Inspiring Image: Abstract Reality

“Japanese Lady With Fan”, George Henry (1858-1943)

Here’s a lovely painting that I’ve admired for years. What I most respond to in this piece is the wonderful marriage of abstract and realism. George Henry, a Scottish painter, masterfully designed a beautiful, rich canvas with varied colors and edges. For a relatively small painting, there is much to keep the viewer’s eye engaged, and the entire painting has a lovely decorative quality about it.

Quite magically, we begin to realize the head of a geisha has been placed right in the center of the image. Her head is turned away in a demure fashion that enhances the mystery and intrigue of her character. It is also a clever device to help the artist keep readily identifiable features of her face from taking away from the overall abstract quality.

Inspiring Image: One Of My Dots

"Among The Teasels", Randal Dutra, 36" x 50", Oil on linen

I recently posted a quote by Steve Jobs where he advocated for connecting the dots of your life to help find your unique views.  Sometimes your dots can include the many dots of another person who is influential in your life.  I am fortunate to call artist Randal Dutra both mentor and friend.  Randal embodies the creative spirit and is fluent with any medium he feels will convey his vision.  Aside from his beautiful paintings and bronzes, Randal has amassed a 25 year career in film where he worked primarily in animation.  He is best known for his pioneering work on Jurassic Park and was nominated for an Academy Award for directing the animation on Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds.

Over the years, Randal has been generous with words of advice, critique, and inspiration.  I am the lucky recipient of his many years of experience across multiple genre and medium.  As we find our way along our journey, it important to remember that others walk before us and can be incredible resources.  When possible, look to those ahead of you for direction, inspiration, and how one can connect the dots.

See more of Randal's work at www.randaldutra.com

Inspiring Image: Find Your Dots

"Trickster", Randal Dutra, 30"x40", oil on linen

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards."- Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, love him or hate him, made a large impact on the way most of us conduct our daily business. While the myth of Jobs is sometimes blown out of proportion, he did have a honed ability to connect seemingly disparate views and elements to create a new, unique perspective.  He is sometimes described as genius because his innovations seem so obvious upon introduction, yet no one had thought of it before him.  Genius can make the complex unknown understood in beautifully simple terms.  Genius helps us find something we didn't know we were looking for.

Jobs was a big advocate of being open to many sources and then trying to "connect the dots" in his own way.  He had the faith to believe his experience(s) were leading to something new.  We can all develop this ability but it requires awareness and reflection.  As Jobs says, hindsight is what helps connect our experiences into something useful.  The process, however, begins with an openness to that which we do not yet know, and the faith that our individual experience has worth.  

Here's to your unique journey!

Inspiring Image: South African Police Station

 South African Police Station, 12" x 17", oil; 1891 Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956)

I quite like this quiet, understated painting of a South African police station from 1891 by Sir Frank Brangwyn. The field in particular is handled beautifully without being overly detailed.

Inspiring Image: A Wild Life

“Resting Cat”, 22”x42”, acrylic on board, Bob Kuhn (1920-2007)

Bob Kuhn was a master of modern wildlife painting and a true original.  He began his career in art as an illustrator for magazine covers and calendars.  His early work feels a bit stiff in its execution, which was likely required by the graphic nature of the commercial world he worked within.  Once he moved into fine art painting full-time, his work began to take on a more organic quality with special attention paid to paint application and texture.  With his keen eye developed from years of drawing from life, Kuhn’s subjects are expertly rendered and often in wholly unique poses.

Kuhn is known for his deceivingly simple compositions with their signature horizontal formats and flat fields of color.  These large areas of color are often beautifully designed shapes with complex textures achieved by many layers paint applied with brush, palette knife, and finger.  Kuhn’s work is all the more impressive because he worked with acrylics, a medium that can be tricky to use in a painterly fashion.  His main subject matter was North American big game, although he beautifully captured African and Asian species as well.

Inspiring Image: Duck Dynasty

“Goldeneye”, 7”x10” acrylic on board (2013), Robert Steiner

  

When I began my professional art career I worked within the confines of the established world of wildlife art.  I love portraying the beauty of the natural world and the amazing creatures that inhabit it.  My introduction into this genre came from exposure to duck stamp art that was popular where I grew up.  Paintings were chosen each year to be turned into stamps purchased by duck hunters as proof of registration.  The proceeds in turn helped purchase and protect wetland habitat.  I am proud that a number of my paintings have been used for land conservation over the years.

My biggest inspiration in the duck stamp world is Robert Steiner.  I first met Bob at an art show in Michigan and he was very encouraging to the dreams of a then 13 year-old aspiring artist.  We met again years later at another art show as fellow exhibitors and have remained friends since.  Over the years he has continued to push the boundaries of realist painting and redefine duck stamp art.  He is the most decorated artist in stamp art history with 82 winning designs including two federal wins.  To see more of Bob’s work please visit www.steinerprints.com.

Inspiring Image: Elevating History to Mythology

“Bocklin’s Tomb” (1901) by Ferdinand Keller (1842-1922)

Ferdinand Keller was a German painter classically trained in landscape and portraiture with an interest in historical subject matter.  In his later years, he was heavily influenced by the Swiss Symbolist painter Arnold Bocklin. Keller was drawn to Bocklin’s love of the Romantic era and his portrayal of fantastical worlds.  After seeing the work of Bocklin, Keller made the shift from historical themes to those of mythology and magic.

Upon Bocklin’s death in 1901, Keller honored his memory with the beautiful painting “Bocklin’s Tomb”.  Here he references Bocklin’s own painting “The Isle of the Dead”, and creates his vision of how Bocklin might wish to be visually eulogized.  The painting wonderfully combines a sense of the real with a feeling of fantasy, and somehow we know this place only exists on canvas even though it looks real.  In doing so, Keller has fittingly elevated Bocklin from art history to mythology.

Inspiring Image: Story in Art

"The Blind Beggar" | Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884)

I love an image that can tell an entire story.  The greatest paintings give enough visually to allow us go into our imaginations without providing everything.  We are free to interpret and create our own version of what we see.  Great art offers itself wholly yet remains mysterious, open to reinterpretation as we grow with it.  Great art offers a window into our own hearts.

What story do you see when you look upon this boy and his faithful companion? 

Inspiring Image: Celebrating Artist Robert Genn

by Robert Genn (1936-2014)

On Tuesday May 27th, the art world lost a friend and inspiration.  Robert Genn was a Canadian painter best known for capturing the landscape of his homeland and many travels around the world.

His personal style was heavily influenced by the Group of Seven painters, as well as the iconic Emily Carr, whom he met when he was a boy growing up in Victoria, BC.  His career began in illustration but evolved into full time fine art pursuits when his passion could no longer be held in check.  He went on to enjoy a long and commercially successful career garnering international acclaim.

Despite his successes, Genn never lost sight of his love of painting.  The physical act and ritual of starting from a blank canvas fuelled his desire.  His passion for travel and painting outdoors only grew over time, and his art is beloved by many.

Perhaps his greatest gift was the free website he started many years ago to act as a meeting place for artists.  He brought like-minded people together, gathered art/inspirational quotes from around the world, and provided a semi-weekly newsletter about his ideas for making and selling art.

Robert Genn was an inspirational pillar in our artist community.  His generous spirit will be missed and never forgotten.  His legacy lives on as his daughter Sara Genn, a highly successful artist herself, continues the tradition of the weekly newsletter.

To see more of Robert Genn's work and check out his free resource website for creative minds, please go to www.robertgenn.com and click on the Painters Keys Community.

Inspiring Image: Artist Frederick Mulhaupt

Frederick Mulhaupt (1871-1938) was an American painter specializing in East coast harbour scenes and landscapes in the early 20^th century.  He concentrated most of his efforts in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and often depicted the fishing and working docks.   Mulhaupt, along with Winslow Homer, helped romanticize Gloucester with his beautiful paintings that showed the area in every season.

He was often seen working on studies directly from life which he then took back to his studio to help him create larger masterpieces.  These small works, often 8”x10”, are full of energy, and show his keen eye for color and value.  

In the selected painting, you can see his frenetic brushwork rushing to capture the fading light of the day as the shadows creep further into his frame.  He expertly implies detail with carefully layered paint that resembles a jigsaw puzzle.  What a gem!

Inspiring Image: Wyeth He So Great

Piece by N.C. Wyeth (father of Andrew Wyeth) - 1907

N.C. Wyeth was one of the great illustrators of America’s golden age at the beginning of the 20^th century.  A student of Howard Pyle, Wyeth was well known for his amazing visual ability to capture a complete scene.  Often, his paintings accompanied great works of lit

erature like Treasure Island, Robin Hood, and Robinson Crusoe.  He was famous for dressing his friends and family in period costume to model for him.

What I love about his work is the strong efficiency of line and composition.  His paintings are uncluttered and clear while maintaining our interest.  In this painting of a Native American from 1907, Wyeth creates a beautiful mood of solitude and reflection.  His vertical format shows the influence of Japanese prints and, although heavily weighted on the left, maintains balance with the paddler’s gaze to the right.  Wyeth’s ability to conjure these images from his imagination are an inspiration to anyone who has ever sat before a blank canvas.

Inspiring Image: Across the Moorland by Bracht

Inspiring Image: 'Across the Moorland'

'Across the Moorland' (1890) | Eugen Bracht | oil on canvas

 Artist Website: http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=du&aid

Eugen Bracht (1842-1921) was a German landscape painter who traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East for his subject matter.  He was best known for his depictions of the Alps, the desert, and the burgeoning industrialization happening in Europe at the end of the 19^th century.

In his painting “Across the Moorland”, Bracht has romanticized the steam engine which he relied upon for his travels to distant lands.  He has captured the fairly unexceptional landscape beautifully, enhanced by the heavy, dramatic sky and mood lighting.  The train, despite being rather small in the painting, is made the focal point by the contrast of the black engine next to white steam.