Summer’s Autumn
16 x 20
Oil on wood
Contact the artist for details

Portrait artist Lisa Kovvuri releases the latest work from her new series of portraits: Beyond Appearances.

Building on the success of her most recent solo exhibition, The Portrait Experience, at the Whistler House Museum of Art, Artist Lisa Kovvuri is taking the genre of portrait painting to a personal level. Beyond representing a likeness, her new series serves as a catalyst for making connections and getting at the heart of what it means to be human. She’s taking a hiatus from painting commissioned portraits to embrace her desire to paint people in a context that can address the emotional and psychological experiences we all share.

“In this series my focus is on emotional presence more than a person’s identity. The sitters inspire ideas about states of mind and emotional moments we can all recognize. I see these portraits as a kind of mirror of humanity. The models I’ve recruited represent a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures.

I’m particularly drawn to people who I don’t typically encounter in my usual circles, people I can learn something from. Painting them bridges a gap for me. It cultivates empathy, and that’s an important personal aspect of my work.”

Although the new portraits strive to go beyond appearances, they depict appearances in a remarkable way. Departing from the more impressionist-leaning approach of her earlier work, these emphasize sculptural form, texture, intricate detail and attention to surfaces, offering viewers a much more intimate experience of the subject’s presence.

“That feeling of intimacy is important to me. I want people to be able to get up close and engage their senses, to feel free of barriers that may otherwise be there in real life.”

Although just a handful of works have been released so far, these paintings are already creating a stir on the show circuit and garnering awards, most notably the Portrait Society of America’s 2020 International Portrait Competition in which her painting Sunday Morning received a ‘Select 50’ designation. Another, entitled Blue, was chosen as a finalist in the Portrait Society’s Members Only Competition in December, 2019. The Whistler House Museum of Art’s Whistler Award and The Salmagundi Club NY Ridgewood Art Institute Award were also presented to Lisa for Sunday Morning in 2019.

Paintings in the Beyond Appearances series are released through Lisa’s e-newsletter. Sign up at https://lisakovvuri.com/email-newsletter to be sure to get a first viewing of each piece fresh off the easel, and updates on when and where to see them on exhibition (including Oil Painters of America’s upcoming National Exhibition details). See more of Lisa’s work on her website at www.lisakovvuri.com. Get sneak peeks behind the scenes and of works in progress by following @lisakovvuri on Instagram and Facebook.

Placido
30 x 24 in.Oil on panel
$4,600
Available through the artist

My painting Placido captures the bicyclist in the moments after a ride in the hills of Sicily. Tired in a contented way, ruffled hair from the helmet, iridescent goggles, he’s perched on some masonry in the piazza, drying off in the strong Italian sunlight. The straightforward gaze of my painting connects with the viewer. He’s ready to have a birra with you and talk about the ride. He’s one of my favorite subjects, my husband who was born in Sicily and we return there often. I go there to paint and he bicycles those same hills and dramatic coastline.

I like to think that because of the feeling expressed in this painting, it has been recognized in a number of exhibitions. Placido won an Award of Excellence in the Juried Exhibition, American Women Artists at the Haggin Museum, Stockton, California. It also was accepted in the 2019 Oil Painters of America National Exhibition at the Illume Gallery, St. George, Utah. It was also a finalist in the Art Renewal Center 2019 International Competition, and a finalist in the Portrait Society of America 14th Annual Members Competition.

I love painting portraits and figures and look for the soul behind the eyes of my subjects. It’s a special joy to capture the gesture of a figure so it feels natural and alive. Figure drawing has been an ongoing study and I recently had the honor of competing in the second Figure Drawing Competition in New York at the Historic Salmagundi Club. I was thrilled to become an artist member of Salmagundi Club.

Beside portrait and figurative work, I paint landscape and still life. I think it’s important to work in a variety of subject matter and work as much from life as possible to continue to improve my skills. And I feel it’s very important to share my knowledge with others. I teach out of my studio in Historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I’m a signature member of the American Women Artists, the Portrait Society of America, The American Impressionist Society, and a signature member of Oil Painters of America. I have had over a dozen solo exhibitions and my work is collected worldwide.

View more of Sandra’s paintings at sandracorpora.com

Upcoming Exhibitions:
NOAPS Best of America Small Works 2020
4/5/20 to 5/3/20 at McBride Gallery, 215 Main Street, Annapolis, Maryland 410.267.7077

Baum School of Art Auction
5/16/20 at The Baum School of Art, 510 Linden Street, Allentown, PA 18101 610.433.0032

Making Their Mark: American Women Artists
5/23/20 – 8/23/20 at the Booth Western Art Museum, 501 N Museum Drive, Cartersville, GA 30120 770.387.1300

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Manu
Oil
30 x 24 in.
Available through Artsy.net

Nanette Fluhr has created paintings which have acquired collections worldwide. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the Museu Europeu d’Art Modern (MEAM) in Barcelona, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, the Eisele Gallery of Fine Art, the Hutchins Gallery at C.W. Post College, the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Club, and the University of Connecticut Gallery, among many others.

A highlight of Nanette’s career was having three of her works selected for a historic presentation of American painting, Contemporary American Realism, which toured national museums in China including the Beijing World Art Museum, Dalain Modern Museum, Tianjin Art Museum, Hubel Provincial Museum, Zhejiang Provincial Museum and the Shanghai Art Museum.

She has received honors and awards from institutions such as the Art Renewal Center, Artist’s Magazine, the Catherine Lorilland Wolfe Art Club, the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists, the Portrait Society of America, and the School of Visual Arts.

Nanette graduated from Rutgers University in 1987 and then went on to earn her BFA with Honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where she received the Rhodes Family Award for Outstanding Achievement. There she met John Frederick Murray, who taught her drawing, painting and picture making skills gleaned from the techniques of the Old Masters. During this time Nanette became a registered copyist with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where she painted museum-quality replicas of works by Lawrence, Le Brun, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez and Van Dyke.

As a faculty member of the Art League of Long Island, Nanette shares her extensive knowledge of traditional realism. She is a sought after workshop instructor for schools such as the Teaching Studios of Art, where she taught Master Copy, and is currently visiting faculty. In partnership with Craftsy.com Nanette taught a 7 episode online video class, Classic Children’s Portraits in Oil. She has also worked with Rosemary & Co. Brushes. to create two signature brush sets.

Nanette has been featured in several publications as well as in a video produced at the Metropolitan Museum of Art highlighting her Master Copies.

View more of Nanette’s work at Artsy.net.

Le Soleil D’Or
16 x 20 in.
Oil on linen-lined panel
$2500
Available from the artist

Capturing Life in Oils

The artist says, “I paint to capture life’s magic … to transport you inside my oil paintings – to feel that breeze, hear the sounds, watch what happens, smell the beer.”

Le Soleil D’Or was painted plein air in Paris – capturing a life we appreciate now more than ever. Read about her personal painting trip to France in the Plein Air Today blog post A Paris Plein Air Adventure.

Isolation means plenty of new works are springing to life regularly. See her website, www.JillBanks.com, to sign up for her monthly newsletter to catch the latest paintings, news, and tales. She is also teaching her first set of online live painting classes that start mid-April. More info on classes here.

You can also follow Jill on Facebook and Instagram. Plus, make sure you are the first to see fresh work by signing up for New Art Alerts here.

Another of Banks’ plein air paintings Colorado Days is at Settlers West in Tucson with the Women Artists of the West 50th Jubilee National Exhibition from March 25-April 17. Banks recently became a Signature member of Women Artists of the West and American Women Artists.

Contact Jill at [email protected] or 703.403.7435.