Incoming!

Open Division paintings arriving! Show opens this Saturday, March 5. Artists will be here painting and offering more of their works for sale. Come on by, 11:00 am opens.

Meet Artist Michelle Thornburg

 

Michelle Thornburg-Artist's Statement

My style of creating artwork is painting from the subconscious. There are no carefully planned sketches, no grids, it is just me and my paint with no expectations of anything but painting. I use my hands to apply the paint directly onto my canvas, no rules, just whatever feels right. The key for me is to let go of the conscious world

around me, and just paint, allowing my hands to take the lead. Eventually the painting reveals itself. It’s like daydreaming on a canvas.

 

O-083 Summer Moon by Michelle Thornburg acr 36x36 $850

Artist's Biography

Michelle Thornburg is a California Artist and Art Teacher living and working in the Central Valley. She creates dream like paintings from her subconscious using the Surrealist technique of automatism, or automatic painting. Her technique of using mainly her hands to apply acrylic or oil paints to the canvas allow her to connect with her artwork. Her paintings are created by applying paints onto the canvas in various colors, patterns, and movements. Her paintings are often reworked and go through many changes before they are completed. These expressive paintings are full of fanciful images and colorful landscapes.

O-086 Butterfly Kisses by Michelle Thornburg acr 30x40 $850

Meet Artist Steve Correll

 

O-047 spring_awakening by Steven Correll acr 12x12 $75

 Artist’s Statement Steven F. Correll

February 2022

 

When I was six years old I told my parents that I wanted to be an artist. I am not sure I knew what that meant, but knew that I enjoyed drawing pictures, painting and making things. Fortunately for me, I had amazing parents who encouraged and nurtured my artistic endeavors all my life growing up, through college and into adulthood. Without them and their support, I would not be writing this. Because of them, for the past fifty plus years I have been drawing pictures, painting and making things.

 

Meet Artist Kim Vagt

 

Kim Vagt Artist: 

Kim Vagt lives in our wonderous Sierra Nevada Foothills!

Recently retired in 2020 from a career in healthcare, Kim lives in the countryside near Mokelumne Hill in our pristine Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California where she has her art studio.

Kim gains inspiration from the wonder of local landscapes and florals, abstract art compositions, and her true love for color.

O-100 morning_light_on_rogue_by Kim Vagt wc 11x14 $195

She enjoys various mediums and techniques using Acrylic, Watercolor, Alcohol Ink, Oil Pastels, and Encaustic Wax. Every painting elicits pure creative energy for her with a desire to create a unique emotional connection for the viewer. “One piece leads me into the next and brings an exhilarating sense of joy, wonder, and learning”.  

Her recent judged art pieces showcased at:

·        Crocker Art Museum, Wonderous Wax Exhibit 2020

·        Sacramento Fine Arts Center 54^th National Motherlode Art Exhibit 2020

·        The Gallery 48 at Natomas, Movement, Mastery and Medium Sierra Wax Artists Exhibit, 2021

·        Ironstone Vineyard, 24^th Spring Obsession Art Competition, 2021

·        Calaveras Art Council Gallery, A Few of My Favorite Things, Exhibit, 2021

·        Propeller Art Gallery, Layers of Meaning International Encaustic Exhibit, October 2021

Check out Kim’s website: https://www.kimvagt.com/

Meet Artist Stephanie Johnson

O-114 Roses and Peonies by Stephanie Johnson oil 8x10 $650

Biography:

  The artwork of Stephanie K. Johnson invites viewers to experience the glow and mystery of the old masters. 
A native of Washington, Stephanie was surrounded by majestic landscapes that helped cultivate her initial desires to create. Stephanie’s parents made a special effort to expose her to quality art instruction. Many local artists were an integral part of her education.
  People started collecting Stephanie’s work when she was very young. She sold her first original painting at the Redmond Saturday Market at the tender age of eleven. At twelve she entered her first gallery; Artisans on Taylor in Port Townsend, WA; and by fourteen she had incorporated her own business.   
In her early teen years, she went on a trip to Italy with a group led by one of her teachers, Teresa Saia. It was an adventure that became one of her main artistic influences. She was deeply moved by the classical art in the museums, the richness of the culture and the landscapes she encountered. Stephanie returned to the states forever changed and is still inspired by the beautiful Italian scenery.
Stephanie originally worked in watercolor; her inspiration to transition to oils came from her first visit to a Hudson River School exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum. When viewing the painting: ‘Vale at St Thomas, Jamaica’ by Frederic Church, she saw a kindred spirit, and said to her family ‘This is the kind of art that I want to create’”. She carried that determination into art school.
   Stephanie studied with a Master Artist in a four-year intensive program at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. In the Classical Atelier, she learned the time-tested techniques from the masters, passed down from the likes of Bougereu, David and Francois Boucher. There she also fell in love with the art of still life painting. At the time of her graduation in 2013, she was the youngest artist to complete the program.   In recent years, she has worked to combine all of the painting methods she has learned to develop her own technique as well as a blended palette of old and modern colors. Stephanie is dedicated to continuing the development of her artistic skills and making a life-long study of light and color. Stephanie is currently a full-time artist and works from her home studio in North Idaho, where she is living with her husband, David Schmieder.

Artist Statement:

“It is my goal to create paintings that celebrate the beauty displayed in our natural world. Whether it is a view of a rushing river, treasured shells from the ocean or freshly picked garden sunflowers, everything pays tribute to the wonder of nature. Early in my career, I had the amazing opportunity to study with world renowned landscape artist, Teresa Saia. She taught me how to see all the various colors in nature and to amplify them in my work. In landscapes I desire to bring ‘epic’ scenery, in the tradition of the Hudson River Artists, back into a contemporary environment. I seek to capture the feeling of air, intensity of light, poetry of the trees and the sensation of distance. When creating a landscape painting, I often combine the resources gathered on location, sketches, color studies and photographs and then compile them into an ideal composition in my studio. For my still life work I wish to combine the techniques of the Dutch Masters with today’s modern colors. The textures of Rembrandt and Vermeer’s use of light truly inspire me. In every piece, I choose to work directly from life. When I look at a conch shell, for example, I have an overwhelming desire to put onto canvas how the natural light glistens on the smooth surfaces and how the rippling textures that make the shell so unique.”

 

Stephanie K. Johnson
(206)949-1125
ArtistStephanieKJohnson@Gmail.com
www.StephanieKJohnson.com

Meet Artist Lynn Thorne

T-027 Breath of Spring by Lynn Thorne wc 14x17 $200

 

Lynn Thorne meditates through the art she creates. Whether she is painting on canvas or sketching on paper, she loses herself in the process of crafting her one-of-a-kind works. Her award-winning art has graced the walls of galleries from coast to coast. Lynn lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her four-legged assistants, Gypsy Rose and Vader, and her artist ally, Michael.

Lynn Thorne 

Author, Who Am I If You're Not You?

www.WhoAmIthebook.com

https://www.facebook.com/HeartThreadsDocs/videos/2122645451144250/

www.lynnthorne.com

301-542-6443

Twitter @whatlynnsaid

Facebook @AuthorLynnThorne

Blog www.thatswhatlynnsaid.com

https://www.facebook.com/WhoAmITheBook/

Meet Artist Nancy Palmie

 

Nancy Palmie, Artist

A few years ago, Nancy Palmie retired as a corporate technical writer.  Through patient instruction and guidance from a talented local artist, she started painting watercolors.  In no time, she discovered how satisfying and fulfilling it is to create something beautiful in its expression.  Something unique to herself.  Art.

Primarily, Nancy creates paintings one can hang on the wall, using mixed media on hot- and cold-pressed watercolor paper.  (For pure enjoyment and instant gratification, however, she also paints kindness rocks and dabbles in fluid alcohol ink with heat on gesso boards).  Friends and family hide things they don’t want painted, because nothing is off-limits!

O-054 belle_fleur by Nancy Palmie wc 11x14 $200

Nancy’s love of green, rolling hills and hard-working farmers began in her home state of Wisconsin, where she was born and raised.  Spending the better part of her adult life in Colorado gave her a pure and deep appreciation for the awe-inspiring, spectacular beauty of the mountains and lakes, the cerulean sky and titanium-white clouds, the diverse wildlife, and of course the ever-changing weather that changes from sunny cadmium yellow to angry slate gray in the blink of an eye. 

Now a resident of Sonora, California, Nancy’s colorful paintings pay homage to her homeland, and continue to capture the recent road trips that she and her husband have taken through the United States and beyond.  Through the lens of her new-found passion, Nancy’s style reflects picturesque landscapes, flowers, birds, nature, weather, and light.  Of one thing she is certain:  In this vast and beautiful world, Nancy will never run out of things to paint.

Meet Artist Lucinda Johnson

 

Lucinda Johnson                        https://lucindajohnson.com

Lucinda is an award-winning, California-native artist (born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area). Art has always been at the center of Lucinda’s life. “As a child I enjoyed drawing from nature to become familiar with graceful lines, form and space. I am also very conscious of composition, shapes, lighting, and values from my photography education” she says. Through self-taught studies and workshops with professional artists in a wide array of mediums, art has always been a way for me to share California’s unique personality and vistas. Lucinda began experimenting with oils in 2020 and shared “I approach an oil painting with a similar thought process to painting with soft pastels.” When painting a landscape on canvas she first primes the canvas with warm undertones. Additional layers are next added dark-to-light. Using a palette knife she first mixes the correct values on the palette, and then proceeds to paint/blend colors on the canvas (wet-on-wet) or layer/glaze with brushes.

O-145 light_conversation  by Lucinda Johnson oil 4x8 $350

 “The inspiration for this painting was a dramatic, late afternoon skyscape with far-spreading light rays softly illuminating the vernal pools of the San Joaquin valley.  It was not yet sunset, yet soft pinks, oranges and purples were visible on the dark clouds. I was awestruck.”

“

O-144 Clear Day at Shasta by Lucinda Johnson oil 4x8 $350.

The inspiration for this painting was a wintery Mt. Shasta vista from a country roadside west of highway 5. The trees were bare, the snow had melted from the pine branches, the air was brisk, and many shades of blue were visible in the frozen creek and distant mountain shadows where the sky colors were reflected.”