Landscape Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

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Well known for her landscapes, artist Catherine McCargar presents a view of Mt. Diablo and its surrounding foothills. The grand and proud mountain looks onto ...

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Artist Catherine McCargar exhibits a scenic landscape of Mt. Diablo with an impressionistic style. The dense leaves of the lush trees rustle from the refreshing gusts of mountain air. Catherine notes that the dark parts of the mountain appear obscured in the shadows during early fall when the lower foothills turn a soft golden yellow. She captures the view en plein air from a location in Walnut Creek...

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"Kilimanjaro is awesome to behold, and here you can see its scale!" says artist James Nyika. "Kilimanjaro captures the enormous size of one of its most famous...

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Artist Catherine McCargar paints a rural setting in this impressionist piece. She uses her refined skills to convey a grass field's softness and intricacies. Meanwhile, she leads the viewer along the walking path into the welcoming shadows and shelter of the copse of trees ahead. "One can almost feel the crunch underfoot," says Catherine.

About the Artist
Impressionist Catherine McCargar expresses her deep admiration of nature through landscape paintings of Northern...

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Artist Jill Poyerd captures a peaceful landscape with snow-covered mountains emerging from a haze. Painting with soft and neutral tones, Jill conveys the feeling of calm tranquility with her delicate brushwork. "I kept the elements to a minimum in order to accentuate the openness of the valley and increase the strength of the mountain range...

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"Mount Diablo is a majestic presence throughout California's Bay Area," says artist Catherine McCargar. In this painting, she capt...

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Artist Patricia Prendergast displays a breathtaking forest river glistening under the gentle sun. The tranquil stream reflects the dense woodland foliage building an alluring color harmony. She creates a sense of depth by applying multiple layers of pastel and dabbing it with alcohol to achieve a thick consistency. Patricia uses various mark-making techniques to bring the trees and water on the left forward and push the right side into the distance.

About the Artist
Pastel artist Patricia Prendergast creates impressionist artworks that depict the rivers and landscapes near her home in Sacramento, California. With each nature vignette, she captures the sense of larger natural rhythms through quick mark-making, mauve undertones, and a tranquil and serene haziness. Her work recalls the paintings from the Hudson River School such as Thomas Cole and Asher Brown Durand. Before working on her pastels at home in her studio, she spends hours studying nature on walks along the river near her home. Since becoming an artist, she says “everything is more vivid - the beauty of light and shadow in the trees, the subtlety of the color of clouds, the sparkle and reflections in water.” Her work as been exhibited in solo shows around California. She is represented by UGallery.

Words that describe this painting: pastel, river, trees, grass, foliage, impressionism, plein air, paper, pastelwork, reflection, water, nature, impressionism, nature, pastel artwork...

Artist Comments
Trees dot a grassy landscape under a clear blue sky. Captured by the shadows cast by a lone tree, artist Catherine McCargar painted this peaceful scene on a late California summer morning. The purple and lavender shades contrast and complement the golden glow of the morning sun. Catherine employed an impressionist style to simplify the subject matter, yet her brushwork on the foreground grasses is intricately detailed.

About the Artist
Impressionist Catherine McCargar expresses her deep admiration of nature through landscape paintings of Northern California. While she is well-versed in a range of media, her preferred medium for painting is watercolor. The fluidity of the paint allows her to capture the muted undertones and the fleeting light found in the natural world. While the backgrounds of her paintings are impressionistic, the foregrounds of her paintings are often highly detailed, showcasing her technical mastery over her medium.

Words that describe this painting: landscape, field, trees, impressionism, shadow, sunlight, summer, sky, watercolor, paper, morning, impressionism, landscape, watercolor painting, green

New Day Dawning...

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Emerald grasses sprawl into the distance of an open landscape. A peaceful scene as the sun rises. Trees stretch into the gradient sky drawing the eye to a flock of birds flying free. "I find that getting away to the country offers a quiet and peace that lends itself to times of reflection and meditation," shares artist Posey Gaines.

About the Artist
Using flowing watercolors, artist Posey Gaines creates atmospheric, high-contrast landscapes developed mostly from intuition. He often starts a piece by simply putting paint to paper and then decides on the elements to bring the composition together. He draws on memories of places he has lived and reference photos taken on road trips to arrive at the final serene and eye-catching view. Posey says that from a young age artistic inspiration has touched everything he's done in life. He plays the piano, the guitar and the bass guitar, writes poetry and wrote a book. Posey first discovered watercolor in the 1970s while auditing art classes at East Central College near his home. Over the years, he's honed his skills attending workshops and watching DVDs. Today, he enjoys painting from a tidy home studio while listening to music. True to his well-rounded personality, when he’s not making art, he works as a web developer.

Words that describe this painting: landscape, morning, sunrise, nature, quiet, hike, sky, clouds, desert...

Artist Comments
"Vietnam is a country of contrasts - lowlands with lush green ricefields like this one as well as mountains around every corner," says artist James Nyika. "This picture was so compelling because of the huge color contrast of the bright luscious foreground and the greying distant mountains. I wanted to capture these contrasts that are pervasive throughout the country."

About the Artist
Artist James Nyika paints the glowing atmosphere of cities across the world. As a child growing up in Kenya, he found art materials at the student bookshop and also borrowed just about every art history volume from the British Council library in Nairobi. "I checked out the same books over and over just to stare at the art, to try and understand how it was created," says James. With family encouragement to study engineering, James moved to the U.S. and immersed himself in science studies at Boston University. Several years after embarking on a tech career, he set a goal to create at least one painting a week, never throwing away any works and learning as much as possible in his off hours. Today, James still balances his full-time career designing large software systems with his prolific output as a painter. "Painting is a great antidote to the regularity of a computing profession and I really value it for the uncertainty that it brings - something frowned upon when writing code."

Words that describe this painting: Vietnam, paddy, rice field...

Artist Comments
A bright day in the high desert plains. Pastel yellow, pink and blue balanced with the earthy tones of the landscape. "Landscapes when viewed in the open plai...