“Happiness Is…”

oil on canvas

24 x 36 in.

ART IS A REFLECTION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

In my early twenties for some unknown reason and with no significant financial resources, I purchased a canvas board, student brushes, and a few tubes of oil paint. The instant I started to copy a magazine image onto the canvas, I knew my calling was to be a painter with all of its challenges and demands. After I earned undergraduate and Master of Fine Arts degrees in studio art, life with its responsibilities took hold. Yet, I always found time to paint, though not with the focus that was required to develop my craft as I wished. I then structured my life so that eventually I would be able to paint full time time.

As a student of people I was able to interact with many individuals during a long non- painting career in museums and educational institutions working in teaching and administration. These experiences helped me develop a deeper understanding of human nature. This understanding, as well as my overall life experiences, have become profound influences in determining my mature painter’s voice.

I have come to understand that my work has always been directed by the paths I chose. The paintings I create are about how people choose to, or not to, live their lives. My intent is not to replicate past historical visual images, but rather to study the reaction of people in various life situations and then create contemporary visual stories depicting significant moments that reveal an inner presence. They study the fleeting instant when emotional reactions and the pathos of a situation is often unconsciously revealed. Through my paintings viewers are prompted to think and reflect upon the relation of these enigmatic references to their own lives.

I strive for accurate visual representation, however, I consciously do not paint for photographic accuracy. My work is about the fusion of concept and pigment to produce a painting. Yet, photography has always been a mainstay of my visual approach. In structuring a composition, I select images from a number of my photographs. These images are used to draw what I call a road map on the canvas. Then my focus shifts to pigment for its expressive application onto the canvas. I paint so the pigment can speak as an indication of a passage’s significance, as well as express the intrinsic concept of the scene. My paintings are large, yet they are painted in great detail with small brushes. The brushwork I employ emphasizes passages of the canvas, creating a visual tempo about the story that that is being told. Thus, the finished painting is a fusion of concept and the process of painting.

The direction I have been advancing towards is to paint backgrounds that are increasingly more indicative of the painting’s narrative rather than the placement of people into a traditional environment. This is to promote greater interest and reflection on the part of the viewer, for further grounding people within an evocative narrative creates a scene apart from the commonplace of daily existence. While questions are raised in viewing these scenes, there is no “right” interpretation of them. I leave all interpretations to the viewers who dialogue with my paintings.

I am a member of the Salmagundi Club, New York; Oil Painters of America; American Impressionist Society; and American Women Artists. I received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Douglas College. After a period of teaching Studio Art and Art History I pursued a career in nonprofit institutions holding positions in development and institutional advancement. Positions held include Deputy Director, Cincinnati Art Museum; Vice President, Pratt Institute; Vice President, American Craft Museum, now the Museum of Arts and Design; as well as Director of Alumni Relations, Associate Director University Development, and Director of Development, Tisch School of the Arts, all for New York University University; and development posts at the Whitney Museum and the Brooklyn Museum.

View more of Patricia’s work at www.patriciahynespainter.com.

Contact Patricia at [email protected] or 973.763.2384.

“The Old Homestead”

Oil on linen

20 x 24 in.

$3680, available at Hagan Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina

Dee Beard Dean is a nationally-recognized artist who has been painting since childhood. She was raised in the countryside of northern Indiana and began her formal studies at Grand Rapids College, Kendall College of Art and Design, and the New York Academy of Art.

In her early years, Dee was a well-known fashion designer manufacturing her own clothing line with a national label which sold to over 450 stores throughout the US. Dee later escaped the hectic lifestyle of the fashion world and went back to her first love, painting.
She is a passionate and prolific artist who has studied with many renowned artists and is recognized for her painterly landscapes and portraits. Her greatest inspirations have come from painting en plein air where her eye for color and composition, and her elevated senses, guide her in creating paintings filled with evocative light and dramatic shadows. Her highly collectible work hangs in corporate and private collections throughout the United States.

Dee is a member and founder of Plein Air Painters of the Southeast (PAP-SE), a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, an Honorary Signature Member of International Plein Air Painters (IPAP), and members of Oil Painters of America, American Women Artists, and Eastern League of Professional Artists. Dee finds it both a joy and a privilege to share her knowledge and talent with students through plein air and studio workshops across the United States and abroad.

She has received many awards at juried art competitions, and has been published in many regional and national journals. Dee and her husband, Dr. Nicolai Chalfa, live in Charleston, SC and annually host an Art Trip to a different country.  Her life and her work are recorded in her book “Painter By Providence”  written by Michelle Morton.

View more of Dee’s work at www.DeeBeardDean.com.

“Ready To Dance”

acrylic on panel

6 x 6 in.

Available through TwoTen Fine Art

http://twotenfineart.com/current-artwork/artwork-by-artist/barber-chantel/

Chantel’s passion for art began flourishing at age 12 when she was mentored under local San Diego artists. She continued to study art, largely self-taught, while living in Newport, Rhode Island and Keflavik, Iceland. While enrolled in a college art course, a fellow student introduced her to acrylic paints, and she soon found it to be a medium dominated by abstract art. But her first love was portraiture for which she found little advice. As she dreamed of perfecting her skills as an acrylic portrait artist, Chantel continued to learn from professional oil painters and translated their teachings into acrylic techniques. All the while, she remained active in local art communities.

In 2006, Chantel opened her own art business called Chantel’s Originals near Memphis, Tennessee. Chantel soon benefited from workshops and demonstrations with outstanding artists including Dawn Whitelaw and Michael Shane Neil. Chantel is currently the National Coordinator of the State Ambassador program for the Portrait Society of America, and is also a member of The Chestnut Group and the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society. She is past President of Artists’ Link in Memphis, Tennessee.

Chantel has been featured in solo art shows and has participated in numerous group shows at premiere Memphis venues including the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Her award winning paintings are in private and public collections throughout the United States and overseas. Her work is published in Acrylic Artists magazine, American Art Collector, and Fine Art Connoisseur. Chantel resides in Bartlett, Tennessee, where she teaches online and in workshops throughout the United States.

“Life Behind the Bar”

oil on birch

14 x 18 in.

Available at Mary Williams Fine Art Gallery.

This piece was painted from a wonderful little pub that I stumbled onto for lunch while in New York City. The hand-carved bar and the staff of characters made for a very attractive scene. And lunch was good, too!

Heather Arenas’ grandmothers were both artists and her parents provided her with various art supplies growing up, teaching her to appreciate many forms of art. Today, Heather works in oils and prefers figurative work but she enjoys painting many different subjects. Her education includes a rigorous course of independent study reading many books on drawing and painting and taking workshops from respected artists such as Vadim Zanginian, Kim English and Clayton Beck III. While earning a degree in biology with emphasis on anatomy in the early 1990’s, she also studied art history and ceramics.

Heather is a Master Signature artist with Women Artists of the West, a Signature member of the Plein Air Artists of Colorado and Associate of Distinction with American Women Artists as well an associate with several other art organizations. She has received numerous awards for her work which helps others see the beauty in everyday objects, places and people.

Heather’s work can be found at the following galleries:

Reinert Fine Art, Charleston, SC and Blowing Rock, NC, http://www.reinertfineart.com/

Reflection Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, http://reflectiongallery.com/

Mary Williams Fine Art Gallery, Boulder, CO http://marywilliamsfinearts.com/

RS Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX, from March 1st through June 3rd, http://www.rshannagallery.com

Stoneheart Gallery, Evergreen, CO, http://www.stoneheartgallery.com

See Heather’s website for workshop and further information, www.heatherarenas.com