Ellen Hopkins Fountain

As a previous fellow denizen of towns along the majestic Hudson River, I can relate to the muted tones in the palettes of painter Ellen Hopkins Fountain. 

"Piermont Pentimento" 30: x 22", Ellen Hopkins Fountain

But her range is wider than that majestic valley, and her paintings respond tonally to the context of scenery that inspires them.

"Bales II" 25" x 35", Ellen Hopkins Fountain

I enjoy, too, how some of her work takes the eye deep into far horizons,

'

"Yellow Skies II" 9" x 36", Ellen Hopkins Fountain

while other pieces feel almost like soft, fuzzy-edged layers of paper sitting in the same plane.

"Grey Sky Over" 20" x 32", Ellen Hopkins Fountain

To learn more about Ellen's work, go to EllenHopkinsFountain.com.

The Culture of Art

My memory of college art history classes is largely framed by the fun of watching slide shows in peacefully darkened lecture halls. While art has been a major part of my life before, during, and ever since, I haven't given much thought to its deeper meanings. 
I seek beauty, whether in formal art, nature, the faces of friends and strangers, the magic of flying above the clouds, or the symphony of a complex city that just flows and functions against all odds. 

One day, while researching books to include in an online art bookstore, I Googled "art history" and stumbled upon this definition from the mission statement of the Art History department of Barnard College: 

"Art History, which is devoted to the study of all the visual arts, is one of the broadest fields in the humanities. It is concerned not only with the nature of works of art -- their form, style, and content, but also with the social, political, and cultural circumstances that shape them." 

One line really struck me: "Art History . . . is one of the broadest fields in the humanities." 

And here I was, thinking of it as a pleasant alternative to the pre-law curriculum I thought I'd be pursuing when I started college. Well, it's true, of course, that art is not only personal self-expression. It's also a snapshot of a moment in time, with the artist channeling that entire gestalt into the work in front of him or her. 

That's why it can be so emotionally moving to look at familiar works and remember them in the context of both when they were painted and where you were when you first discovered them. 

Peggie Blizard, Still Life that Enhances Real Life

Peggie Blizard is a consistently prolific artist who lives in one of the Rivertowns near New York City. She creates trompe l'oeil worlds from seemingly miscellaneous objects. Assembled in tableaus in front of her as she works, sometimes quirky and sometimes quite traditional, they come together into gorgeous scenes poised within the frame of canvas and wood.

 "The flowers in these paintings come from my garden in the summer and from the grocery store when nothing is blooming. 

There's nothing petite about these paintings. It's difficult on a Web page to convey the scale of the original work. For instance, "Ball Ideal", shown above is 50" wide and 42" high. Each jar brought to life in the painting is about 14" high, making the trompe l'oeil effect that much more impressive for the viewer standing in front of it. 

Along with the feeling of moisture, I am trying to paint the airiness of the arrangement and I am trying to capture the light as it bounces off the flowers and glows through the petals.

Garden Flowers with Plumbago", oil/panel

Space is also important and I hope that through the trompe l’oeil techniques employed in the paintings, the viewer will be able to experience the space between his or her self and the objects rendered. 

I am strongly influenced by all of the Dutch still life painters, by their choice of subjects and for their love of the home.  Ultimately, what I try to capture in my paintings is a moment in time, brief and fleeting.

For more information about paintings by Peggie Blizard, including upcoming shows and prices, go to peggieblizard.com

The Nature of Emotions

I look at this painting, "From the Lake", by Georgia O'Keeffe, and I hear music, imagining running rapids on a Colorado river, flying through turbulence, or watching clouds gathering and breaking over mountains. 

"From the Lake", Georgia O'Keeffe

The transcendent drama and energy of the forms, her choices of color, shading, and volume, create a roiling experience of flow and force, a crashing of waves and light. 

"Dancing Willows", by Arthur Dove, creates a similar energy in a much more planar manner. By overlapping each shape over the one behind it, he implies a multiplication of movement: 

"Dancing Willows", Arthur Dove

As one willow moves, the others move in concert, controlled by unseen winds whooshing from the right side of the canvas. 

The color palettes in both of these paintings are inspired by nature, but in each case the artist has pushed the saturation in order to heighten the emotional resonance, taking it out of the ordinary and bringing it into closer focus.