California - Mixed Media

Artist Comments
Part of Ryan's long-running series of portraits done in charcoal and oil paint on gold washed paper. Ryan enjoys pairing the fluidity and transparency of oil paint with the substance of charcoal. "Much like the ballet of the same name, "Giselle" combines dramatic patterns with stoic expression," says Ryan. The figure wears an abstract dress of dripping circles, her hair in modernist angles. She looks intensely at the viewer, her slender frame elongated by her strong pose.

About the Artist

Words that describe this painting: girl, ballet, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, modern, portrait, expressionism, people, fashion, representational, mixed media artwork, yellow

Giselle
Ryan Pickart...

Artist Comments
Soft, cloud-like flowers intermingle in a rust red vase. Ruth-Anne developed depth in the blossoms with layers of pastel yellow, pink and teal, set off with t...

Artist Comments
"The silence is broken only by the occasional mechanical slurp of tongue on lolly, flutter of paper-thin wing and hum of hovering metal body," says Diane Flic...

Artist Comments
Inspired by a summer trip, Melissa has been looking forward to combining one of her favorite birds, the meadowlark, with purple asters. She enjoyed creating the contrast between the loosely rendered flowers and the more detailed bird. Adding to the piece are lovely orange accents and a little iridescent blue.

About the Artist
Melissa is passionate about color. She finds it to be the most significant form of inspiration to paint. Speaking on influences in her work, Melissa says, “Sometimes it’s an idea that I can’t get out of my head, or a color that I just MUST paint!” She particularly enjoys painting leaves, and the changing colors of Oregon foliage are visible in her work. In 2001, Melissa began teaching art classes, which has allowed her to view her own artwork in a new way. “The information that flows in a class is awesome,” she says. Melissa is constantly learning from the students in her classes, and is more conscious of what it means to be an artistic role model.

Words that describe this painting: meadowlark, purple asters, flowers, bird, nature, animals, flora, representational, mixed media artwork, purple, yellow

Meadowlark & Purples
Melissa Gannon...

Artist Comments
I call this technique 'canvas mosaic' which I developed over the last nine years. The square shapes are cut and painted pieces of canvas fabric that I adhered to the stretched canvas. Initially inspired by digital pixels, but harkens back to traditional mosaic making. Cranes are one of symbolic creatures in Asia. Mysterious and always a little lonely in a beautiful way. I painted a dreamy crane with traditional Japanese Kimono patterns...

Artist Comments
This piece is made by layering Korean mulberry paper on a wooden panel with homemade flour glue. Then I apply a glue base. Next, I draw my sketch, and trace ...

Artist Comments
Small-scale floral portrait with nice presence. The flower's white petals flow across the composition. The deep green and blue backdrop draw the eye and build...

Artist Comments
A minimalist, playful take on the Bermuda Triangle. Part of John's newest series of mixed media works meticulously hand cut fr...

Artist Comments
Liquid gold metal drawn over diagonal black and white stripes. Thick, painterly texture provides numerous angles to reflect light. The edges of the piece are finished in gold. Created by carefully manipulating metallic foil with heat and varying pressure over the course of many weeks. This is a highly specialized and unique technique developed by M. to achieve her goals of bending light and drawing out distinctive elements in the foil. The work is very luminous and will display individual characteristics in different lighting situations.

About the Artist
M. Clark sculpts metallic foil with heat and pressure to create rich surfaces that are highly reactive to shifts in light. She strives to continually push the bounds of her gold foil medium, including working directly with a manufacturer to develop foil in specific sizes and colors that were not previously available. As a person with dyslexia, her artwork has roots in the way she processes symbols. "The multidimensional shape and arc of letters are more powerful than stringed characters forming words," she explains. M. lives in New York and works in a studio on the 35th floor with big windows overlooking the East River. She describes it as an inspiring and calming space, and is fastidious about keeping the place organized. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including a large scale installation in the Smithsonian, and is collected internationally.

Words that describe this painting: gold, metallic, luminous, pattern, geometric, modern, Jackson Pollock, abstract, non-representational, modern , mixed media artwork, yellow

Behind the Scenes...