The Painter’s Emotional Lens

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

We often think of landscape paintings as representational art. But, in fact, many artists are so inspired by the landscape they are experiencing, they prefer to convey these scenes through the lens of their emotions.

I recently attended a lecture by a docent from the Phoenix Art Museum about the Hudson River School. These American painters of the 19th century hiked in uncharted territory of upstate New York, in awe of the wilderness around them. They sketched and wrote their memories on site; then created paintings in their studios that we would call realistic, but which conveyed their fascination with and love of nature.

Dawn Mountain Glow
Fran Larsen

Today, some contemporary painters express their reactions to a landscape in a different way. They choose to ignore local color and instead, use hues that convey their emotions rather than describe what they see. Others prefer to express themselves with more stylized, abstract versions of physical realities. To explore these different concepts of landscape painting, I called two artists from Wilde Meyer whose work I admire.

When she moved to Santa Fe, Fran Larsen was thrilled by the wonderful light there, the amazing landscape and the interesting cultures of its residents. Fran says that her paintings are metaphors of her reaction to these unique New Mexican characteristics.

“I’m inspired by the way the environment here makes me feel,” she says. “Because of the intense light, I see color in entirely different ways. Once color becomes arbitrary – rather than local – shapes can be arbitrary as well.”

Hidden in the Mountains
Fran Larsen

Inspiration for her painting entitled “Dawn Mountain Glow” came as Fran was looking out her window at the canyon below her house. She painted the arroyo that runs through the canyon – a technique she often employs. “Roads and rivers are entry points that take us into things, and I believe that each painting is an exploration for me and the viewer,” she says. As you can see, Fran’s choice of colors is personal, and doesn’t reference the local scene. I sense that her emotional lens was a joyful one – the vivid colors in the canyon and the sky make the painting energetic and pleasing.

Fran departs from realism in other ways. In her painting entitled “Hidden in the Mountains,” she makes no attempt to portray a three-dimensional depth of field. “This painting is about a landscape, but my interest here is design and the use of flat space – a more cubist approach,” she says. Fran explains that she contrasts light and dark areas, using hues that vary in intensity, to give the painting a “feeling of push and pull.” She uses small dots to enliven the shapes and add texture.

There is another unique element in Fran’s paintings – the frames themselves. She designs, constructs and paints each frame to complement the painting. “The frame reasserts that the painting is an object, as opposed to a representation,” she says.

Sunlit Canyon
Sushe Felix

Sushe Felix lives in Colorado. Her southwest landscapes have a distinctive style, which she claims is derived from her interest in American abstract painters from the 1930’s and 40s, as well as the modernist movement. “In particular, I’ve been influenced by Raymond Jonson, who led the Transcendental Painting Group in Santa Fe,” Sushe explained.

Late Night Reflection
Sushe Felix

I looked up the group on Google, and found that the aim of the Transcendental Painting Group was "to defend, validate and promote abstract art. They sought to carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world, through new expressions of space, color, light and design."

Thomas Hart Benton, who was at the forefront of the Regionalist movement, also influenced Sushe, as did the southwest regionalist painters, who took the local landscape and abstracted it. Sushe does that in her own way, with a strong focus on forms, shapes and color. You can see her unique style in two of her paintings, entitled “Sunlit Canyon” and “Late Night Reflection.” She likes to define the shapes of the mountains and sky with sharp edges, but contrasts that with soft shapes inside the borders. When I asked her how she created the delicate areas of clouds, mountains and trees, she said that she uses old brushes to scrub acrylic paint on her canvas to create a pastel-like effect. “I studied pastel in college, so I know how to blend very well,” she says.

Sushe often includes depictions of wildlife in her paintings. Here, her love of animals lead her to create endearing “critters” with round eyes – as you can see in two beautiful paintings entitled “Nest of Blooms.” and “Full Brood.”

Full Brood Sushe Felix

Nest of Blooms Sushe Felix

Many people want a point of reference when they look at a painting. But more importantly, a painting should reflect the artist’s vision – seen through his or her emotional lens.

View more art by Fran Larsen and Sushe Felix at Wilde Meyer Gallery.

The Art of “Texting”

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

Text is an integral part of our language. We need the written word to learn about things, to communicate and for the pleasure of reading.

When we think of art, we generally think of imagery, either in two- or three-dimensional form. But some artists like to combine images with words and numbers. From my interviews with three different artists at Wilde Meyer, this technique is used for different reasons.

Timothy Chapman’s initial education in biology informs his choice of subject matter and use of text in his paintings. According to Timothy, his paintings owe a lot to his fondness for earlier styles of depicting animals, particularly the copperplate engravings that illustrated Buffon's Natural History, as well as Victorian animal portraiture and old scientific illustration. Since there was no photography at that time, the images are not always correct.

"The Effects of Diet on Pattern"
by Timothy Chapman

“I’ve tried to present similarly earnest, but basically inaccurate renderings of animals by using humor, irony and a surrealistic sensibility that’s not available to the scientist,” he said. Timothy also follows the tradition of naming the animal on the painting, sometimes with the correct genus nomenclature, and sometimes with an invented Latin name that could be “plausible.” For example, in his painting labeled “Onchorhynchus Zebra,” he used the correct species name for the trout, but he created his own version, with a zebra design.

Timothy’s humor comes through in his painting of “Pets of the Pleistocene.” He said, “I tried to imagine what cavemen’s pets would be like. Smilodon is the actual genus name for a saber-toothed tiger that lived in the Pleistocene era. This cat hasn’t grown into its fangs yet.”

"Embrace the Bloom"
by Lori Faye Bock

If he doesn’t include nomenclature on a painting, Timothy comes up with interesting titles to explain the species he portrays, like “The Effects of Diet on Pattern.” “These titles use the language of a scientific historian, but in an ironic way,” he explained.

Lori Faye Bock’s colorful paintings incorporate text as a design element. Her appreciation for words came later in life, since she had dyslexia as a child. But when she had a major birthday, her mother gave her a book of quotes by women who recently turned 50. “I started reading these quotes, and found them very uplifting,” she said.

"Your Main Squeeze"
by Lori Faye Bock

Then, the words found their way onto her paintings. She started with a series of skirt paintings, and incorporated quotes as pattern elements. The quotes come from the many books of women’s quotes that she’s collected since her birthday gift. In “Embrace the Bloom,” the quotes are hand written on orange blocks of color that are part of the skirt’s patchwork fabric.

At some point, Lori was asked to paint a more masculine image. She came up with paintings like “Your Main Squeeze.” Here, a shirt is decorated with men’s favorite things, as well as amusing quotes. She also uses rubber stamps to create text as a decorative trim – seen in this painting, and in “Hungry?”

“Incorporating hand-lettered text is a time-consuming process, but I enjoy it, “she said. “I think the words add playfulness to my work, and enhance the design.”

"Hungry?"
by Lori Faye Bock

Brian Boner’s words and numbers are used as aesthetic elements in his paintings. After his father developed a neurological disease that deprived him of his ability to speak and decipher written words, Brian said he started to look at text differently.

"Early Morning Dreams"
by Brian Boner

“My paintings are very intuitive,” he said. “I try to capture a passing thought. Sometimes the words come first, and sometimes the images do. Some of the numbers are significant to me, such as birthdays or other important dates. Since I paint many layers, some of the images can get all or partially buried.”

Brian’s interest in bird paintings is also a memory of his father, who was an avid bird watcher. In his painting entitled “Early Morning Dreams,” he uses some text as a faint background layer. Although the two robins are painted realistically, the other mark-making elements and calligraphy convey a very personal statement. “South Cloud Palace” also makes a reference to Brian’s father, who told his children to “stay very still” when they were bird-watching.

"South Cloud Palace"
by Brian Boner

“The Lamb, the Birds and the Bison” is another reflection of memory: Brian said the black birds are a metaphor for something ominous – perhaps the fragility of the bison herds in his native State of South Dakota. The numbers have personal meanings, too, but they are integral to the painting’s design.

Artists have the wonderful privilege of using whatever elements contribute to their artwork. For these three, text is part of their visual message.

"The Lamb, the Birds and the Bison"
by Brian Boner

Patterns Perk up Paintings!

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

"Spots, Stripes, and Squares"
by Judy Feldman

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.

"Red & White Cat and a Puppy
in a Landscape"
by Joseph Young

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.”

"Cowboy and Two Dogs
in a Landscape"
by Joseph Young

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.

"Woman with Pups"
by Rena Vandewater

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.

"Bear"
by Tracy Miller

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.

"Longhorn Series II"
by Tracy Miller

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!

Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses: Three expressionist landscape painters

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

Lola's House, 40" x 40"
by Judy Feldman

Question: What kind of world is it when you don’t see black, grey and brown?

Answer: It’s the world of colorists and expressionist landscape painters.

You can certainly see my own love of color in a new painting entitled "Lola's House." I enjoy painting interiors and still lifes, where color is always welcome.

But, color isn't limited to interior settings. Landscapes, too, can push the boundaries of color, especially if artists express how they feel when they look at a scene, rather than try to reproduce it. These painters are happy! I also think that the southwestern landscape seems to encourage painters to see a bit out of the box.

Michelle Chrisman does the majority of her painting outdoors in New Mexico. "Part of the enjoyment for me is to be outside, to paint quickly and record my emotional response to what I'm seeing," she said. "I love to get in the zone, surrounded by nature, and paint alla prima, that is, wet on wet, finishing in one session." Her painting entitled "Luminous Light" is a good example of her fresh style. It's as if she took in her surroundings and expressed it in just a moment, to say how it affected her.

Luminous Light, 24" x 30"
by Michelle Chrisman

Michelle is a colorist who "hyper sees;" that is, she sees the hues that make up the local color others perceive. She's very interested in the effect of light and spectral color, which is defined by Wikipedia as a "color that is evoked by a single wavelength of light in the visible spectrum…" The spectrum often is divided up into named colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.

"For me, paint is part of the experience," she said. "I want it to be luscious, to say "I'm paint, touch me!”

October in the Mountains, 50" x 60"
by Barbara Gurwitz

You can appreciate Michelle's technique and color vision in her painting entitled "Morning Light on Abiquiu Cliffs." I like the wonderful reds and yellows she uses to show warmth and light, contrasted with violet and greens to indicate the shadow side of the mountains. I think she wants us to focus on this area of the painting, as she uses much softer tones for the land and river in the foreground. So I’m guessing that it's the mountain that really grabbed her eyes. In addition to strong color, Michelle uses heavy texture with a palette knife to describe her landscape.

Barbara Gurwitz wants to create a sense of place in her landscape paintings. She takes photos and does sketches of the special places she wants to paint. But realism takes a back seat to the expression of how she felt at the time of her visit to the site. "I’m not interested in duplicating the colors of nature," she said. "I’ve always chosen colors that speak to the way I see the world, which are sometimes different from what you would expect."

View From the West, 24" x 30"
by Barbara Gurwitz

When looking at one of Barbara's paintings, "October in the Mountains," I know it's a scene of a southwestern village in the foothills of a mountain range. But her strong, primary colors give this landscape great energy and a charming, folk art quality.

Barbara also seems to see through rose-colored glasses, and that may be because she uses a red ground under her paintings. "It’s a wonderful neutral," she said. She leaves the red as negative space in some areas. This is evident in most of her paintings, such as "Santa Cruz Autumn" and "View from the West." The red under-painting makes everything glow!

Three in Ranchos, 32.5" x 38.5"
by Leigh Gusterson

Leigh Gusterson learned to paint in New Jersey and was trained in the Hudson River style of plein air painting. "It was grey and humid a lot of the time, and my paintings reflected that weather." But things changed when she relocated to Taos and experienced the effect of the light there. Now, Leigh loves to push color when she paints on location at her favorite sites.

"As artists, we train our eyes to see shapes, form and color more intensely," Leigh said. "I like to share what I see with viewers of my artwork. Sometimes, it's the awesome New Mexican landscape that displays these amazing colors!"

Leigh's loose, painterly style enables her to paint expressively. We can see her wonderful technique in "Three in Ranchos" and "Down in Pilar."

Like Barbara, Leigh enjoys painting scenes of villages nestled in the mountain foothills, with their farms, houses and church. She, too, chooses to wear rose-colored glasses, and infuses some of her work with a sense of whimsy, as in "These Sheep Need a Barn."

So, if you’re living in the Southwest, take a drive to a favorite spot and look again. You, too, may see some beautiful colors you’ve never seen before.

Art and Spirituality

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

Is there a special relationship between art and spirituality? There are many reasons to think so. Art and traditional religions have always been linked – some of the greatest paintings and sculptures have had religious themes.

I think artists have always striven to express something that’s beyond the material. The “language” of art can be an emotional reaction to a beautiful landscape, a completely conceptual piece that conveys a personal message, or an image that tells a story of importance to the artist. Often, there’s a spiritual component.

Ghost Shirt series #4  61"x61"
by Jim Nelson

  There are two artists at Wilde Meyer who express spirituality in very different ways. Jim Nelson is a painter and storyteller of legends of the Lakota tribe of South Dakota. Although he is not of native heritage, Jim grew up near the Pine Ridge reservation and was friends with Lakota children. Their culture became part of him, and he has always painted their stories. Everything in Jim’s work has a meaning, expressed through vibrant colors and symbolism. He says, “I don’t just paint a person or an animal. I paint the spirit of that person or animal, and hope that the viewer will gain an understanding of this people and their culture.”

According to Jim, four primary colors represent the four sacred beings of the Lakota. Red is the highest spiritual color; blue represents the wisdom of the Sky Father; green is the Earth Mother; and yellow is the color of rocks in high places that overpower anything that stands next to them. When you look at Jim’s work, almost all paintings include these strong colors.

Paint Their Face Red 30.5"x30.5"
by Jim Nelson

For example, in the painting entitled “When Ravens Call to Her,” red is the dominant color, indicating the high spiritual nature of the woman, who has the souls and spirits of soldiers killed in battle, brought to her by the ravens who are pictured flying across her body. Jim says that these spirits are then given to the Grandfather of the North Wind (indicated by the deep blue), who puts them in the northern lights in what is called a “shadow dance.” If the eyes of this woman seem very compelling, it’s probably because Jim begins every painting with the eyes of his subject and, he says, they pull him in and dictate the course of the imagery. All of his faces are deep in thought because they are telling an important story.

When Ravens Call to Her 48"x48"
by Jim Nelson

 There are many other symbols in “Bird Woman,” which depicts a healer of battle wounds. Her striped face means that she’s been touched by a grizzly bear and has his protection. The butterfly symbolizes a messenger from the Earth Mother who teaches the healer her ways. The circles on the left side of the painting represent the lodges where the tribe once lived, and the deep blue background again connotes the wisdom of the Sky Father.

Bird Woman 36"x36"
by Jim Nelson

See the Medicine Hat 31.5"x26.5"
by Jim Nelson

I asked Jim about the image of the American flag, which appears in the painting entitled “Blackbird's Day.” He said it refers to the encroachment of the white man on the Native Americans’ lands. This painting, too, has a very strong message, which is seen in the eyes of the subject; the use of the important four colors – especially red – and the symbols. The latter appeal to us because of their decorative design, but they mean so much more, once Jim explains their significance. You can certainly appreciate his work on a purely artistic level, but when you probe and learn the spirituality beyond it, these paintings become so fascinating!

Blackbird's Day 30.5" x 30.5"
by Jim Nelson

Albert Scharf takes spirituality in another direction. His series of new paintings are inspired by the Kabbalah, the study of Jewish spirituality and mysticism. Albert says about these paintings: “I think of these pieces as meditation plaques. The Hebrew letters are like antennas to me; they make me think about things that I don’t normally contemplate. The letters also have a sound that can be chanted as a meditation.”

Left: Ayen Shin Lamed mixed media on canvas 20"x16"
Right: Mum Lamed Hey oil and sea shell mixed media on canvas 16"x20"
by Albert Scharf

As I said before, spirituality and art are connected. Albert’s Kabbalah-inspired paintings, such as “Ayen Shin Lamed” and “Mum Lamed Hey” are pleasing to look at, but they invite us to go deeper and pursue their meaning.

Landscapes #704 and #705 diptych
24"x24" total
by Albert Scharf

So, to learn a little about Kabbalah, I went to the website “Judaism 101.” Here is part of the explanation on the site: “According to Kabbalah, the true essence of G-d is so transcendent that it cannot be described, except with reference to what it is not. This true essence of G-d is known as Ein Sof, which literally means "without end," which encompasses the idea of His lack of boundaries in both time and space.

I still didn’t understand the definition, so I went to www.kabbalah.info.com. Here, it was stated: “In simpler words, there is an upper, all-inclusive force, or “the Creator,” controlling everything in reality. Some of these forces are familiar to us, such as gravity or electricity, while there are forces of a higher order that act while remaining hidden to us. Kabbalah holds the map or the knowledge of how these hidden forces are structured, and the laws by which they influence us.”

Albert also expresses his spirituality in his cloud paintings series. He says that he sees clouds as the transition state from land to the sky. “Spiritual energies are transmitted to us through the clouds. Their light affects our moods.”

Landscape #715 50"x60"
by Albert Scharf

 As you can see in “Landscape 715” (yes, he numbers his paintings and has done nearly 800), the clouds pull us into the painting and encourage us to go to a meditative place. “Landscape 682” also conveys the importance of color to Albert. He does not use local color, but prefers to select saturated hues that he says are the emotional content of his art. “If I can get people to experience an emotion, they can raise their consciousness to a higher level.”

Landscape #703 48"x36"
by Albert Scharf

You can see more art by Jim Nelson and Albert Scharf at Wilde Meyer Gallery.

The Style of Style

By Judy Feldman | www.wildemeyer.com

We often talk about an artist’s style – the way he or she paints that’s easily identifiable. That can apply to realism, abstraction and anything in between. There’s also stylized painting – a technique whereby the artist depicts an image in a unique way – presenting subject matter, forms and color choices that are very distinctive.

The Wilde Meyer artists I spoke to all said that they want to take the viewer beyond the subject by eliminating certain details and adding their own artistic marks.

Loire Valley 35.5" x 35.5" oil on canvas
by Rena Vandewater

Pear Tree 19" x 25" oil on canvas 
by Rena Vandewater

For example, Rena Vandewater, an artist from Idaho, paints scenes from places she has visited, and although some of the elements are identifiable, much of the paintings are about her artistry. As you can see in “Loire Valley,” the chateaux are there, but the orange hills and vibrant green trees are definitely Rena’s invention.

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

Rena discovered that the lines and dots of her patterned areas give the paintings a 3-D effect. “By using this technique and vibrant colors I can add movement to the painting.” This 3-D aspect is evident in “Pear Tree,” which also reflects her love of quilts and textiles.

Jaime Ellsworth and companions

Sometimes, stylized painting removes details, focusing more on shapes and color. The work of artists Jaime Ellsworth and Robert Burt fall into this approach. Jaime calls herself a “shape artist” who likes to keep her art “on the lighter side.” She doesn’t work from photos – just “what comes out of my head” – but I think she’s inspired by her family of 4-legged pets, including dogs, a goat and miniature horses. As you can see in her painting entitled “Scent,” she knows just what dogs do when they get together! (Jaime probably gets a lot of laughs from her animals. I just can’t resist including this photo she sent me of a typical car ride for her.)

Scent 24" x 36" acrylic on canvas
by Jaime Ellsworth

 “Waterbowl” is a great example of Jaime’s skill with shape and color. There are basically three shapes in this 30X40 painting – all the details are distilled away, and we can just enjoy the beautiful hues and forms.

Waterbowl 30" x 40" acrylic on canvas
by Jaime Ellsworth

Robert Burt also eliminates most particulars in his lushly colored paintings. He paints what he sees around his home in Mexico, where he lives for part of the year, and in his travels.

Bell Tower 12" x 12" acrylic on canvas
by Robert Burt

“I don’t want to distract the viewer with details, since I think that can be stressful,” he says. “Colors and shapes are more important to me.  I’m trying to tell a story and bring the viewer into my painting. Sometimes, you don’t need a door or a window to know it’s a building.”

She Hears Something 30" x 24" acrylic on canvas
by Robert Burt

You can see Robert’s beautiful simplicity in “Bell Tower.” His use of basic shapes and complimentary colors gives us all the facts we need, and we can just enjoy looking at the small church. Shadow and light also are important elements in his stylized work, as in “She Hears Something” and “Fast Friends.”

Fast Friends 12" x 12" acrylic on canvas
by Robert Burt

Sushe Felix is interested in the natural world of plants and animals. Her stylized work reflects her interest in the American Abstract painters from the 1930’s and 40’s, and modernist painting. She strives to achieve a balance between detail and simplification and uses areas of layered vibrant color.

Quiet Waters 28" x 27.5" acrylic on panel
by Sushe Felix

At first, I thought her work had a folk art quality, but on further inspection, I think it’s much more sophisticated. “Quiet Waters” has all the elements of a southwestern landscape, but its brilliant hues and abstracted shapes (the clouds are so art deco!) make this painting much more interesting.

Cloudburst 21" x 28" acrylic on panel
by Sushe Felix

Other examples of her unique style include “Cloudburst” and “Yellow Headed Blackbird.” In her artist’s statement, Sushe says “I strive to create an orderly composition of both geometric and organic form. Movement is achieved by repeating forms, shapes, and differing directions of line. In essence, I am striving to find new and different ways in which to depict the natural rhythms of life and nature.”

The next time you see a painting that looks “stylized,” just remember that it’s the artist’s unique way of communicating his or her vision of the world!

Yellow Headed Blackbird 21" x 15" acrylic on panel
by Sushe Felix

All In the Family

Desert Companions 10"x12"
by Roger Alderman

I’m still thinking about the possibility of an “art gene,” since I discovered that there are two sets of siblings who exhibit their work at Wilde Meyer.

Although their parents were not fine artists, Roger Alderman and Acacia Alder probably do have the art gene. According to Acacia, her family loved “making things” for their 100-year-old home, such as furniture and crafts, and they appreciated beautiful surroundings.

“Our house was always buzzing with a project,” she said. “Our parents felt that you should have a personal relationship with your environment, and a belief in yourself that you could make things. They felt that if you could put trust in your hand and your brain, and if your heart was in it, you could succeed at making something.”

Seen Its Better Day  9" x 12"
by Roger Alderman

Roger remembers visiting the Cleveland Museum of Art as a child, and being “knocked out” by what he saw. He later studied Industrial Design and Fine Art at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He’s also studied studio art at the Pima Community College, the Tucson Museum of Art School, and The Drawing Studio, in Tucson, Arizona. Roger has developed his own unique painting style through years of painting and drawing, using bold colors and expressive palette knife work. He often paints outdoors, in the areas around his Tucson home.

“’Cloud Burst’ depicts the summer build up of clouds we get in the Tucson area during the monsoon season,” he says.

Cloud Burst 30"x40" oil on canvas
by Roger Alderman

“Desert Charmer” was inspired by a visit to the Saguaro National Monument during the spring, when the hillsides are carpeted with yellow flowered Brittlebush. 

Desert Charmer 31.75"x 37.5" oil on canvas
by Roger Alderman

Sundown by Roger Alderman

Acacia Alder also has a contemporary view of the landscape, but she prefers to paint in her studio. Although you can appreciate her love of the outdoors, her paintings are quite stylized.

Golden Light by Roger Alderman

For example, “Sundown” and “Golden Light” both depict the Aspen trees, yet Acacia paints their trunks, rather than the leafy tops, focusing on the unique bark of these trees. They’re outlined in red and black, which makes the trees “pop” against their background. In “Sanctuary at Purgatory Chasm,” the trees, rocks and mountains again have that outlined style, which gives the painting a modern, interesting look – and a little like stained glass. Acacia says she has been influenced by Van Gogh and Cezanne. I think you can see that in her work!

Sanctuary at Purgatory Canyon 60" x 40" acrylic on canvas
by Acacia Alder

The Pendleton sisters have a wonderful collaboration going that produces mixed media pieces in paint and glass. Sandy Pendleton says that her father was a carpenter and made a living with his craft. But it was her grandmother who loved art.

Amber Sunset 12" x 36" triptych
by Sandy Pendleton
glass panels

“She did china painting, greenware ceramics, quilting and made dolls,” Sandy said. “Whenever we’d visit her, she’d always have an art project for us to do.”

Celestial Geode 12" x 15" x 2" plus base
by Sandy Pendleton

Sandy liked to make things, but she followed her interest in math and science to have a career as a programmer and project manager with IBM. When she retired, she started working with glass. “I think I like this medium because it requires some technical knowledge, in terms of chemistry and temperature control. And, it’s so much fun to experiment!” “Celestial Geode” looks like it took quite a bit of experimenting to achieve this interesting piece. “Amber Sunset Bowl” almost looks like ceramics, but it has the beautiful iridescence of glass


Nancy Pendleton, Sandy’s sister, has always loved art, drawing as a child, and, later on, obtained a BFA in graphic design. While she was working as an illustrator, she also pursued her interest in fine art, first in figurative images, and now in an abstract style. She loves mixed media, and started using handmade paper, with acrylics and natural objects. Her painting entitled “Studio Recycles Red” is a good example of her skill with different materials.

Sweet Spot 15"x10"
by Nancy Pendleton and Sandy Pendleton

Studio Recycles Red 14" x 18"
by Nancy Pendleton

When her sister became proficient in making art glass, the two decided to work together.

“We’ve worked out a technique,” said Nancy. “I often use a centerpiece in my art, and Sandy came up with glass pieces that work well in my paintings.” You can see examples of this sibling collaboration in “Bursting” and “What You See Is What It Is,” as well as some charming dog paintings such as “Sweet Spot” and “Flirting with Fido.”
 

Bursting 60"x48"
by Nancy Pendleton and Sandy Pendelton

What You See Is What It Is 24"x24"
by Nancy Pendleton and Sandy Pendleton

So, maybe there is an art gene! And, as Acacia said, it can just be that love of making things that’s passed on from one generation to another. What a gift!

Play with Me  15"x10"
by Nancy Pendleton