A love of travel takes Charles David Alexander, his wife Suzanne, and dog Harley, out on the road several times every year. Hiking outdoors, wandering through old town streets, or camping in the middle of the desert provide fuel for his creative mind. Near the end of the day on a family outing to watch for feeding dolphins, Charles snapped a photo that reflected the leisurely feeling onboard the boat. With ideas of painting always on his mind, he captured the subject of this portrait, Dennis, with a trademark grin reflecting both the energy of the afternoon sun and the general joviality of the group.
Painting is one of many creative endeavors Charles enjoys. Before he picked up a paintbrush however, he was a successful musician and pilot who eventually retired as a police detective. As a musician, he performed as a side man on the Grand Ole Opry stage in the 1970s and won the Walnut Valley Festival National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship in 1992. His flying résumé includes everything from crop duster to airline pilot, and as detective, he became an expert in the field of computer forensics. While these diverse career choices may seem incongruent, the common denominator is a desire to become expert in each pursuit.
Primarily self-taught, Charles enjoys painting still life and landscapes but he particularly enjoys capturing that special something that uniquely identifies his portrait subjects. Dennis was featured at ArtFields 2020 in Lake City, SC, and another portrait, Cheers!, was accepted into the Oil Painters of America 2020 National Juried Exhibition. His paintings are in many private residences throughout the U.S. and current works can frequently be seen at The PAPA Gallery in Paducah, KY. He is a member of the Paducah Area Painters Alliance, Oil Painters of America and the Portrait Society of America.
I consider myself a romantic realist painter. I am so in awe of God’s creations that I can’t wait to capture moments in time and the beauty around us, through light and color. I strive to show feeling and to draw the artist into each of my paintings.
My passion for painting horses comes from being raised on a ranch in California and riding horses all my life. Portraits are also a favorite of mine, as I see character in everyone I meet and can’t wait to capture their personality on canvas. Animals have just as much personality. Being able to create that feeling with paint and brush, is so much of what I strive for.
I have been painting for over 50 years and teaching workshops in the community for over 25 years. I have worked and taught in many mediums, but I consider oils my favorite.
This painting, Heartfelt Handler II, has such a great story behind it, which I couldn’t wait to capture on canvas. My hobby is photography. It comes in real handy for my art. One day I was photographing a wagon train on a three-day mission. When they reached Amador City, CA, I was there and took many pictures. As I was going through my pictures, I noticed this particular picture, where the sun was shinning directly under this lady’s, hand as she seemed very concerned about her sweaty horse. The light spoke to me as God’s hand trying to assure her all would be ok. After finding out later that it was a very hot day and her horse was in some stress, as the water wagon had not arrived yet, she was very concerned. I tried very hard to get that feeling of a sweaty horse and the beautiful light beneath her hand to bring the viewer into the painting and see that concern of the handler. I was very happy with my finished painting. This painting was accepted into the Women Artist of the West 50th Anniversary Exhibition in Tucson, AZ in March-April. I have won many National and International Awards, but I always strive for my next painting to be my best.
My process in each of my paintings begin with a value sketch in my sketch book, to determine the lights, darks and composition. When I am happy with that, I start my work with an underpainting of value, either in red or sometimes browns. I have always said, “I make my paintings better than the photograph”. It may consists of moving things, taking things out, and many times changing the lighting and temperature of color. Color temperature is very important. So, if someone says, “Oh wow it looks like a photograph”, they have no idea how much it may have changed. It’s realistic, yes, but I have used my artist license to make it even better to convey that feeling I have inside of me, that I can’t wait to capture.
White Out
Oil on canvas on panel
12 x 12 in.
Available from RS Hanna Gallery
Sue’s painting White Out will be featured in Oil Painters of America’s 29th National Juried Exhibition at the RS Hanna Gallery in Fredericksburg, TX, opening October 16, 2020. This piece was the first in a recent series she completed with the goal of exploring a single color family in one painting. Even though pure white isn’t considered a color, she wanted to explore the many subtle colors that are actually needed to beautifully depict white.
A love of art has been with her since childhood. Most everywhere she looks, Sue sees beauty in many surprising things, and as many artists discover, they have an innate need to not only observe those things, but to also recreate those things! This results in her subject matter running the gamut, from her first love of painting people, to still life and landscape. “Whatever catches my eye and makes me say ‘Wow’ becomes something I want to paint”, explains Sue. This usually happens when light falling on something in a particular way causes an ordinary subject to become quite beautiful or when an emotion or memory bubbles up when viewing it. “So when someone asks me for the reason behind why I painted a particular thing, my simple answer is ‘because it’s pretty,'” says Sue.
As a result of studying with some excellent painters and through many years of practice, Sue has been able to hone her skills; so in return, she also teaches oil painting. She has won numerous awards in her 15 years of painting, with the most rewarding milestone being her Signature Member status in the Oil Painters of America.
Urban Patchwork
16 x 20 in.
Oil on linen
Available through Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Wisconsin artist Shelby Keefe paints in a bold, realistic style uniquely her own. In 2005, after a career in graphic design, she became a full-time painter traveling the country participating in plein air competitions, art festivals and teaching workshops. An in-demand teacher, Keefe has an instructional video, Painting From Photographs, published by Liliedahl, as well being comfortable painting on stage to music as a performance artist. Her distinctive style has received national notice, winning the Plein Air Salon Competition Grand Prize and having been published on the covers of both PleinAir Magazine and Southwest Art. Keefe is a Signature Member of Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society, and American Women Artists.
Mountain Cassanova
Oil on linen
18 x 24 in.
Available through Horizon Fine Art Gallery, Jackson, Wyoming
THE ART OF NATURE
Kathryn Ashcroft was born in a small, Northern Utah farming town in 1961. She was raised on the family dairy farm where animals were fed before people were and a strong work ethic was instilled in her at a very young age. Many hours were spent on the back of a horse and riding was her favorite pass time. Her Mother, also an artist, created beautiful paintings in oil and this was a great source of inspiration. Kathryn began drawing animals very early and was encouraged and taught by her Mother and by Nature.
Striving to convey the essence of the animal, as opposed to a detailed depiction, she uses a loose, painterly style. The result is a beautiful rendition of what the viewer would see if they were viewing the animal in the wild. Abstract backgrounds bring the focus of the painting to the animal itself.
As a child, Kathryn had ample opportunities to view wildlife in its natural environment. She continues observing and studying animals every day and her paintings are based on personal experiences that she has had. She will not paint an animal unless she has seen it and studied it in the wild. Countless hours are spent outdoors and in nature capturing reference material for her artwork.
The use of light, color, shape and value are important to Kathryn and she is constantly striving to bring all dimensions of her paintings to a higher level.
Her work can be found in collections across the country and internationally. It is her desire that all who view her work will have a greater appreciation for the natural world.
Kathryn is regularly invited to participate in the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, South Carolina, and she has had her work accepted into the prestigious Birds In Art international competition in Wausau, Wisconsin.
Gallery Representation:
Horizon Fine Art Gallery, Jackson, Wyoming
Summit Gallery, Park City, Utah
Sorrel Sky Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
For more of Kathryn’s work you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook as Kathy Ashcroft.
She can be reached through email and by phone at [email protected] 435-890-0912.
View more of Kathy’s work at kathyashcroft.com.
Best Landscape, January 2021 Plein Air Salon
"Q Road Sunset" (oil, 10 x 16 in.) by Jane Hunt
JaneHuntArt.com
Headed Home
Oil on Ampersand Panel
24 x 36 in.
$5,200
Available through the Mission Gallery
This iconic Rocky Mountain scene was originally captured on a highway pull-off en plein air. The artist was headed back to her home in Boulder, Colorado, after a Costco run. “I painted fast,” says the artist “partially because the sunset was fleeting and partially because I didn’t want my frozen food to melt!” Passing moments of beauty like this speak to the painter and she works fast and furiously to capture the moment in time. “When I enlarged this piece in the studio it was important to bring the same energy as the original to the brushwork.” Indeed, the original study went on to win multiple prestigious awards, including 5th place (out of 8,000) in the Annual Plein Air Salon.
In fact, Hunt’s paintings have won numerous honors, and she holds the distinction of earning the most annual Oil Painters of America awards.
After moving to the US from England as a teenager, Jane Hunt received her illustration degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art. “Even though I paint a lot of studies on location, my landscapes are actually less about describing a specific place than they are about the feelings evoked. With an impressionistic, tonal approach, I hope to convey the emotional connection that I had with each scene. Moving cross-Atlantic three times in my early years, I spent much of my life with an underlying sense of homesickness. This yearning propelled me to create a sense of ‘home’ within my landscapes. My greatest hope is that my work gives its viewers this same sense of comfort and connectedness; a gentle place to rest.”
Hunt is a Master Signature Member of PAPNM and WAOW, a Signature Member of OPA, AIS, LPAPA, AWA, WAOW, PAAC, and an artist member of the Salmagundi Club and the California Art Club. The painter currently resides in Colorado, where she’s awed and inspired by the beauty surrounding her.
Miracle
4 x 4 in.
Acrylic on panel
Available through the artist
Chantel Lynn Barber yearns to promote the human spirit in her work. She believes that when it comes to the human race, there is more that unites than divides. There is beauty in everyone, regardless of whether they measure up to society’s definition of beauty. Not only their joys, but their sorrows too. She wants to show the beauty in the human condition.
Chantel is on a journey to capture the vision in her mind’s eye – the one blood we as humans share. And she does it all in acrylic – with strong color, energetic brushwork, light and story. Her loose style draws the viewer’s attention, visually beckoning them to wonder at the essence of life.
Chantel is a Signature Member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters. She is a member of the Portrait Society of America and The National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society.
Selected Awards
Outstanding Acrylic – BoldBrush Painting Competition, October 2015
2nd Place – BoldBrush Painting Competition, December 2015
Finalist – BoldBrush Painting Competition, February 2017
Outstanding Acrylic – BoldBrush Painting Competition, January 2018
Finalist – BoldBrush Painting Competition, March 2019
Master Class Winner – Art Muse Contest, May 2017
Master Class Finalist – Art Muse Contest, October 2017
2017 Annual Award Winner Master Class – Art Muse Contest
Master Class Finalist – Art Muse Contest, February 2018
Master Class Finalist – Art Muse Contest, November 2018
Winner Strokes of Genius 9: Creative Discoveries North Light Books’ 2016 Drawing Competition
Winner AcrylicWorks 5: Bold Values North Light Books’ 2017 Acrylics Competition
Winner AcrylicWorks 6: Creative Energy North Light Books’ 2018 Acrylics Competition
Award of Excellence – National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society 2019 Spring Online International Exhibition
Finalist – BoldBrush Painting Competition, August 2019
Winner AcrylicWorks 7: Color and Light Peak Media 2019 Acrylics Competition
Honorable Mention – International Society of Acrylic Painters All-Member Online Exhibition, December 2019
Finalist Outside the Box Category – Portrait Society of America’s Members Only Competition, December 2019
"Gold Progressions," 2014, Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches
Thrill: An Artist’s Perspective on the Art of Creating Landscape Paintings by Ken Elliott
Over 40 years ago I got a job working in a frame shop and for most of the years since then, I’ve been involved in the art business. More frame shops followed and later, working in and managing art galleries. I had an aptitude for it and enjoyed every aspect of the business: finding the artists and acquiring good works to sell. I came up seeing the arts from a business side and I’m very fortunate for the experience.
As an art dealer I was often asked the question, “What should I be painting?”
I remember the answer that popped in my mind and stayed with me ever since: Thrill yourself.
I’ve been working as an artist for over 25 years now and it’s easy to succumb to the confusion of what to do, market forces, etc. It’s a difficult path, learning how to make art and simultaneously run a small business.
What is it that businesses basically provide? This is an oversimplification but businesses either provide a service or sell something we have been persuaded to want. Art is not something we have to have, but for many of us we like the feeling of artwork in the home or public spaces. I would offer that we create a need in the viewer’s mind by making compelling artworks and ideas that go beyond the commercial clichés.
“Saccades I,” 2016, Oil on panel, 24 x 24 inches
In my works I’m not trying to project emotions, tell stories, or represent a scene. Certainly I’ve done these things in the past and they are valuable tools to have, but it wasn’t fulfilling for me. Then I remembered my advice: “thrill yourself.” If the artist is thrilled then many viewers will feel the same.
Some time ago I had a brief conversation with the great landscape artist Forrest Moses. He asked me how my work was going. I replied, “I’m sick of the tyranny of making landscapes.” He wanted to know what I meant by that. I added that I was not happy making pictures of places.
“What do you want to do?” He asked. A phrase quickly came to mind and I told him, “I want to make art objects.”
So now I am a painter who wants to make thrilling art objects. Think of those impressionist paintings in their decorative frames. Those works are more like art objects than pictures of things. Okay, that’s a simple goal but when I stepped up to that next blank canvas, it made me realize that the bar for making Art had just gone way up.
When I first started to draw, I put together four reasonably good pastels and showed them to a good friend, a respectable artist and art teacher. He gave me the usual positive comments and complimented me on how quickly I was learning. Then he asked me if I wanted a real art critique. I was certainly ready for that because I thought I was doing very well at the time as a newly minted artist.
He said, “Just because you can draw doesn’t mean you can make fine art.”
There’s truth. I got the tattoo and kept going. Looking back, I could have pushed myself harder but that’s okay, that’s the path I took. However, I often criticized myself for a lack of courage. I felt that if I were attempting braver ideas I would get further quicker. That may be so but I learned much later that it wasn’t courage I needed.
“Soft Blue Progression,” 2010, Pastel on sanded paper, 14 x 14 inches
On Creating Landscape Paintings
Today I don’t have concerns about doing large-scale works and trying out new ideas. Sometimes I appear pretty daring but that’s not what’s going on. I simply have more experience in solving problems. I’m not shy about getting into difficult positions anymore because I have more solutions.
I’m struggling less now but I find that I’m pushing myself harder than ever before to make those fine art objects.
Although I love all types of subject matter it is the landscape that pulls me the most. I’m not working outdoors so photography plays a role. Typically there is something in the landscape that interests me so I’ll get a shot of it and bring it into the studio. I don’t bother trying to represent the scene but rather explore the composition and other elements that intrigued me.
That initial painting is often the beginning of many more on that theme. My real passion is color, so that initial scene becomes a means to try out more color experiments later. I’m reasonably separated from the photograph so another universe opens up with unlimited potential, and so it goes as I continue through more paintings with those motifs of sky, trees, and land.
“Gathering Light II,” 2016, Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches
In the oil “Gathering Light II” (above), I took a scene that I see every day, all greens and browns, and I pushed it hard. The strategy was to create a powerful, high-color scene. The stronger colors are not diluted, but magnified because they were not repeated elsewhere. It all comes together in a bright, luminous landscape where all of the elements accentuate the others, setting up the glowing red-orange background as a focal point.
The pastel “Wood at the Lake” (below) was a workshop demonstration on painting landscapes. I wanted to get the basics of this scene down and free myself to try out some color combinations. I got into trouble right away with it (how nice to have an audience when you’re scrambling), but it worked out to be a good lesson for all of us. With time running out, solutions had to come quickly. This pastel needed a lot of clarity so I added the aqua and surprisingly, that was a move that helped on a lot of levels. I had been too focused on the colors elsewhere. Once I added the darks and the complexity of those branches the rest was simple and I finished it out with a series of small chromatic moves. The composition was solid enough that the colors hardly mattered at that point—there were so many color options.
“Wood at the Lake,” 2015, Pastel on sanded paper, 15 x 14 inches
I do far more oil landscape paintings than pastels these days but the pastel Soft Blue Progression is worth mentioning because it was also done under time constraints. My gallery requested something for a small show and since I had a studio full of larger projects on canvas, I had put this off. Now I was down to the day of the deadline, so I quickly sketched in a pattern of treetops, connecting them to a gently arching bit of land. As I began to fill it in, my concern was how to make it compelling. What I had on the paper was a “soft” start so I continued with that poetic vein. I held everything back and focused on making that background glow. That became the prime idea and from there everything else fell into place. I followed that pastel up with new a color combination in the oil painting “Gold Progression.” I’m very happy the gallery pushed me into doing that small pastel.
Earlier I alluded to creative destruction, and offered two examples of this: “Winter’s Morning” and “View to the Foothills, High Contrasts” (both landscape paintings shown below). These oils are the result of my painting over earlier, completed oils that had been in the studio for too long and it showed. I passed by those oils every day and at some point critical mass was reached and they went up on the easel. I had nothing to lose so I went on a fast attack and began to cover up the original oil creatively, letting some of the older work show through.
“Winter’s Morning,” 2016, Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches“View to the Foothills, High Contrasts,” 2015, Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
Things were happening quickly and I didn’t stop for a break. I was determined to make a really good start with new color combinations and I would figure out the rest later. To my surprise, each canvas was finished in less than two hours and required just a few minor tweaks the next day.
A Series of Landscape Paintings
OK, there is a trend unspooling here and it doesn’t require endless studio sessions. I decided to pull out a French word I had been saving: saccades. I wanted a new motif where I could endlessly abstract the forest, keep it fresh and produce thoughtful works (art objects) that would thrill me. A French title would be just the right touch, oui?
With this Saccades series, much is abstracted and the forest motif becomes a place of patterns, color, and light effects. These works take on a life of their own quickly and they make a lot of demands: more shadow, color, light, mass, brights, blacks, in an endless dialog until they are finally in balance with all of their complexity. The Saccades works are designed without a singular focal point. This leads the eye to explore the equally engaging parts of the artwork without coming to rest in an obvious place.
About the word saccades: Since the late 19th century, researchers have been aware of the phenomenon of saccades, the rapid movement of the eye as we shift our attention from one thing to another. As a result, vision itself is discontinuous. We construct a “map of reality” from saccades much as a film editor puts together a scene from individual camera takes. (From an article by the film maker Errol Morris, New York Times, April 10, 2008)
I’ve had some nice successes with the two and five foot Saccades and the freedom they brought me. They made me want to try more of the tree forms I like doing but I wanted to keep that fresh look, something the plein air painters do so well. The result was the oil painting “Trees in Half Shade.”
“Trees in Half Shade,” 2015, Oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches
That painting was another demo from a workshop. The entire idea was to make a good start and that was the case here. When I came back to the canvas about a month later, I could clearly see a number of good options going forward and happily, I wasn’t bogged down, trying to undo too many problems. That good start gave me the clarity to proceed. I decided to keep it loose and more color was added very directly with open strokes. There wasn’t enough contrast and the painting looked a bit weak so I grabbed a dark blue-green, adding it to the foliage and where the shapes made contact to the ground. The painting came alive with the new darks and now it required some stronger colors to keep up. Adding the brighter color was pure fun and I was a bit disappointed when the oil declared itself finished.
In the studio there are always a number of landscape paintings in progress — that way I never have to worry about being inspired to work. Plenty of puzzles are presenting themselves and I simply work on what seems solvable at the time. It’s all about making compelling, fine art objects by any means possible.
So back to the commerce side, I asked a businessman what was the secret to his obvious success. He said, “If you do something really well, making money is a side effect.”
Let’s go thrill ‘em.
ABOUT KEN ELLIOTT
Ken is a colorist with landscape paintings as the focus of that interest. His works are not portraits of places but scenes that are subjected to abstraction – still recognizable but infused with colors and values beyond the normal. For over 25 years he has explored his landscape themes, subjecting them to dramatic extremes of light and color combinations that are richly stimulating and at times poetic. His works are direct, showing the lessons of the Impressionist as well as Modern schools. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily in oils and pastels.
“I am continually drawn to the landscape and its infinite variations. The compositions are a starting point for unexpected things to happen. By pushing what is possible in the scene, new potentials are presented and I’m intrigued to follow. The works never follow a straight or efficient path because I am looking for what is not known and to bring it into form. I am trying to thrill myself and offer something new and precious to the viewer.”
CHAUNCEY HOMER, "Reverie in Red & Ocher," oil, 20 x 24, $5,600
In this new “Gallery Spotlight” series, we feature art galleries that are continuing to keep their doors open – in at least a virtual sense, that is.
This week’s spotlight is with Stu Johnson of Settlers West Galleries in Tucson, Arizona. Settlers West Galleries specializes in Western, American, and Wildlife art, including works by Robert Griffing, Daniel Smith, Bonnie Marris, Bradley Schmehl, William Acheff, Bruce Lawes, Scott Tallman Powers, and many more of today’s masters.
MIKEL DONAHUE, “Sorting the W∆’s at Redlands,” acrylic, 18 x 24, $7,800
Cherie Dawn Haas: Please tell us about your gallery and the type of art in which you specialize. Stu Johnson: Settlers West specializes in Western, wildlife, and representational art. We will be going into our 50th year in 2021. Over the years we have represented some of the real greats in our business like Howard Terpning (38 years exclusive), Richard Schmid, Bob Kuhn, Kenneth Riley, Harley Brown, Robert Griffing, William Acheff, Scott Tallman Powers (exclusive), Dan Smith, Todd Connor, Charles Fritz, Don Oelze, Bruce Lawes, Bradley Schmehl, Phil Starke, and a host of others.
What adjustments have you made as a gallery since the outbreak?
Following the guidelines we have been basically shut down and for the upcoming Summer Show we will let people view by appointment.
What’s your biggest priority at this time? Over the next year?
We continue to offer fine paintings to our clients whether at the gallery or online.
What advice do you have for collectors as they navigate these times, and beyond?
The virus will pass from our collective thoughts at some point going forward. The love of art remains eternal and will always be part of collectors’ lives and homes.
What are some of the ways you find artists to represent?
Generally by seeing work in magazines or at other show events.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Stay safe.
ANN HANSON, “Sunshine On My Shoulder,” oil, 20 x 16, $6,200Richie Carter, “I will go if you ask me to, I will stay if you dare,” oil, 28 x 35, $4,800PHIL STARKE, “Cottonwoods Near Hillsboro, New Mexico,” oil, 30 x 30, $6,500ROBERT GRIFFING, “Taking the Warrior’s Trail,” oil, 30 x 24, $28,500DANIEL SMITH, “Canyon Raven,” acrylic, 11 x 14, $3,700SCOTT TALLMAN POWERS, “Dusty Deals,” oil, 30 x 24, $8,500
To learn more about the fine art available at Settlers West Galleries, please visit settlerswest.com.
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Artist Gregory Mortenson is exactly the right instructor to show you how to capture your own portrait, creating a family treasure for generations to come.
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