtDeTriumph in Chicago
An award-winning artist, Nancie has spent her lifetime painting in oil & pastel.
Education: University of Illinois with a BFA in Painting, where she was a James Scholar; Eastern Illinois University with an MA in Painting, served as Instructor of Art 3 years; named 2009 Distinguished Alum of the Graduate School and 2016 Distinguished Alum of the University. She was awarded the Master Circle Medallion by the Int’l Assoc. of Pastel Societies in 2015, their Eminent Pastelist distinction in 2018, and Winner Prix de Pastel, IAPS 2018. She is also a Master Signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the Chicago Pastel Painters.
She teaches across the US and internationally and is on the faculty for the Plein Air Convention, PleinAir Live and the IAPS Convention. The Jack Richeson Co. offers 4 of her sets of 80 hand-selected pastels thru their site (and sold in Nancie’s gallery). Streamline Publishing filmed an Urban Pastel Painting video of her painting techniques for Lilidahl DVD release. She has been named the 2021 Guest of Honor by the French Pastel Society, where a show of her work will be featured in Giverny, France. She offers Zoom & destination workshops around the world and local demos, and serves as a juror for gallery, magazine and online shows across the country.
Mertz has traveled to nearly 20 countries and around the US for inspiration, however, Chicago remains her favorite city to explore and paint, where she was twice named “Artist of the Year.” Collectors marvel at the beauty she finds in the urban setting and have said she “softens the edges of the city.”
Nancie produces approx. 150 paintings each year, most on-site. Her work was featured on the cover of Pastel Journal in Feb. 2015, along with a 7-page article on her work and a feature article was in PleinAir Magazine. Fall 2020, she had feature articles in Southwest Art and Pratique des Arts. See her work on many of the Chicago-themed TV shows such as the Good Wife, Chicago Fire and others.
Her husband, Ron, publishes her sold originals in Giclée prints & cards and they own ArtDeTriumph & Artful Framer Studios at 2938 N Clark in Chicago, open 7 days a week. Visit www.NancieKingMertz.com for hundreds of paintings of Chicago & the World.
Patricia A Griffin with “Mass Ascension,” 108 x 60 in., oil on linen, Migration Series
Patricia A Griffin with biologist Jenny Fitzgerald, photographing wolves, Lamar Valley, Yellowstone
How did you get started and then develop your career?
Patricia A Griffin: It was the 80s, I was in high school, and every chance I could, I took the bus into New York City to explore SOHO. The work was raw and edgy, and I was transformed. Marisol Escobar, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Bourgeois, and Cindy Sherman showed me what success looked like, and I wanted it.
I received a BFA in drawing at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1989, I moved to California, spent all my money on paint, and painted any available surface. Two years later, I returned to PA, joined a co-op, approached galleries, and entering juried shows. The community I lived in rarely spent more than a few hundred dollars on paintings, and it was brutally obvious; I would have to find my market somewhere else. I traveled and got gallery representation, joined associations, and consistently padded my resume.
I researched the market and started to approach larger galleries in the areas I found most inspirational and consistently upped my game with marketing. I continue to work seven days a week, 8 to 12 hours a day (if my family is otherwise occupied). I take great pleasure: in being a consultant to artists wishing to take their career to the next level, doing commission work, and trying every creative idea that pops into my head.
How do you describe success?
My success is due to the acceptance of many failures and rejections, my commitment to reaching my goals artistically by allowing my process and style to morph over time, and a razor focus on marketing.
How do you find inspiration?
The light wrapping around an object creating a halo of color.
The extensively long eyelash on a pronghorn.
The vibration of two colors touching.
The buttery texture of paint.
These simple pleasures inspire me endlessly.
What is the best thing about being an artist?
Hearing people talk about how an image engages, connects, and moves them; meandering in the wild and calling it work; meditating and opening myself to be the conduit for the imagery; playing with color; all of these make being an artist THE BEST.
Who do you collect?
If you expect someone to invest in your career, invest in someone else’s. Rembrandt (self-portrait etching), a Henry Hensche (portrait of a woman with red hair), Frank Weston Benson (etchings), Kellyann Burns, Julie Chapman, Ed Chestnovitch, Joe Garcia, Linda Guenste, Aaron Hazel, Hillarie Lambert, David Petlowany, Mary Roberson, Ron Russon, Sandy B Taylor, Silas Thompson, Carrie Wild, Diane Whitehead, Jennifer Von Benedikt. All feed my soul and grace my walls.
Patricia A Griffin, “Bele,” 20 x 30 in., oil on linen, 2021Patricia A Griffin, “Uncommon Light,” 48 x 36 in., oil on linen, 2021Patricia A Griffin, “Sunday Fun Day,” 30 x 60 in., oil on linen, 2021Patricia A Griffin, “Freyr,” 60 x 60 in., oil on linen, commission, 2021
“Rocks and Foam” by Michelle Jung, 2014, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. Collection of the artist - available for purchase. (“Michelle Jung: Making Waves”)
Michelle Jung Is “Making Waves” Alongside Erin Hanson’s “Colors of California” at the Santa Paula Art Museum
More from the museum:
“Making Waves,” is a solo show by Northern California artist Michelle Jung, who began painting professionally at age 40. She has a particular fondness for the sea as she has lived near the coast—east and west—for much of her life.
“Making Waves” is a large-scale, immersive presentation of seascape oil paintings that invites viewers to experience the beauty and drama of the Pacific coast. The exhibit will be on view June 5, 2021, to September 12, 2021. Like all of the Museum’s current exhibits, “Making Waves” will also be available to enjoy online.
Jung’s exhibit will be installed alongside Erin Hanson’s “Colors of California,” which is already receiving rave reviews from museum visitors. Hanson is widely recognized (and has hundreds of thousands of followers online) due to her masterful use of color and unique style of oil painting known as “Open Impressionism.”
Hanson’s exhibit at the Santa Paula Art Museum is inspired by the changing seasons and colors of California’s vineyards, coastlines, hills and oak trees. “Erin Hanson: Colors of California” is on view now through July 25, 2021.
“Lupin Blooms” by Erin Hanson, 2021, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches. Collection of the artist – available for purchase. (“Erin Hanson: Colors of California”)
Later this summer, the PAC6 Painters return to Santa Paula with their exhibit “Vistas, Varmints and Vagabonds: The PAC6 Paints the Wild West.” The PAC6 Painters is a group of six artists and friends who are dedicated to painting the beauty and grandeur of the American landscape; they are Linda Brown, Marian Fortunati, Nita Harper, Debra Holladay, Laura Wambsgans and Sharon Weaver.
For their second showing at the Santa Paula Art Museum, the group examines the American west, painting its classic scenery, colorful characters, historic happenings, and all things that make it a uniquely special time and place in history. “Vistas, Varmints and Vagabonds” will be on view July 31, 2021, to November 7, 2021.
“Sierra Gem” by Laura Wambsgans, 2020, oil on linen, 18 x 24 inches. Collection of the artist – available for purchase. (“Vistas, Varmints and Vagabonds: The PAC6 Paints the Wild West”)
This fall, two group art shows will mark a return to museum gatherings. “Work From Home” will showcase the wide variety of art that artists in our region created during the pandemic as they were forced to work close to home. The exhibit will be on view September 18, 2021, to January 9, 2022.
The ever-popular, annual group show “Art About Agriculture” will return to the Museum from November 13, 2021, to March 6, 2022. The show, now in its thirteenth iteration, is presented annually by the Ag Art Alliance to promote awareness of agriculture through art. The exhibition will feature over 50 artists working in all media.
The Santa Paula Art Museum occupies two historic buildings located at 117 N 10th Street and 123 N 10th Street in downtown Santa Paula. The Museum features rotating exhibitions of vintage and contemporary art, art classes for children and adults, monthly Free Family Days, creative community events, a well-curated gift shop, and more. Please visit the Museum’s website at www.santapaulaartmuseum.org for more information.
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Free Art History Lecture > Vanessa Bell and Gwen John: Women Who Pushed the Artistic Envelope in Early 20th-Century Britain
They pursued very different life journeys and created completely distinctive art, yet the British artists Vanessa Bell (1879–1961) and Gwen John (1876–1939) had much in common. Both were born in the Victorian era that expected quite little from women, yet each in her own way surprised—sometimes shocked—their contemporaries while making forward-looking artworks still admired today.
Gwen John, “Self-Portrait,” 1902, oil on canvasVanessa Bell, “Self-Portrait,” ca 1915, oil on canvas laid on panel
Bell was both a painter and interior designer, a leading member of the Bloomsbury Group in London, and sister of the writer Virginia Woolf. Although born in Wales, John spent most of her life painting in France, where she became one of Auguste Rodin’s many models and lovers. During her lifetime, she was overshadowed by her famous artist-brother Augustus John, but now her reputation has eclipsed his.
Fine Art Connoisseur editor-in-chief Peter Trippi traces these artists’ colorful lives and career paths while examining their important achievements.
Art History Lecture Details: Thursday, June 10, 2021
5:30 pm ET
Free registration: click here
Trippi is also president of Projects in 19th-Century Art, a firm he established to pursue research, writing, and curating opportunities. Based in New York City, Trippi directed the Dahesh Museum of Art and co-curated international touring exhibitions devoted to J.W. Waterhouse (1849–1917) and Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912).
His Waterhouse monograph was published by Phaidon Press in 2002 and he authored an essay in the catalogue that accompanied the James Tissot exhibition seen in San Francisco and Paris in 2019–20. His current exhibition, “Artful Stories: Paintings from Historic New England,” was co-curated with Nancy Carlisle and is on view at the Eustis Estate in Milton, Massachusetts, through October 2021.
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Fill your mind with useful art stories, the latest trends, upcoming art shows, top artists, and more. Subscribe to Fine Art Today, from the publishers of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.
Trippi is also president of Projects in 19th-Century Art, a firm he established to pursue research, writing, and curating opportunities. Based in New York City, Trippi directed the Dahesh Museum of Art and co-curated international touring exhibitions devoted to J.W. Waterhouse (1849–1917) and Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912).