Showing posts with label Joseph Young. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph Young. Show all posts

What Catches Your Eye?

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

What makes you stop and look at a painting? Is it the subject, the colors, the textures? We are all drawn to art for different reasons, and often, it’s on a subconscious level. However, a skilled artist makes conscious decisions about how to attract a viewer’s attention. There are techniques such as composition, color manipulation, brushstrokes, and even canvas shapes that can influence our reaction to a particular work of art. Of course, the best paintings look effortless, but don’t be fooled!


Late for Supper, Peggy McGivern
16" x 20" mixed media on canvas

Peggy McGivern has an interesting way to begin a painting. She sketches with a blind contour line, which means she looks at her subject, not her sketchbook or canvas, and draws continuously without lifting her pencil. “With this technique, I can get interesting, exaggerated shapes from which to start my painting,” she said. “If I’m working plein air, I look at the scene, and what attracted me to it in the first place. I think that my viewers will respond to that initial impression.”
Come in Out of the Rain, Peggy McGivern
72" x 48" (diptych) oil on canvas

Peggy told me that when she’s considering a painting idea, she first looks at big shapes. In her painting entitled “Late for Supper,” about two-thirds of her canvas is the large area of land. The two figures’ vertical paths lead us up the painting towards the village, where she wants our eyes to rest. Peggy also said that she likes to avoid typical horizon lines. Here, the paths create bold geometric shapes that contrast with the distant buildings, and they give us the sense that the figures are quite far away from their homes, in a hurry to get there.

Color choices and brushstrokes convey the message in Peggy’s painting entitled “Come in Out of the Rain.” In this work, she wanted the viewer’s eye to go to where the rain is coming down on the cattle, so she chose beautiful iridescent paints and energetic brushstrokes to focus on that area of her work. The dark sky and purple hills in the background add weight to the scene, augmenting the feeling of an imminent downpour. Although it might look spontaneous, these decisions are thoughtful. “I’m always looking for weird, wonderful combinations for people to enjoy,” she said.

Split Rock, Melissa Johnson
48" x 60" Oil, Cold Wax, and Silver Leaf
Texture and paint application are other ways to call attention to a painting. Melissa Johnson mixes in cold wax to give her oil paints more body. Working with her palette knife, she can adjust the fluidity of the paint. She also uses the wax to adhere the different types of metal leaf she applies to parts of her canvas. Melissa doesn’t use a paint brush too often. “I use all sorts of tools to build up my layers: palette knives, credit cards (expired, I hope), dough scrapers, and any tools I might find at the local Dollar Store.”



Manville Road, Melissa Johnson
48" x 48" oil & cold wax metal leaf
Although Melissa’s paintings look three-dimensional, they don’t really have thick texture. It’s her skillful technique of applying multiple layers of wax-mixed paint that makes her images jump out, as you can see in her painting entitled “Split Rock.” The different tones and shapes of the cliff surface, along with the beautifully rendered crevices and light areas really pull the viewer into the painting and direct us to the lighthouse on the bluff.

Melissa explained that cold wax also speeds up drying time and adds transparency to the color. With this product, she can keep working on her painting by scraping off and applying more paint and wax until she is satisfied.


Mailboxes are the subject in her 48X48” painting entitled “Manville Road.” I really like this composition – even though the mountains in the background catch our eye with their gorgeous colors and 3-D presentation, the five mailboxes command our attention, as the applied metal leaf conveys strong reflected light.

Two Horned Cows, Joseph E. Young
36" x 24" acrylic on canvas
If you pass by one of Joseph Young’s paintings at Wilde Meyer, changes are, you’ll stop and look. Joseph is all about patterns, and there are so many! “I’ve always been a decorative painter,” he says Trained as an art historian, Joseph is influenced by many art movements, such as Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, and modernism. “Even abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollack were decorative artists in their own way,” he commented.

Joseph likes to paint flat, and uses pattern to give the illusion of three dimensions. He juxtaposes colors that vibrate off each other. “If there’s no vibration, I add another contrasting color, until I get the desired effect. I want the colors to either work with or against each other to create excitement in the painting.”

Five Doves and Flowers, Joseph E. Young
36" x 36" acrylic on canvas
To achieve patterns such as these requires considerable patience. As you can see in his painting entitled “Two Horned Cows,” there are many different elements, and each has its own pattern. There are so many varieties of butterflies, flowers and fish; yet they are grouped in an organized, thoughtful way. You can tell that Joseph has a very strong sense of design (and an amazing ability to stay focused!).

“Five Doves and Flowers” is another example of this artist’s unique style. At first glance, we see the white doves, then the tulips, but on closer inspection, those small orange shapes are flowers and, wait, are those little eyes peeking out here and there among the flowers? Maybe they’re butterfly patterns, but they sure caught my attention!

So, the next time you’re drawn to a work of art, consider what made you stop and look. What emotions did it elicit? What do you admire about the artist’s style, and if it really excites you, consider adding it to your collection!

See more art by Peggy McGivern,  Melissa Johnson , and Joseph Young at Wilde Meyer Gallery.

Planned vs Intuitive (Part One)

To plan, or not to plan…

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

Are you a planner? Do you like to know what you’re going to do and how you’ll go about it? Or, are you someone who acts impulsively, going by the seat of your pants?

House in Vinales  30" x 40"  oil on canvas
 Judy Feldman
Artists, like other humans, usually fall into one of these two categories, and the way they work is what gives their art its distinct character. I think I fall more into the planner category. I like to think about what I want to paint; then I look through images that inspire me. After that, I sketch a painting to see if the composition works, then go to my canvas. I have a color scheme vaguely in my mind, but once I start painting, the colors seem to evolve as I decide what will work together. I try to create a place where I’ve been, or where I’d like to be, and that usually involves many details, so planning is necessary.

“House in Vinales” is inspired by a trip I took to Cuba. I wanted to convey the warmth and strong colors of the small houses there, but then got involved with the other things: the bicycle (the main means of transportation), the animals (there are many), the shutters, and so on.

Under the Red Umbrella  36" x 48"  oil on canvas 
Judy Feldman
Likewise, while painting “Under the Red Umbrella,” I wanted to show the objects that make a patio setting cozy and inviting. So I had to plan to include things on the table, as well as patterned pillows on comfy chairs. Although I do get into the “zone” of the painting process, I can’t deny that I’m a planner!

What’s it like to be an intuitive painter, who just goes at it, without much of a plan? To find out, I called a few Wilde Meyer artists, and found out that some are planners like me; while others have different ideas. It’s always so interesting for me to hear about their process.

See more paintings at Wilde Meyer Gallery.

Flights of Fancy  30" x 24"  oil on canvas
Judy Feldman
At Home in Fez 30" x 24" oil on canvas
Judy Feldman

Two Horned Cows in a Verticle Landscape
36" x 24" acrylic on canvas
Joseph E. Young
Joseph E. Young is kind of a planner, but he approaches painting in a very different way. He wants to create a dream world, one that’s similar to ours, but with another set of rules about composition and imagery. Like me, Joseph has a plan, and he also likes to work from inspirational photos. He clips things from magazines and newspapers, to use as reference in his paintings. But once he gets started with his first image, he starts wandering around the canvas, adding elements such as flowers, butterflies, trees and animals.

For example, in his painting “Big Horned Cows,” Joseph said he started by painting the two cows, then he kept adding layers of different objects. “As I work, I try to make a home for the image,” he explained. His work is figurative, but very stylized. Joseph told me that he loves pattern, and is especially inspired by 18th century wallpaper. “I’m really a decorative painter,” he said. “I love to make things flat, rather than three dimensional. If I want to suggest depth, I use overlapping planes.

Cowboy and Two Dogs in a Landscape
36" x 36" acrylic on canvas
Joseph E. Young
You can see this skill in his painting entitled “Cowboy and Two Dogs in a Landscape.” Although the work is very flat, he still conveys to us that the young man is sitting on a bed of flowers, and that one of his dogs is trying to reach the fish in the water. There is so much to see in Joseph’s paintings! Looking at this one again, I see small bears climbing a tree, along with his lovely butterflies (he calls them jewelry), his favored orange flowers, tulips and fish. There’s something allegorical about his work. His dream worlds are so pleasant and inviting!

Joseph shared another thought with me. He favors a square canvas, since “you don’t have to think about the composition – it emerges like a genie out of a bottle!” He further explained that when you put your first image on a square, it breaks up the balance. Then, he works to restore that balance by adding his other elements

In my next blog, I'm going to feature two other artists who approach painting in a very intuitive way. I think you'll definitely see how their work reflects this process.

In the meantime, check other paintings by Joseph on our website.

Birds and Pink Flowers  36" x 36" acrylic on canvas
Joseph E. Young


Patterns Perk up Paintings!

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

Patterns are all around us. We see them in nature, on clothing, and in any number of decorative items around our homes: wallpapers, rugs, pillows, upholstery, etc. Patterns perk things up. Think how dull it would be if everything were solid! I can’t imagine how plain my painting entitled Fruits, (Mostly) would be without the patterns on the bowl and tablecloth. And, certainly, Spots, Stripes and Squares would be so boring without the spots, stripes or squares!

Patterns have been a big part of artists’ work for a long time. The Japanese wood-block prints influenced many painters, such as Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Toulouse- Lautrec, to name a few. The pointillists created their own form of pattern with small dots of color that become blended in the viewer’s eye to form an image.

Joseph Young is all about patterns. “I’ve always been a decorative painter,” he says Trained as an art historian, Joseph is influenced by many art movements, such as Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, and the artists mentioned above. “Even abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollack were decorative artists in their own way,” he commented.

Joseph likes to paint flat, and uses pattern to give the illusion of three dimensions. He juxtaposes colors that vibrate off each other. “If there’s no vibration, I add another contrasting color, until I get the desired effect. I want the colors to either work with or against each other to create excitement in the painting.”

To achieve patterns such as these requires considerable patience. As you can see in his painting entitled Red and White Cat and a Puppy in a Landscape, there are many different elements, and each has its own pattern. There are so many varieties of butterflies, flowers, fish and birds; yet they are grouped in an organized, thoughtful way. You can tell that Joseph has a very strong sense of design (and an amazing ability to stay focused!).

In his painting Cowboy and Two Dogs in a Landscape, we see similar floral designs and butterflies, but here Joseph has used a pointillist effect of dots and tiny patterns to create a sense of depth against the flatter, more solid elements in the work.

Rena Vandewater also uses lines and dots to give her paintings movement and a three dimensional effect. Woman with Pups is a very stylized work – the woman and her dogs are flat, but everything else vibrates because of the patterns she’s created. Pear Tree would be a pretty uninteresting painting without the textures she’s given to the sky, leaves and patches of ground that together remind me of a quilt and needlework.

“I work intuitively,” she explains. “The painting talks to me the entire time I’m working on it. The patterns and shapes evolve in the process, and although I see the images as a whole, each space has a life of its own.”

Yellow Sun Vineyard also shows the influence of textiles on Rena’s work. The shapes of the hills, each with its own pattern and color scheme, convey the look of a collage piece. The red ground that shows between the patterns and as a border around the shapes makes the colors really pop.

Tracy Miller isn’t afraid of color. She often puts conflicting hues together to give energy to a painting. “People respond to color emotionally,” she says. Tracy lives in the foothills of a mountain area in Colorado, where the wildlife she sees daily inspire her art.

Her method is so different from Joseph and Rena’s, She says she follows a “visual haiku,” meaning that she starts with black lines painted in a free-form way to create forms for a color abstraction. “That movement and pattern informs the animal I create,” she says. “It just evolves from the initial drawing.” If you look at two of her paintings, Horse and Bear, you can see the initial black swirls under the red background.

But that’s just the beginning of the work. As she adds brushstrokes of color, the animal emerges, with its shape and musculature. Tracy uses different colors to show contour, rather than more traditional lights and darks of the same hue.

Other techniques that characterize Tracy’s unique style include switching between opaque and transparent colors. The moose in Lazy Days is portrayed with strikes of transparent hues that give it a luminous glow. Tracy often crops her image to zoom in on her color patterns, as in Longhorn Series II. “It’s more about the design, than a realistic image of the animal,” she explains. And, the flourish of a splatter of paint that flies over most of her paintings is “my, fun, energetic signature.”

So, keep your eye out for patterns. They are everywhere, and they make life so much more interesting!

The 19th Dog Days

"Cabana Dog" oil on canvas 12"x16"
by Judy Feldman
Wilde Meyer is getting ready for its annual “Dog Days of Summer” show entitled, "The 19th Dog Days," which opens August 4th, 2011 7-9p.m. That got me thinking, “Why are there so many artists at the gallery who show dogs in their paintings?”

Most of my paintings include a dog. It started with Cleo, my loveable Wheaten terrier. I was painting an interior setting and I thought that she would enjoy living in a place like that!

Cleo's Fantasy 20"x16"
by Judy Feldman, 2005

Once she was in the painting, I realized that the scene came alive, and the viewer would know that people lived there with their lovely dog.
Over the years, I’ve painted many other dogs - some belong to friends of mine; others I find from images that are irresistible to me. Cleo has been everywhere (in paintings): France, Morocco and in homes of my imagination. For this dog show, I painted a beagle in a summer fantasy: at the beach, in a cabana, with treats nearby.

But what about the other artists? I contacted a few, and here are their remarks:
Joseph E. Young
Long Eared Dog 12"x12"
by Joseph E. Young
 Joseph E. Young, who paints dogs in beautiful patterned settings inspired by 18th century wallpaper, feels a spiritual connection with these creatures.

Red and White Cat with Puppy 36"x36"
by Joseph E. Young
“Each dog has its own personality that emerges from the painting,” he says. “Dogs bring movement to a painting (notice their tails), and they imply the presence of a human nearby.” Joseph also likes the decorative element a dog brings to a painting.

Like me, he tries to create a world where a dog can live in harmony with its surroundings.
"Really" oil on canvas  8"x8"
by Sheridan Brown
Sheridan Brown
A wallpapered room also figures in the background of a painting by Sheridan Brown entitled “Anticipation.” We don’t see what the dog is looking at, but we can surely guess it’s a person holding something to eat!
Red Irish 5"x5"
by Sheridan Brown

I love the dangling tongue, just waiting to taste the treat. The wondrous looks in the two dogs’ eyes in her painting “Really?” have such a human expression, you can imagine them saying just that! Here are a few of Sheridan's newest paintings where she captures excitement in playful imagery.
"Dont Fence Me In" oil on canvas 30"x36"
by Connie Townsend
Connie Townsend
Connie's dogs live in quite different surroundings –in old cars or trucks!

They all like to drive and hang out of the windows with their tongues and ears flapping. She claims that if you leave a dog in a car, they will inevitably go to the driver’s seat.

I tried that with Cleo, and, yep, she’s right. Connie says that her dog Maggie has been her inspiration in more than 100 paintings, even if she’s painting another breed.
Beagle Scout 30"x30"
by Connie Townsend
According to Connie, “A dog brings a painting to life and a smile to your face. Everytime.” That certainly happens when I look at “Beagle Scout.” The two dogs driving the green pick-up with the RUFF license plate have a crazed look in their eyes, like they’re on the adventure of their lives!

In “Don’t Fence Me In,” Connie uses another vehicle – a motorcycle – to take her dog on a wild ride, with a cat on its head. How could you not smile at that?

"Pugly Pirate" oil on canvas 12"x12"
by Andrea Peterson
Frida Learns to Fly14"x11"
by Andrea Peterson
Andrea Peterson agrees with Connie that paintings with dogs elicit happy feelings, and she says that their posture and expressions “make the painting more dynamic and interesting.”

Andrea has an adopted Chihuahua named Frida. She says that when she saw her at the animal shelter, “since Frida Kahlo is one of my favorite artists, I took that as a sign that she was meant to be my little art buddy!” Frida sometimes sits on Andrea’s lap while she is painting, and I’m wondering if the two friends are both featured in her painting entitled “Lullaby.”

Here is one of Andrea's newest paintings "Pugly Pirate".
Lori Faye Bock on her farm.

Lori Faye Bock

Animals are a big part of Lori Faye Bock’s life. She lives on a farm with many sheep, dogs and cats.

"Wishful Thinking" acrylic on panel 12"x12"
by Lori Faye Bock
No Trick...No Treat  12"x12"
by Lori Faye Bock
Lori says that “every dog I see makes its way into a painting somehow, at some point.”
Occasionally, she paints her own dogs, but she notes that their personalities always shine through the other animals she paints. In her portrait entitled "Wishful thinking," the dog's expression suggests a strong request for a treat (with a hint from the bone image over its head)! Lori doesn’t limit her subjects to dogs.

In “Protecting the Shy One,” she portrays a cow and its calf in such a sweet way – it looks like a mother and child.

"Pink Pantherette" Colorado Alabaster Stone 18"x9"x14"
by Merlin Cohen
Not all Wilde Meyer artists are painters, and not all favor dogs. When you come to visit the upcoming dog show, you’ll see gallery’s guard cat: Merlin Cohen’s stone sculpture entitled “Pink Pantherette.”

But I think it’s safe to say that many of us have a fondness for four-legged creatures, be they dogs, cats, cows or horses. They often are the muses for the art we love to make!

To see more dog days art, click here or contact us.