On My Wall

 

I have something a little different this week.  This is an original work of art that is hanging on a wall at my house.  I met this artist in Santa Fe New Mexico the last time I was there and his whimsical paintings and books drew my interest the moment I saw them.  I think it's because they spark the seeds of exploration and wanderlust that bubbles inside of me.  The artists name is Jeffrey Schweitzer and he lives and works in Santa Fe.  He has published several small books (I bought one of those too) along with a collections of illustrations. 

Here is one that was on display in his tiny studio inside the lobby of the Inn at Loretto, the hotel where I was staying.  

That little travel trailer reminded me so much of my many travels with my family when I was growing up.  My family traveled for many years with a travel trailer staying at beautiful and interesting places all over the United States and Canada.

Jeffrey has an Instagram site where you can see more of his wonderful works of art. His books are available on Amazon.com.  

Looking at this little painting always makes me want to hit the road once again. 

Out of This World

Here is a painting I didn't expect to see at the Scottsdale Museum of the West.  This was painted by Robert McCall (1919 - 2010) who worked as an illustrator for Life Magazine back in the1960's.  He created promotional materials for many films including Stanley Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey.  Later he worked as an artist for NASA.  

This painting is called "Capriccio".  Capriccio is a term used to describe a piece of music, painting or type of art that is whimsical, fancy or fantastical.  This floating city certainly fits that description.  

 

A Woman Ahead of Her Time

 

In October of 2018, I saw an exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York featuring the work of Hilma af Klint.  I had never heard of her before this exhibit and I found her story very interesting.  

Born in Sweden in 1862, af Klint studied art at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.  She Graduated with honors and at the time was mostly painting naturalist paintings.  

The death of a younger sister helped to push af Klint toward a type of spiritualism called Theosophy.  In 1906 at the age of 44 she painted her first series of abstract paintings.  She was painting abstract works long before Kandinsky or Mondrian came on the scene.  In the end she felt that her spiritualist work was so ground breaking that it wasn't ready for the world to see it.  She left instructions for her work not to be displayed for 20 years after her death.  In the end, it would be almost 40 years before her work received the recognition it deserved.  

Light and Transparency

 

I found this exquisite painting at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.  It was painted by Janet Fish, an artist who explores the interactions of light and every day objects.  

Janet Fish was born in 1938 in Boston but she grew up in Bermuda.  She comes from a family of artists.  Her father was a professor of Art History and her mother was a sculptor and potter.  Her artistic connections didn't end there.  Her sister is a photographer and her grandfather was the American Impressionist painter, Clark Voorhees.  Fish knew at a young age that she wanted to be an artist.  She attended Smith College and concentrated on sculpture and print making.  After graduating from Smith, Fish enrolled in Yale University School of Art and Architecture.  It was there that she changed her focus to  painting.  She is certainly a master at light, transparency and reflections.

Safe at the Museum

 

I recently discovered that the Phoenix Art Museum owns a painting by Willem de Kooning, a painter I posted about last year after visiting one of his paintings that was stolen in a rather bold way.

He is not an artist that I'm particularly fond of but I do have to admit that this painting poses more appeal to me than the one that was stolen.  You can read that incredible story here.  

Willem de Kooning was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist born in Rotterdam in 1904.  This painting is called "Woman in the Pool".  I'm not sure I see her unless that is her in the upper right corner.  

If you enjoy a good mystery, check the link above.  The story of that stolen painting is fascinating. 

A Zen-Like Experience

 

Here is an artist I discovered while strolling the gallery streets in Laguna Beach California.  His work spoke to me immediately,  Each painting exuded an air of mystery and quiet peacefulness.  The quote from his website below, says it best.

"Martin BeauPre was born in Quebec Canada in 1961.  Over the years Martin has found his point of balance by associating art with energy. As a full-time painter Martin's paintings are a reflection of his inner world.  Martin takes us on a zen journey which reveals a search for beauty and harmony in muffled tones, with serene, uncluttered compositions inspired by Asian art."

82 Portraits & 1 Still Life

 

In 2018, there was an exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) of works by well known artist David Hockney.  It was a group of portraits that he painted of people who fill his life in Los Angeles.

His subjects are from all walks of life.  He invited family members, fellow artists, art dealers, curators, employees, and close friends to sit for him.  He painted one portrait of each and the one still life painting was because of a last minute cancellation.

The painting to the left is of Barry Humphries, a comedian and actor.

I'm posting more than one photo today to give you an idea of how this exhibit was presented.  The paintings were created between 2013 and 2016 in the artist's Hollywood Hills studio.  Each painting was completed in three days.  

David Hockney is a prolific artist and a key figure in the pop art movement.  One of his paintings sold for 90 million dollars in 2018.  It was an exhibit well worth seeing.  

Swirls of Paint

 

I'm featuring an artwork today that seemed to grab me and sweep me into its torrent of paint.  This is a recent purchase by the Phoenix Art Museum. It's by the artist Marina Perez Simao.  I don't know much about Ms. Simao except that she is Brazilian and was born in 1980.  A search of her name found many links to galleries who have represented her or featured a show of her paintings but I could find very little about her life or education.  All I know is that the brilliant swirls of paint in her paintings create dreamscapes that one can float right into.  Here is a link to an ArtNet article about her work.

Ophelia!

 

Ophelia is a painting by John Everett Millais (1829-1896).  It is meant to be Ophelia from Shakespeare's play "Hamlet".  Millais was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  He went to great lengths to get every detail right in all of his paintings.  For this painting he spent days painting by the side of a stream to capture every detail of the growth around the water.  Then he spent hours painting his model who was submerged in the tub of water in order for him to get every detail of her floating image.  She was in the cold water so long that she became very ill from the cold.  Her story is just as interesting as the painter himself.  She was an artist in her own right but because of era, never received the recognition due to her.  There is a wonderful video, 6-minute video produced by the Tate Britain that tells the story of this painting and gives honor to his model Elizabeth Sidel.  It is a fascinating story. You can see it here.  

My Favorite Lion

 

I found this painting hanging in one of the hallways at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago.  I have always loved those fabulous lions who stand guard in front of the Art Institute of Chicago so I was drawn to this wonderful painting.  The artist is Don Yang and it turns out that he teaches art from his studio in the Fine Arts Building.  

Yang was born in Seoul Korea but came to the United States in his teens.  After 7 years in the U.S. Army, he pursued his dream of becoming a full time artist.  

He has many wonderful paintings on his website.