Their Magnolia

Childhood memories of my Grandparents garden has always been my inspiration for painting. The vast variety of colours and fragrances that I can still see and smell now when I am painting brings me so much joy to still after all this time be in the garden with them. My Nanna, Carmen and I would always water the flowers together and she would take me around the garden showing me the newest addition to her garden. We would sit under their exquisite magnolia tree and just take in the colours. I would sit in the conservatory with my Granddad, James and we would look out into the garden seeing the smile of my Nanna’s face as she admired her work. We would paint together, my Granddad and I. He would always encourage me to use bold and bright colours in whatever I was doing. We would laugh at his inappropriate jokes and paint together.

Meeting in Spain

I have developed my own unique style of painting. I adore textures, and bold beautiful colours. I don’t so much as paint as let the flowers grow naturally in front of me as they do in nature. I aim to create artwork that brings joy and happiness to others, the joy that my Grandparents had. Not wanting their joy to no longer be with myself and others, every painting I create has not only my signature but also their initials. Everything I create is to share their happiness with others.

Lake Views

Image Credits

All Images Are © Ruth Davis

Guest Artist Bio
Ruth Davis

Ruth Davis is a self taught upcoming abstract artist based in Hertfordshire, originally from Somerset. Her main medium is acrylic on canvas.

Ruth grew up with an artistic family background, she was always encouraged by her late grandparents. Her grandad was an artist and her grandmother was a keen gardener. Ruth has always been surrounded by nature which has inspired the main themes to her colourful, unique, botanical artwork.

Although Ruth has only been painting professionally for a short amount of time, she quickly developed her own unique style of work which instantly became recognized by galleries and art lovers from all around the world. In her first year she had an exhibition in the Gordon Craig and her painting “I am still painting flowers for you” is in Gallery M&Art agent’s international digital art magazine. More recently she has had her painting “34 Rose Arch” displayed in the Broadway Studio Gallery, Letchworth. Ruth is also now featured in House and Garden magazine’s April Art Edit and also in all 12 of the Life magazines May Art Edit.

Blog / Website: Abstract Artist – Ruth Davis

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Yoon | Contemporary female portrait of Asian model in Oil paint

Using the colors of the floor, wall, pillows, or a small detail like a colored doorknob inspire me to add to the painting. I love to work together with interior designers to create the perfect picture: a beautiful painting that matches the interior and lifts the energy of the room.

Yoon in interior, matching colors of her surroundings

Image Credits

Images  are by RK Hercules – All Rights Reserved

Guest Artist Bio
RK Hercules

Born in 1989, RKH is a self-taught Dutch contemporary artist from Amsterdam. Her work is known for its striking female portraits, a subject that is inspired by her time studying the oil paintings of old masters. In her lifelong pursuit of art, Hercules developed her characteristic style that blends the old and the new; by drawing from the image of modern women today through Instagram models and the fashion industry, she joins these often contradictory depictions of women together, creating a timeless vignette of the modern woman.

Website: RKHercules.com | Instagram

Shaya Weinberger is representative of The Metastabilian Movement (TMM), a new international scientific and artistic movement, and a longtime member of the American Art Association. TMM is a creative exploration of the human sixth sense of the complementary nature, highlighted by creative self-discovery.

So far, Weinberger has prepared 35 solo exhibitions, participated in over 176 group exhibitions, as well as in over 100 art colonies, symposiums and artistic residence in the U.S. and abroad. He has received several important national and international awards for his artistic work. He currently lives and works in New York City.

As we look at his artwork, we can’t help but ask ourselves: Who we are, where we come from and where we are going? The light in his electromagnetic radiation leaves a mark on these pictures, and it can be analyzed in a purely visual and artistic sense. Through composition, color spectrum, color expression, spatial effects of color, balance, and contrast, he creates a symbolic and associative role of color with complex rhythm and harmony.

The Matthew Gallery in New York will be displaying ‘Metastable Sphere’ until 18 May 2017. This is the latest series of paintings by Shaya Weinberger. On weekdays, the opening hours are from 09 am to 07 pm, and on Saturdays from 08 to 02 pm.

As an artist, Weinberger offers playful energy, collecting and barely pausing in his individual work. Over the years he has developed his mixing styles and ways of interpretation forms. In his artwork, he uses a lot of element found in the western way of forms presenting, but he also includes a fair amount of traditional forms, similar to those of the Chinese artists. So, stylistic features bring up the idea of the East within the conventions of the West.

Photo Credit

Photo by Shaya Weinberger – All Rights Reserved

Guest Author Bio
Shaya Weinberger 

Being an artist that comes from Delaware is a rare thing these days. Especially an experienced graffiti painter born in the 70’s. Having finished a secondary chemical school, Shaya Weinberger gave birth to his interest for chemical paints. Being a fairly successful student, he tried to do something different as a hobby than other students. So that is how he chose graffiti. Being an artist is completely different to being a scientist, a chemist to be exact. So he embraced this new passion of his and copied some graffiti artist styles and had something to begin with…

Work wise, Shaya Weinberger developed into a fine scientist. He was accepted as an optician for short time, but this success was short lived. He worked as a baby sitter for most of the time and was into child care as a part time job, which lately evolved into a full time job. All of this happened while Mr. Shaya Weinberger was in New York, looking for new experiences, new inspirations…

Being a chemist, one could say that he is a scientist. Many professionals would not agree with that of course but in a manner he totally is. He even managed to inspire many colleagues that he worked with in college, and even some of them became top level professional chemists and doctors. Many people would be blessed to know a person like Mr. Weinberger, and some are proud to know him in person.

Blog / Website: Shaya Weinberger

What was Once a Home (South Throop Street), 17″ x 25.5″, Carbon pencil on toned paper, 2015

I am not an expert on economics, sociology, or housing. I’ve never envisioned myself as playing a great role in social activism. I have not been directly, personally affected by the foreclosure crisis. I just see a crisis, one where people in power have taken advantage of everyday, hard-working people. And I have chosen the unique language that I’ve developed and kept with me throughout my life, the language of painting and drawing, to dive into and explore this issue.

What was Once a Home (West 70th Place), 8″ x 10″, Carbon pencil on toned paper, 2014

 As I saw these houses, I couldn’t help but feel a strong tug of emotion, and through these works, I’m trying to pass on that emotional tug. I believe each house in all of it’s detail represents an untold story, a struggle, a disappointment, and a drama that deserves to be looked at, thought about, and talked about, and felt.

What was Once a Home (South Carpenter Street), 13″ x 24″, Carbon pencil on toned paper, 2015

Image Credits

All Images Are © Jennifer Cronin

Jennifer Cronin Artist Bio

Jennifer Cronin is a Chicago-based artist, born and raised in Oak Lawn, Illinois. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a dual BFA in painting and art education. As the capstone of her education, she studied painting at Camberwell College of Art in London, completing her education in 2009. Since graduating, Cronin has become known for combining an uncanny realism with psychological depth to create large paintings that capture extraordinary encounters amidst the backdrop of ordinary, everyday life. Currently, Cronin is working on a series of drawings documenting foreclosed homes in Chicago. These houses, once filled with life and warmth, are shown as striking shadows of their former selves both stark and stunning in their detail and mood.

Cronin has exhibited widely in the Chicago area, as well as nationally and internationally. She has had solo exhibitions at 33 Contemporary Gallery and Elephant Room Gallery, among other galleries. She has been featured in many publications, including New American Paintings, and has earned numerous awards for her work, including Best in Show at the Buchanan Center for the Arts show America: Now and Here juried by Eric Fischl. She continues to work in her studio in Chicago.

Blog / Website: JenniferCronin.com

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Heart Sound 36″x60″ Acrylic on Canvas

Music with my heart

Bangkok 36″x30″ – Acrylic and Mixed Media

Souvenir de voyage
Sound and rush hour in Sukhumvit
Taxis colors
Energy

Kyudo 48″x48″ – Acrylic and Mixed Media

Kyudo, which literally means The Way of the Bow, is considered by many to be the purest of all the martial ways. In the past, the Japanese bow was used for hunting, war, court ceremonies, games, and contests of skill. The original word for Japanese archery was kyujutsu (bow technique) which encompassed the skills and techniques of the warrior archer. Some of the ancient schools, known as ryu, survive today, along with the ancient ceremonies and games, but the days where the Japanese bow was used as a weapon are long past. Modern kyudo is practiced primarily as a method of physical, moral, and spiritual development.

Image Credits

All Images Are © Pierre Bellemare

Pierre Bellemare Artist Bio

Pierre Bellemare holds a background in art and a bachelor’s degree in graphic communications.

As a computer graphics designer, he founded the agency Bellemare Graphic Design. He has realized several national and international assignments, some of which were published in over 65 countries.

As a painter, he has exhibited his work in various galleries in Canada and the United States. He also participated in group exhibitions in both Canada and Europe.

Since he started devoting himself fully to his art, travel and music have become Pierre Bellemare’s greatest sources of inspiration. The cultures of different countries he visited in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, have inspired vibrant colors that he uses with great pleasure as integral elements of his paintings.

His paintings have found a home in private and corporate collections in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

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Pierre Bellemare’s fundamental inspiration is characterized by energy, rhythm and action, in relation to different cultural and musical mosaics. Through the use of color, light, texture and elements of calligraphy, musical creations unfold in large format.

For the artist, color holds a vibration akin to music. This vibration invites us to see a world expressed through the power of abstraction, rather than pictures or words.

This freedom of gesture, in full awareness of the present moment, relies on a foundation that springs from an amalgam of knowledge and artistic spontaneity.

For the creator, design, balance and structure are essential to deeply and powerfully express a painting in all its uniqueness.

«Beyond the joy of painting, the whole beauty of abstract art for me is the fact that it is boundless. Each person, regardless of their culture or background, can see themselves in it and experience their own emotions».

Websites:  Bellemare Artistic peintre & Bellemare Studio

Follow Pierre Bellemare on: Twitter | Facebook | Linkedin

Visual context of my creation
Music+Rhythm+Calligraphy+Travel souvenir

Dear Dior © Josephine Condotta: 40” x 30” Acrylic on wood panel. Inspired by a pair of luxurious earrings in Dior’s jewelry collection

For as long as I can remember, I have been absolutely enamoured by colours. I adore the spectrum of hues, the tints and shades of each and the vibrancy, as well as intensity, they can possess.  After years of careful editing and much experimentation, my attraction to colour has blossomed into a style I’ve titled, Chaos Of Colour.

Birmingham © Josephine Condotta: 24” x 48” acrylic on canvas. Inspired by a trip to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in England

These artworks, inspired by the world around me, are based on the colours found in urban landscapes, cultural objects, and nature. Each canvas or wood panel support is layered with poured, splattered, pushed, scrubbed and brushed mixtures of acrylic paint. The assortments of hues are then brought into motion by gravity and water, one at a time. These chaotic backdrops set the stage for the inspired imagery that is placed on one of the top layers of each piece.

The X Josephine Condotta: 30″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas. Inspired by a visit to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto

My artworks are intended to illustrate a connection between the emotional and the physical, chaos and structure, colour and form.

Exposition © Josephine Condotta: 20” x 40” acrylic on canvas. Inspired by FanExpo 2013

Image Credits

All Images Are © Josephine Condotta

Josephine Condotta Artist Bio

Josephine Condotta

Josephine is a professional artist and an interior decorator.  She works with colour, light, and form to create her paintings, as well as transform interior spaces.  She draws her inspiration from urban landscapes, fashion and design, North American culture, and nature.

Her quirky and vibrant personality is translated into her bold and fearless colourful works of art.  Josephine also has a collection of adorable cartoon characters and personalized character drawings.  She has an HBA in Visual Arts from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and an Interior Decorating Diploma from Humber College in Toronto, Ontario.

Blog / Website: Josephine Condotta

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Red Lights; encaustic on wood; © A. Bettas 2013

I use grids to evoke aerial views, maps and streets. The grids are my interpretation of infrastructure within urban environments but also suggest a journey. The “red lights” symbolize danger and warnings while the grids relate to traffic flow and movement

Urban Winter; encaustic on wood; © A. Bettas 2014

As the title suggests, this painting is an abstract winter aerial view of a city centre. I use multiple layers of paint, scraping back and repainting until the desired effect is achieved. It’s a very physical process resulting in painterly effects that represent urban erosion and decay.

Gridlock; encaustic on wood; © A. Bettas 2014

I am influenced by the ever changing downtown skyline and use intuitive mark making to transcend the hectic pace of city living and traffic congestion.

Image Credits

All Images Are © A. Bettas

Anastessia Bettas Artist Bio

Anastessia Bettas is a Toronto based, visual artist who specializes in encaustic abstract and life-size portrait paintings. She is currently working on a commission of four large paintings for the Nottawasaga Resort in Alliston, ON for delivery in spring 2014. She is on the Executive Committee of the North Toronto Group of Artists and a member of the International Encaustic Artists association. She has a formal education in art history, fine arts and business from McGill University, University of Toronto and Toronto School of Art (TSA). Her work can be found in private collections in Canada and Europe.

In Anastessia’s new work, she captures the vitality of the urban experience using grids to evoke skyscrapers and streets; randomness and order. The grids are her interpretation of infrastructure within urban environments but also suggest a journey. She is influenced by the ever changing downtown skyline and uses intuitive mark making to transcend the hectic pace of city living and traffic congestion. Anastessia uses scraping and incised encaustic techniques together with multiple layers of paint, scraping back and repainting until the desired effect is achieved. It’s a very physical process resulting in painterly effects that represent urban erosion, decay and chaotic energy. She is drawn to the spontaneous nature of this wax based medium for its textural and sculptural possibilities and strives to create an aged surface on her works – an influence from her lifelong exposure to antiquities.

Anastessia has been exhibiting in juried shows since she was a student at TSA and her works have received numerous accolades since her recent graduation in 2013. She uses professional encaustic paints such as R&F and Kama and makes her own medium from purified beeswax and damar resin. Inspired by her Greek heritage, she used organic shaped, worried bead motifs in her early works which have now evolved into more geometric, urban themed paintings.

Website:  www.anastessiabettas.com

Follow Anasetessia Bettas on:  Facebook | Twitter (@AnastessiaB)

glossy orange green blue candy layers, 2013 © William Oldacre

While working at CityTV and attending school in 1998, my perspective of the city changed from geometry to motion. It had something to do with my exploration of video combined with a fuller understanding of Photoshop and colour control. These influences infiltrated my study of the city and quietly shifted my focus from geometry to motion.

When photographing, I seek order from chaos. I view the movements of all things as patterned and am drawn to the larger patterns that appear when the movement of many things intersect. I consider these intersections a form of order and when I say chaos I’m actually speaking about the scale and frequency of the movement – like the fluctuating number of vehicles at a traffic light. The movement of larger things in a city seem chaotic on a smaller scale – like in the camera frame.

green brown snakes beneath azure water, 2013 © William Oldacre

I seek the order that arises spontaneously and instantaneously from this apparently chaotic dance – like a choreographed Fosse move that will momentarily appear and then evaporate back into noise.

These images ponder the shape of the city and how best to portray it, not just the static Euclidean geometry of the space but the passage through it – some combination of the shape and the experience of it. If I could I would include the tactile and aural elements too, but for now just the visual.

yellow swoosh above crumpled red, 2013 © William Oldacre

I’ve been asked if I’m making images at random. While there is an element of randomness, shooting randomly wouldn’t be as satisfying as what I actually do. There is definite purpose behind each image, but because of the method, there’s only a small number of successful source images and an even smaller number completed into a final image.

The city is a complicated place – at any time there is much activity and movement. There is a different harmony occurring in the city – an interaction between natural elements and human elements. Contrast this with a forest or lake. The interaction there is between natural elements and the earth. The human elements are not self-sustaining in the city – it’s a human construct reliant on continuous intervention. From a long perspective the city is a form of dance.

deep blue refracted orange, 2013 © William Oldacre

I first began a project about the city while driving at dusk. I found the best images came right at the end of rainstorms when everything is glassy smooth and reflective with water. Because it was dusk I was shooting with long exposure times – sometimes several seconds and because I was driving and hand holding my camera every light in the image made squiggly lines. This project became Metro Motion.

orange swimming beneath mauve blue swipes, 2013 © William Oldacre

Later I began thinking how to simplify the visual environment of the city into it’s component shapes and colour. It occurred to me to shoot out of focus – which became Coloured City. I specifically chose to photograph in daylight as an antithesis to the night work I had done with Metro Motion. Again, driving but this time no visible motion in the images – but driving did increase the frequency of subject matter.

green cleaving blue and yellow, 2013 © William Oldacre

For Light Signatures, I had a vision of lateral coloured streaks running diagonally across the frame, capturing the induced motion of my passage through the city. I used a fusion of methods from Metro Motion and Coloured City – this time I rode my bicycle which slowed the pace of change, giving more opportunity to capture the material. I know this driving and biking while shooting makes me sound like a madman, but I’m not – well maybe – the process is more controlled than it seems.

Photo Credits

All Photographs Are © William Oldacre

William Oldacre Photographer Bio

William Oldacre is a Canadian photographer living in Toronto. He has exhibited several bodies of photographs themed around the emotion and dynamic of urban living and recently presented a three channel video installation called Airfish as part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche all night contemporary art event. His photographs have been published internationally and can be found in private collections in North America and Europe.

Blog / Website: William Oldacre Photography

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Planting Suburbs © Lauren McKinley Renzetti

The views are not exactly the same in the sense that the rock samples are more pristine and mostly unaltered by man, compared to what we see from outer space. Mankind has altered and changed much of the view of our planet. Pollution, clear cutting and industrialization are evident in some of the paintings and the titles also reflect my own opinions on our “process of change.” To further this comparison I have works that are based on the overdevelopment of our land compared with paintings based on truly microscopic views of man made items like the caffeine or computer chips. Both are highly organized and very busy to the viewer. (refer to Planting Suburbs and Caffeine).

Bathurst Island © Lauren McKinley Renzetti

The purpose of this show is to help regain our sense of wonder and awe for the pristine land through the smaller more unaffected views of minerals and rock slabs.

Guest Author Bio

Lauren McKinley Renzetti
Born in Mississauga, Lauren grew up in the idyllic environs on the campus of Sheridan College School of Crafts and Design, surrounded by artists, teachers and craftsman. She attended Georgian College in Barrie, McMaster University in Hamilton and Ryerson University in Toronto, gaining a Combined Honours degree is Fine Art and Theatre. While at Ryerson she gained a position as a Teaching Assistant to Tony Abrams and later as an Instructor. Lauren works in the theatre and film industry on and off but finds her true calling as an art teacher (Art Gallery of Hamilton, Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Works Art School) more satisfying. Through out her whole life art making and education, has been an equal part of daily living. Moments of “Eureka” come from her daily life with her family and the students she teaches. The sense of wonder when something uncertain develops into something truly great is more than satisfying.

Lauren is interested in the daily world around her; from detritus on the street, to the daily shift of light, seeds, rocks, the skin of a lizard, the Earth viewed from space, EEG’s of our brain to things seen only under a microscope. Lauren is interested in everything so her subject matter in paint, collage and print is varied and ever changing. Lauren classifies herself as an Abstract Landscape Maximalist. Her work is textural, varied and full. Mapping out and often using the world she observes.

Blog / Website:  Art With Lauren

Follow Lauren on:   Facebook  | Twitter | Linkedin

An instructor may choose from any number of starting points. There will always be subjects that feel more accessible to students and therefore, will provoke a more positive reaction from the outset. Equally, there are certain lessons that upon introduction, are received with apprehension, dread or even fear.

Last week in my drawing class, I decided to explore architecture as my theme with my students. For them, this immediately conjured up images of rulers, set squares, measured proportion and impossible perspective. They were unconvinced and so it was my mission to change their point of view in an enjoyable way.

Being a city girl, the urban environment is not unfriendly to me but rather where I feel at home and most inspired. What I see in architecture and cityscapes is energy, dynamism and presence. Colour, texture, character and scale all interest me visually. My reaction is never one of intimidation.

So as a teacher, how do I bridge that gap for students and talk them round? Firstly, there are no rulers and hopefully no straight lines in my class. I have learnt to avoid in depth explanations of 3 point perspective, finding that being armed with too much information only tightens and worries students more. Instead, I throw them in at the deep end, with a series of short burst exercises that distract them and require such complete engagement that they quickly forget about their anxiety and preconceptions.

I also emphasize the need to experience the scene or building as a whole, especially in the initial stages, rather than fussing with details. Using broad tools and certainly dispensing entirely with erasers is very much encouraged. If students are using photographs, I have them use them as a loose reference initially but then soon after, have the students set them aside so they may first observe but then yield to a more intuitive response. This way, I hope that they will achieve a pleasing balance between observed detail and elements of abstraction and fancy.

As an artist, what you choose to edit, extract or disregard is what is right for you. You are using your voice and it is your story to tell. S o, if someone starts counting windows and tells you that you’ve missed one, well, they may be right but they will most likely be missing the point. In this case, a pleasing and engaging artwork is a better goal that an exhaustive report. Leave that to the engineers.

Actually, I have been surprised how often engineers and even architects have come to my classes. In spite of all their technical skill and knowledge, their drawings most often have a different underlying purpose and intention. Their drawings have been made to clearly communicate information that can be universally interpreted and understood without dispute. The reason they come to class is to see differently, loosen up and express a more personal response to their subject matter.

 So, if you are ever inspired to take architecture or city scape as your theme, be reassured that all the shapes you see are shapes that you already know. It is unlikely that anyone will ever directly compare your work to the actual scene and measure it in terms of its accuracy. So put your energies into enjoying the rhythms, sensations, the colours and textures and the play of light on structures and forms.

My students did all change their minds. After a 3-hour class, they had made peace with architecture and to my knowledge, not a single window was counted.

Image Credits

All Images Are © Bythe Scott

Bythe Scott Artist Bio

In 1969, Blythe Scott was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Being the daughter of two Art teachers, aesthetic matters were given much importance during her upbringing.  Therefore, it was very natural that Blythe should attend Art School, understanding that the creative journey would be a valuable and even essential experience in itself.

It was during her daily journey to The Glasgow School of Art, that she began to notice the beauty of Glasgow’s Victorian architecture. The wrought iron detailing, the stained glass, the red and blond sandstone structures, all exuded a wealth of decoration and  form on an imposing scale.

Spending each day on the sixth floor of the Art School, she  had the opportunity to survey the cohesive and inspiring architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the moody, ever- changing city skyline. The slate-covered roof tiles and domes she looked down upon, which were often glazed in rain, were to leave their mark and inspire an endless enquiry into architecture and the urban environment.
At the same time, she further fed her appetite for beautiful cities by traveling as often and as widely as she could, deepening her obsession for architecture and cityscape.  While Glasgow offered a great deal of source material, foreign cities seemed bathed in dazzling colour and light by comparison.

Blythe graduated in 1991 with an honours degree and then in 1997, she achieved a post graduate with distinction in Art and Design Education from Strathclyde University.  Since then, she has travelled to and lived in various cities around the world and has worked as a decorative artist, gallery artist, gallery assistant and a passionate teacher of adults and children.

Currently, she continues to offer various adult classes and workshops at various venues such as Vancouver Island School of Art and Art School Victoria. However, most of her time is spent in her studio, working with watercolour, acrylic, mixed media and collage,  underpinned with rigorous drawing on a variety of scales. She also produces signed, open and limited edition prints, based upon the cities she knows well. Her work is in private collections in North America, the UK, mainland Europe and Australia.

Website: Blythe Scott

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