As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Kumquat Safari, Elizabeth Butler, oil & copper leaf on panel, 30 x 60 in; Celebration of Fine ArtA Day In The Clouds, Phil Starke, oil, 42 x 48 in; ArtzLine Curse of Triton, Nik Anikis, oil on canvas, 51 × 51 in; Nik AnikisVintage Scuba Helmet, Emily Copeland, Charcoal on Stonehenge paper, 38 x 27 in; RJD Gallery
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today. Don’t delay, as spaces are first come, first served, and availability is limited.
Barbara Jaenicke, “Mountainside Iridescence” (in progress), 30 x 40 in., oil, 2022;
Illume Gallery West, Philipsburg, MT
How do you describe success? Barbara Jaenicke: I suppose there’s the side of success that’s concerned with living my passion, and then there’s the practical side.
In regard to living my passion, I feel I achieve success when I can maintain the perseverance to push through the many aggravating days of painting “misses” and experience the rare occurrences of what I deem painting “hits.” I’m pretty sure that at the end of my life, I’ll feel that I conquered this pursuit if I know I pushed my painting skills as far as they could go.
Regarding the practical side, many artists feel it’s taboo to boil it down to money. I get it. But I think for those of us who are providers for our family, it truly is a tremendous sense of accomplishment when it’s done with a career we love. Since I come from a marketing background, I actually find it fulfilling to manage the business side of my painting career, too. When my passion and profession can comfortably intertwine, life is good!
How do you find inspiration? Barbara Jaenicke: I search for it. Constantly. It typically finds me working away at the easel after about a half dozen failed paintings.
Michael Godfrey, "Going Home," oil on board, 18 x 24 inches
The California Art Club unveiled the winners of “Winter Wonderland,” the latest installment of its Excellence in Traditional Fine Art Competition.
First place went to Michael Godfrey for his oil painting “Going Home.” His award-winning artwork and that of the other 32 finalists identified for honors and cash prizes may be viewed at californiaartclub.org/wintercompetition.
The guest judge for this competition, Eric Rhoads, CEO of Streamline Publishing, said of Godfrey’s painting, “I love that this painting draws me in with the carefully placed spot of light, almost as if the car had pulled up to the gate and is lighting the snow-covered tree. The distant house with the tastefully rendered lit window creates a warm welcome, making me want to walk back through the cold snow for a warm fireplace and hot chocolate.”
California Art Club, Winter Wonderland: The Winners
First Place – $1,000 Prize
Michael Godfrey, “Going Home,” oil on board, 18 x 24 inches
Michael Godfrey, “Going Home,” oil on board, 18 x 24 inches
Second Place – $500 Prize
Thomas Schaller, “Winter – Belvedere Castle,” watercolor on paper, 15 x 12 inches
Thomas Schaller, “Winter – Belvedere Castle,” watercolor on paper, 15 x 12 inches
Third Place – $250 Prize
Annette Siegel, “Bugle Boy,” cast bronze, 12 x 17 x 12 inches
Annette Siegel, “Bugle Boy,” cast bronze, 12 x 17 x 12 inches
The exhibition, which celebrates the beauty of the coldest season of the year, may be viewed on the CAC website through March 20, 2023, and all works are available for acquisition.
This quarterly competition of the historic California Art Club encourages artists to develop and refine their classical art skills and spotlights their mastery by providing a new platform for showcasing contemporary-traditional works of art.
As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you “Virtual Museum Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
Thunder on the Plains, Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey, dye on silk, 48 x 36 in; Peaks, Plains, and Beyond, March-June 2023; Hockaday Museum of Art, Kalispell, MTConsumed, Jeffrey S. Hein, oil on canvas, 99.6 x 77.5 in., SMA Permanent Collection on display in exhibition “Grand Ambitions”; Springville Museum of ArtLooking Beyond, Dali Higa, 40 x 30 in., oil on canvas; California Museum of Fine ArtLarge Caliber, Kimberly Bowen, 36 x 36 in., acrylic; Western Spirit Art Show and Sale, March 11 – 23, 2023; Cheyenne Frontier Days™ Old West Museum Western Spirit Art Show and SaleJean d’Aire (detail), Auguste Rodin; Rodin: Contemplation And Dreams, January 28 – April 23, 2023, Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections; The Rosen Galleries at Brookgreen GardensLegend Adaox, David Boxley (Tsimshian, b. 1952), ash, alder, paint; 26.5 x 25 x 6 in., Collection of George and Colleen Hoyt 1; Hallie Ford Museum of Art
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today. Don’t delay, as spaces are first come, first served, and availability is limited.
As part of our effort to continue to help artists and art galleries thrive, we’re proud to bring you this week’s “Virtual Gallery Walk.” Browse the artwork below and click the image itself to learn more about it, including how to contact the gallery.
The Mauve Hour, Shair Lyon, Encaustic, 48 x 48 in; Celebration of Fine ArtA Mischievous Girl, Zhiwei Tu (OPA/AIS Master), oil on canvas, 16 x 12 in; Reinert Fine Art
Want to see your gallery featured in an upcoming Virtual Gallery Walk? Contact us at [email protected] to advertise today. Don’t delay, as spaces are first come, first served, and availability is limited.
Paula Holtzclaw, “Come September,” oil, 16 x 20 in.
We’d like to congratulate Paula Holtzclaw for winning Overall First Place in the November 2022 PleinAir Salon, judged by Lance Rehs, Director of Rehs Contemporary Galleries.
Artist Statement: “I choose to paint what is beautiful and meaningful, knowing that this act of celebrating and communicating the beauty in this world has the power to uplift and inspire.”
About the Artist: North Carolina artist Paula Holtzclaw has gained a national reputation for her ability to capture the drama of nature on canvas. Light-filled paintings of pristine, undeveloped landscapes are executed with a unique blend of classical realism and impressionism, while her still life paintings demonstrate a love of the Old Masters’ works.
Holtzclaw’s paintings have been included in many National Juried and Museum Exhibitions. Museum venues include the Haggin Museum, Gilcrease Museum, Booth Western Art Museum, Muscarelle Museum of Art, the Tucson Desert Museum, and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
She has been the recipient of notable awards including Women Artists of the West Presidents’ Award for Masters at National 2021, Award of Excellence, American Women Artists National 2019, the F & M Bank Purchase Award American Women Artists National 2018, First Place, Nautical Show at Salmagundi Art Club, NY 2017, Best Landscape, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society 2016, Best in Show, Women Painters of the Southeast Exhibition 2015.
Most recently featured in Southwest Art Magazine, November 2020, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine “Today’s Masters,” January 2019, and Art of the West Magazine, featuring the artist and her studio, April 2019.
Holtzclaw is a Master Member of American Women Artists, and Women Artists of the West. She has been honored with Signature Memberships in the Oil Painters of America, The American Society of Marine Artists, National Oil and Acrylic Painter’s Society and The American Impressionist Society. Recently awarded “Out of State” Artist status in the historic California Art Club, Holtzclaw is by invitation, an artist member of the Salmagundi Club of New York and the Plein Air Painters of the SouthEast.
She often serves as an entry and awards juror for regional and national exhibitions. Holtzclaw served on the Executive Board of American Women Artists from 2012 – 2019, a 501 (c) (3) educational nonprofit organization, dedicated to advancement of women through the arts.
About the PleinAir Salon:
In the spirit of the French Salon created by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, this annual online art competition, with 11 monthly cycles, leading to the annual Salon Grand Prize winners, is designed to stimulate artistic growth through competition. The competition rewards artists with over $33,000 in cash prizes and exposure of their work, with the winning painting featured on the cover of PleinAir Magazine.
Winners in each monthly competition may receive recognition and exposure through PleinAir Magazine’s print magazine, e-newsletters, websites, and social media. Winners of each competition will also be entered into the annual competition. The 12th Annual Awards will be presented live at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in May 2023.
The next round of the PleinAir Salon has begun so hurry, as this competition ends on the last day of the month. Enter your best art in the PleinAir Salon here.
Laura Pollak, “Open To The Universe,” 3-Dimensional Pastel, 16 x 20 in., Top prize in the Pastel Society of the West Coast, International Show in Modern/Experimental Works, Available through artist
Laura Pollak: Laura Pollak is an internationally acclaimed Pastel Artist winning top awards for her unique and ‘glowing’ works. Her works have been curated into the Hilbert Museum as well as the VEFA Gallery in Southern California. She is also represented by The Art Shop in NC.
Pollak’s landscapes inform her abstract paintings, that are in the genre of Abstract Realism.
“Creating art is only part of the process. Like a dialogue between friends, art must be shared and seen in order to close the circle and convey the idea.
Laura Pollak, “Behind The Curve,” Pastel, 16 x 20 in., Awarded in the Pastel 100 Publication of the Best 100 Pastels, Available through VEFA GalleryLaura Pollak, “Embracing The Light,”: Pastel, 16 x 20 in, Available through artist [New Work]
Peter A. Nisbet (b. 1948), "Sunburst, Grand Canyon," 2019, oil on canvas, 38 x 54 in., Meyer Gallery (Santa Fe)
From the Fine Art Connoisseur January/February 2023 Editor’s Note:
The Future Beckons
Most readers move through this magazine from front to back, so it’s customary to read Eric Rhoads’s Publisher’s Letter before my Editor’s Note.
On the Cover: Andrea Kowch (b. 1986), “Expectation,” 2019 (detail), acrylic on canvas, 10 x 10 in., private collection.
In this issue, Eric has shared the fascinating backstory of how he came to love art and how this magazine came to exist 20 years ago. It’s poignant to be reminded how few ateliers there were then, and how relatively rare it was to find great contemporary realist art in galleries, not to mention online.
Fortunately, all of that has changed for the better, and now the Fine Art Connoisseur team is — as Eric noted — looking forward to the next 20 years, helping artists and collectors flourish even more. Milène J. Fernández’s eight-page-long article (see pages 73–80 of this issue) offers an insightful snapshot of today’s realist scene from her informed vantage, filled with names and venues that will surely intrigue you, if you don’t know them already.
But you know what? I could actually have invited four or five more distinguished observers like Milène to write similar articles, and those folks would probably have come up with hundreds more names and venues to admire! Because every true artist is unique — and thus not really in “competition” with any other artist — and because we live in such a huge country, we are blessed to have thousands and thousands of gifted realists out there to admire and cover in this magazine. The talent pool was not nearly so wide and deep 20 years ago, so its growth is truly cause for celebration.
When friends ask which part of this magazine makes my heart skip a beat, I usually demur, replying that it’s a bit like naming your favorite child. When pressed, though, I admit that it’s the Five to Watch profiles written (brilliantly) by Allison Malafronte in every issue. Why? Because most of these artists are unfamiliar to our readers (“emerging”) and, in some cases, young enough to still be finding their mature voices. Over my nearly 17 years as editor-in-chief, it has been personally gratifying to see their careers evolve and blossom, and sometimes even to learn later that our profile contributed directly to their professional growth. Any field will eventually collapse if it does not have gifted practitioners entering it, and I am glad to confirm that realist art in America today has plenty of fresh talent on the rise.
Of course, Americans have always loved the new, so it’s a thrill to see some emerging realists suddenly getting represented by power-house “cutting-edge” galleries and included in “contemporary” museums’ exhibitions and acquisition lists. That has been a long time coming, and it’s still not as good for realists as it is for (say) conceptualists, but it’s definitely going in the right direction.
Caution: the cutting-edge contemporary market is a fickle, fashion-led place, so one never knows when the wind might turn. For this and other good reasons, it’s essential that we all keep buying the realist artworks we admire, showing them to our friends and colleagues, encouraging our museums and other community venues to show them, urging local galleries to sell them, patronizing the ateliers where the training occurs, and generally cheerleading the artists themselves. What you do as a collector — as a Fine Art Connoisseur — really does matter, even if you can’t always see the results right now.
Thank you for supporting this art and these artists, and please keep doing so. We are all definitely moving forward, and the path ahead looks very promising.
What are your thoughts? Share your letter to the Editor below in the comments.
Jill Stefani Wagner “Late Rays”, pastel on prepared board, 18 x 24in., $1700 unframed, Available through the artist
Jill Stefani Wagner: A Master Pastelist in both Pastel Society of America and International Association of Pastel Societies, Jill finds her greatest inspiration capturing the light around her. She’s an avid plein air painter, but winter is a favorite studio subject. Jill especially loves painting warm sunlight and cool blue shadows on late afternoon snow. That combination of opposites can create a stunning effect. She’ll be Faculty for the 5th time at the Plein Air Convention in Denver.
Jill Stefani Wagner, “Winter’s Gift”, pastel on prepared board, 24 x 18in., $1700 unframed, Available through the artistJill Stefani Wagner, “Winter Reflections”, pastel on paper, 11 x 17 in., $900 unframed, Available through the artist
Marcia Holmes, “Rainbow Water Lilies,” pastel on paper, 30 x 24 in., $3,850, Degas Gallery (Plein Air Salon Floral Winner-Oct. 2022)
Marcia Holmes: Oil and pastel water lily paintings from France to New Mexico filled the warehouse district walls of Degas Gallery, New Orleans, LA in my sixth one-woman show, “My Floral Muse”. Floral inspiration emerged from my visit to a Paris flower shop in the Marais. I cultivated the muse within, intuitively painting rhythmic floral incantations through gestural oil passages resulting in two large-scale canvases! Please view my contemporary floral incantations, find hidden urns, candelabra within white on white texture!
Marcia Holmes, “Giverny Water Lilies,” pastel on paper, 16 x 20 in., $2,200, available through Degas GalleryMarcia Holmes, “My Floral Muse II,” oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in., $9,500, available through Degas Gallery
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