Kami Mendlik - Surrender to the Process (72)
Artful Painter
Kami Mendlik’s exquisite landscape paintings shimmer and vibrate with animated light and color. Her life-long journey of curiosity and keen observation of the natural world began when she was a young child. The Minnesota farmland she grew up on was fertile not just for crops, but also for a young mind curious about the wonders of the land that was her home. She was entranced by the beauty of nature's rhythm and harmony and its myriad colors. Kami thinks of herself as a lifelong student. Each seeming advance of knowledge leads to more questions and a never-ending quest to answer them in her...
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Greg Newbold - Evidence of Process (71)
Artful Painter
Greg Newbold is a fine art painter and illustrator based near Salt Lake City, Utah. Greg says that for him, “art is a soulful expression.” His hope is that a piece of him comes out at the end of his brush onto the surface of a painting and connects with the spirit of the viewer. Greg’s compelling visions of the American West are distilled through the filter of his own life experiences. Building upon that, he applies his own unique creative filters of simplification, light, color, shape, and texture. This creative alchemy results in paintings that feature bold composition, strong value...
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Priya Gore - A Dash of Wilderness (70)
Artful Painter
Priya Gore’s extraordinary paintings of birds and wildlife are breathtaking. Her paintings are full of color, vibrancy, and energy. She says painting large allows her whole body to become fully engaged in the flow and gesture of painting. The process of painting is like a joyous dance, each lyrical movement breathes life into the birds that are often the subject of her art. It was against improbable odds that Priya would become the artist she is today. She came from a large family in a small village in India. In India, she says much of your future is already decided before you are conceived...
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Craig Stephens - Drawn to Form (69)
Artful Painter
Craig Stephens is an artist who delights in painting everyday things. I started following Craig after a chancing upon his Instagram account. I was instantly drawn to his small oil paintings of french fries, toy dinosaurs, peanut butter sandwiches, sneakers, hamburgers, and other everyday objects. I knew this was a painter I wanted to talk with! Craig Stephens was born in Sacramento, California in 1963. He received his B.A. in art studio in 1993. During his undergraduate years, he had the privilege of taking classes from Gary Pruner, Roy DeForest, David Hollowell, and Wayne Thiebaud. He began...
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Kim Lordier - An Inner Strength (68)
Artful Painter
Kim Lordier is an extraordinary pastel painter whose works are cherished by collectors from around the world. Her path to becoming a full-time painter took flight in unexpected ways. Beginning with earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree she became – a flight attendant! Soon, though, she returned with firm resolve to making fine art her life’s work. For the first two decades of her painting career, she focused primarily on the landscape – both from life in and in her studio. Filled with rich color, her landscapes demonstrate her unique spirit of mark-making. In time, her love of horses...
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Brian Buckrell - Freedom to Play (67)
Artful Painter
Brian Buckrell is a full-time Canadian painter. After a long, successful career as a Professor of Veterinary Medicine, he made the decision to switch to a career doing one of the hardest things known to humankind: painting fine art. The transition wasn’t easy - especially doing so much later in life while in his sixties. He admits there were times he felt like quitting. However, he stuck with it. Brian doggedly continued developing his painting skills. Recognizing the importance of learning the fundamentals of the craft, he attended many workshops and enrolled full-time at the highly...
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Mitchell Albala - Mystery and Atmosphere (66)
Artful Painter
Mitchell Albala is a fine art painter, noted author, and beloved workshop instructor. His first book, Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice, is a well-worn reference in my personal library since 2009 when it was first published. Mitchell now has an exciting new book available, The Landscape Painter's Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color. When I received this book a couple of months ago and read it, I knew this would also be a treasured – and much used – volume in my library. This is a one-and-a-half-hour-long episode...
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Ariana Richards - Poetic Realism (65)
Artful Painter
Ariana Richards delights in expressing her creativity in both painting and acting. Encouraged by her family at an early age, she developed an intense interest in the arts. She developed her painting skills even though as a young child she was busy acting. Ariana has appeared in over 30 movies and television shows – including portraying the young computer wizard Lex in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. She went on to earn a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts and Drama at Skidmore College. Her painting skills earned her the honor of being one of the youngest artists to become a member of the...
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Robert Henri - A Secret Identity (64)
Artful Painter
Robert Henri's book The Art Spirit inevitably makes it in any artist's top ten artbook recommendations. As passionate students of Art, we know Robert Henri. His paintings make up an extraordinary body of work. He is considered the "father" of the Ashcan School - a loose alliance of artists whose approach to painting had more in common with journalism than stuffy, academic Traditionalism. Henri taught in many art schools. By some estimates, he taught more than a thousand students – including Edward Hopper and George Bellows. He was universally beloved as a teacher by his students. Today we...
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Scott L. Christensen - Managing Chaos (63)
Artful Painter
Scott L. Christensen must paint - it is core to his very being. His keen eye and probing curiosity of nature reveal a deep love of not just being outdoors – but, rather, immersed in it with all senses engaged. His response to the landscape is visceral. He wants the viewer to feel a deep emotional connection with the landscape.
info_outlineJeffrey T. Larson’s evocative paintings are stunning visual essays of beauty. His contemporary paintings are deeply rooted in academic realism. Because of the extremes in seasons in his home state of Minnesota, Jeffrey spends his time painting outdoors in its all-too-brief warm summers. His outdoor paintings glow and shimmer with the drama of light. Whether the scene is of a woman silhouetted against warm sunlight hanging laundry to dry outdoors, or a young boy is wading through a cool, sparkling stream – your eye is drawn to the beauty of the moment captured in Jeffrey’s expressive impressionistic brushwork.
As the air chills and it becomes too cold to paint outdoors, Jeffrey turns to painting indoors. Carefully staged, each still life brims with quiet beauty and drama. His subject can be a rack of artisan bread loaves, or an old Art Deco style Electrolux vacuum cleaner, or a pack of clementines still in their plastic packaging, or an old child’s tricycle all rusted and worn. Meticulously painted and finished - sometimes over a period of several months, these paintings never appear stiff. They are monumental works of beauty.
Jeffrey T. Larson was born in 1962 in Two Harbors, Minnesota, and grew up in the Twin Cities. He was trained in the manner of the Old Masters at the prestigious Atelier Lack – founded by artist Richard Lack. It was a place whose traditions and training methods reached back through impressionism and the 19th-century French academies. Jeffrey's training provided a firm foundation in the fundamentals that allowed his artistic voice to flourish. The road to becoming a professional artist was not an easy one. Jeffrey is quick to acknowledge he often lived on the edge of frustration. In time he learned to enjoy the business side of being an artist and his success at making a living as an artist grew as he and his wife Heidi – also an artist. His story is beautifully told in filmmaker Joe Hawkins’ documentary titled: Jeffrey T. Larson.
Jeffery’s paintings may at first invoke a sense of nostalgia in the viewer. Yet, his paintings are timeless. The subject matter at first may seem prosaic and mundane, but there is clearly much more present in the painting. Jeffrey draws you into the painting and invites you to take a closer look and observe what he has found. And, as you stand there immersed in experiencing that painting, Jeffrey T. Larson is already off on his way on another mission to finding deeper beauty.
Mentioned in this episode:
Jeffrey T. Larson
Website
https://jeffreytlarson.com
Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art
https://greatlakesacademyoffineart.com
Jeffrey T. Larson Documentary Trailer: https://vimeo.com/333773434
Jeffrey T. Larson Documentary: https://vimeo.com/452505900
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