Waters Edge in Blue oil on canvas, 36 x 36 private collection Exhibited: Arden's Gallery, Houston
My thanks to the purchaser of this oil.
I love these rocky, coastal views and for this painting, the blues after sunset caught my attention. Each of the cascading land forms has a color of its own. Some of the rocks are in an atmospheric glow and the darker rocks express a substantial mass. It's interesting how the reds add the illusion of weight.
All of the elements here, the haze on the land as well as the water and sky are indicating motion. The color combinations flow across the oil with the last light yielding to the encroaching blues. There is a feeling that time is quickly passing and all that is aglow now will soon be gone. It is that perfect, blue moment.
Summer by the Shore, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT
Patterns are intriguing and helpful when painting flat landscapes. I was first attracted to the shape of the summer clouds but once that red-purple band was painted in, the rest of the oil became a playground of pooling water, strips on land and vegetation.
Everything merged together, unifying the painting and creating interesting things to see in every part.
View the complete article and more amazing photos here: Washington Post
Canada-based photographer David Sandford has been making pictures for more than 18 years. During that time, he has mostly been able to pay his bills by shooting sports. But his true passion lies in making photographs about anything to do with water. Sandford explains what draws him to water: “Oceans and lakes beckon me. Since I was a kid, I’ve loved to be on, in or around water. I’m fascinated by the sheer raw power and force of it, captivated by the graceful movement of a wave and mesmerized by light dancing across it.”
With this passion for water in mind, Sandford set out at the end of November to document the violently crashing waves on Lake Erie. He keeps an eye out for the weather conditions that come together to create the incredible wave formations he captures. Those weather conditions usually coincide with 65 mph winds that send the water of Erie 25 to 35 feet into the air. And that’s when Sandford heads to the shores of Erie with his 400mm and 70-200mm lenses, sometimes shooting for six hours at a time in air as cold as -2 to 14 degrees Celsius. His dedication and passion have paid off with incredible, surreal images of the roiling waters that Sandford calls “liquid mountains.”
You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we'll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town.
“Wishes come true,” says artist Ken Elliott of his slow migration from Texas to Colorado. What's not to love about the state he now calls home? “Four seasons and no bugs and wild summers in a little-big town,” Elliott points out. And for an artist, Colorado also offers a sense of place that has inspired most of his colorful oil landscapes.
“I do a lot of trees, a lot of sky, and I’m bringing in more water,” Elliott says about elements that allow him to bring in the color that gives his large-scale paintings such vitality. “The landscapes are really just an excuse to do whatever you want to do with color," he explains. "You can be low-key or outrageous, poetic or shocking. What I’m really trying to do is thrill myself.”
He does that working primarily in oils. “You have to work more to get the color you want,” he says, and that's a challenge Elliott appreciates: “There’s some mixing involved, and also if you’re working it right, there’s more risk involved — but you can use accidents.”
Lake Shadows oil, 30 x 30
Having expert teachers has helped him learn how to use those accidents. “I was fortunate enough to get to study with Wolf Kahn for a month,” Elliott says. “I’ve been fortunate to have the best mentors in a lot of different fields.”
Elliott says his painting gets better with every canvas because “I’m going to take it further than I’m comfortable with.” He’s been painting since the late 1970s, and he isn’t afraid to admit that he’s still honing his craft, learning as he goes.
Elliott works with pastels, too, and has done etching and collage work. “All of these mediums have helped me to become a better artist who is willing to take more risks,” he says. "“Pastels are essentially chalk, and they are already mixed. You pick up what you want, and then you layer. They can be lovely, and very powerful.”
Of Two Hearts collage
As for collage, “You get exactly what you want since the lines are already there," Elliott continues. "When painting, I have an idea in my head, and then I have to get it to travel down my arm and onto the stick and out of this gloopy glob of paint.”
Rio Chama View oil, 34 x 48
“I’m doing large formal landscapes in the tradition of contemporary American painters," he continues. "I’m trying to get over the bar and then raise it and jump over it again."
Elliott started showing his work in 1990 and has been represented by over a dozen galleries, including Mirada Fine Arts Gallery; his work can be found around town in local businesses, hospitals, hotels and event centers. Earlier this year, Elliott had a solo retrospective at the Parker Arts, Culture and Events (PACE) Center, and several large reproductions of Elliott’s landscapes are currently hanging in the main terminal of Denver International Airport as part of the semi-permanent group show Here to There. For more information on his work, visit Ken Elliott's website.
I'm currently working on three oils here, the 48 x 48 ocean scene and on the left at 30 x 30 and 36 x 36. The oil on the right is a completed 30 x 40 oil, Autumn Diagonal.
The two small oils are studies for more simpler compositions with more emphasis on color and expression. I'm having a ball creating new problems and working through the possible solutions.
This is an oil started as a demo in my June, Making it Fine Art Workshop at my home / studio in Castle Rock, CO. This is my first seascape in oil, but since we were all in class to make some new moves, I was compelled to begin an ocean canvas for the first time.
It all began with a good start, locating the brightest and darkest parts of the scene, freely using a variety of colors - some arbitrary to keep things interesting. I had severely cropped the source photo from a recent trip to Galveston, TX. This image represents just a fraction of the original photo.
I kept the brush marks loose and free. As it turned out, any number of color combinations could have been used here and I will do so in future versions. My focus to was make an engaging work of art without being too representational. There is much for the eye to take in with the overall textures and colors shifting along the vertical and horizontal directions.
This three foot square oil is a nice success, a sketch for larger works to come!
