ARTmonday: Signs of Spring

Although it’s rather slushy in Boston, it is indeed late March and there are signs of impending springtime. Buds on the magnolia trees along Commonwealth Avenue, crocuses pushing up in front gardens, street sweeping (well actually, that was cancelled today due to the weather).

If you need a bit of a lift on this less than sunny day, how about some spring art? Here are 15 artworks that depict springtime, from birds to green trees to pastel hues.

Branch and Bird Illustration By Artist Amy Jean Porter At 20x200

Rose-breasted Grosbeak    Amy Jean Porter    20×200

Spring Abstract Landscape By Britt Bass Turner

Muffin Top    Britt Bass Turner  •  Artfully Walls

Spring Flowers Still LIfe By Daniela Orlev

Flowers on a Table    Daniela Orlev    Artfully Walls

Birds In the City Painting By Susan Spangenberg at Artlifting

City Park    Susan Spangenberg    Artlifting

Fawn With Butterfly Head By Abby Goodman Spring Art

Animal Hybrid Series (Deerfly)  •  Abby Goodman  •  Uprise Art

Edgy Spring Landscape Photograph With Pink Glimmer

Spring    Disparity By Design UK    Society6

Spring Like Acrylic Sculpture By kal Mansur

Grey Murmur Two    Kal Mansur    Uprise Art

Abstract Spring Landscape By Jenna Bauer

from SPRING    Jenna Bauer    Saatchi Art

Spring Trees Abstract Landscape By Karen Barbour At 20x200

Butterfly Chair    Karen Barbour    20×200

Baby Fox Print By Catherine Ledner

Fennec Fox On Blue    Catherine Ledner  Green Box Art

Spring Cactus Blooms In The Desert By Sarah Eisenlohr

Decor    Sarah Eisenlohr    Society6

spring-tess-atkinson-florals

From the Flora series  •  Tess Atkinson

spring-tod-seelie-20x200

Green Branches    Tod Seelie  20×200

spring-yukari-kaihori-saatchi

One Spring Day    Yukari Kaihori    Saatchi Art

Floral Abstract By Northern California Artist Ellen Levine Dodd at Serena & Lily

Adagio    Ellen Levine Dodd    Serena & Lily   

ARTmonday: 8 Artworks from The Road Gallery

I had a social day on Friday, meeting a new friend for coffee in the morning and architect Mette Aamodt of Cambridge-based modern architecture firm Aamodt/Plumb (I wrote about their transformation of a mid-century barn for Boston Globe Magazine last summer) for lunch at Tatte Bakery in Beacon Hill.

(In between I happened to run into a friend and we stopped into two of my favorite Boston boutiques Good and December Thieves. A few Instagram photos here.)

Currently Mette and her partner (and husband) Andrew are working on a project for the founder/curator behind online gallery The Road Gallery. I hadn’t been familiar with The Road Gallery, but upon returning home promptly looked it up. I loved it and must share.

The Road Gallery represents a small, highly curated selection of emerging and established but lesser known contemporary artists. There are a handful of artworks by each artist, plus guest artists, and pieces start around $100 and go up to $7,000.

Here is abstract artwork by eight artists from The Road Gallery, and a little bit about them.

Artist Liz Barber's Abstract Paintings at The Road Gallery

Liz Barber  •  Summer 8, 2015
Mixed media on panel
Atlanta-based artist Liz Barber, who holds 
a degree from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, grew up in coastal Massachusetts. She paints watery abstract works on which layers of materials are built up to create depth and movement, and reflect her emotional attachment to the ocean. 

Artist Kelly Neidig's Abstract Landscape Paintings at The Road Gallery

Kelly Neidig  •  Braddock, 2014
Flashe on canvas

Artist Kelly Neidig, who was born in Pittsburgh and studied Landscape Architecture and Integrative Arts at Pennsylvania State University, lives and works in Vancouver, Washington. In the studio, Neidig relies on her memory and imagination to reinvent scenes of places she has traveled to show the experience of time and its effect on the memory. She is more interested in the overall feeling of these places than their details.

Artist Kyle Utter's Interior Oil Paintings at The Road Gallery

Kyle Utter  •  The Captain, 2013
 Oil on canvas

Brooklyn-based figurative painter Kyle Utter, who hails from Michigan and once lived in Montana, earned his B.F.A at the Pratt Institute in 2011. Utter paints personal spaces, imbuing them with human needs, desires, and yearnings.

Artist Haylee Anne's Water Paintings at The Road Gallery

Haylee Anne  •  Mademoiselle Deux, 2011
Digital Archival C-Print (Limited edition of 5 per size)

Photographer Haylee Anne, who travels between Atlanta and New York, was inspired at an early age by lush National Geographic landscapes. She photographs women and water, employing special processes, to enhance and support feminist and bodily dialogue. 

Artist Susan Klein's Layered Landscape Paintings at The Road Gallery

Susan Klein  •  Peering Through, 2013
Oil on Panel

Charleston, South Carolina-based artist Susan Klein earned an M.F.A. in 2004 from the University of Oregon and a B.F.A. from the University of New Hampshire in 2001. Her paintings combine elements from separate places and times into one image. Usually, she begins with a landscape painting, upon which she layers representations of architecture, nature, and urban materials, which coalesce into a dense visual obstacle course.

Artist Emily Zuch's Paintings of Interior Installations at The Road Gallery

Emily Zuch  •  Garden of Boxes and Balls, 2011
Oil on paper

Brooklyn-based artist Emily Zuch received an M.F.A. from the New York Studio School in 2011 and a B.F.A. from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008. Zuch paints from installations she creates in her studio. The set-ups involve objects she makes, childhood toys or those she has recently acquired, and various other curiosities. There is an element of narrative in her work, and she is interested in imagery that connects to fantasy and folklore. 

road-gallery-s-w-dinge

S.W. Dinge  •  Hit My Head on the Ice, 2014
Gouache and watercolor on canvas

Artist S.W. Dinge lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island.  He is drawn to aged materials such as rusted metal, discolored newspaper, weathered wood, and other aged objects which are, along with acrylic paint, the foundation of his work.  

Artist Charlotte Lethbridge's Pool Paintings at The Road Gallery

Charlotte Lethbridge  •  Sorry I’m Late (Go Ahead Without Me), 2014
Oil on linen

Manhattan-based artist Charlotte Lethbridge studied painting at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. In 2014, Lethbridge concentrated on a swimming pool series titled “Sorry I’m Late.” While pools evoke nostalgia of swimming lessons and suburban summers, left alone they have a compelling stillness. Absence is key component of the series. 

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Shop art from StyleCarrot affiliates.

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ARTmonday: Amy Stevens Cake Photos

I just finished putting together a sidebar of affordable art picks for the May issue of HGTV Magazine. It will accompany the feature on our Boston condo, which will focus on our art, which is everywhere. They chose 8 affordable artworks out of 25 choices I provided, so there were a lot of leftovers. I’ll eventually post all 25 picks, but in the meantime here is an expanded look at artist Amy Stevens’ cake photographs.

Stevens cake photo series, called Confections, started in 2005 as a response to her 30th birthday. She says, “It was a celebration of birthdays, color, pattern, and obsessive absurdity.”

Her original idea was to bake 30 birthday cakes for herself and photograph them. She ordered a cake decorating kit online, watched an instructional video, and quickly discovered her cakes were going to be imperfect. She decided to leave them in what she describes as “their exuberantly imperfect states.”

In the course of eight years, the series evolved into more of a humorous, feminist, conversation on life and the struggle for perfection. Amy Stevens is based in Berks County, Pennsylvania, earned a BFA from Arizona State, and an MFA from Temple University.

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections #65, 2008

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections #57, 2007

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections #54, 2007

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections #42, 2006

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections (Adorned) #22, 2011

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections (abroad) #7, 2010

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections (adorned) #20, 2010

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections (adorned) #15, 2010

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections (adorned) #25, 2012

Food Photography Cake Photos Amy Stevens

Confections (adorned) #14, 2010

A few of Amy Stevens cake photos are available at:
20×200
Eye Buy Art
ArtStar

ARTmoday: Trees by Patricia Busso

I’m feeling kind of zen today and these Patricia Busso birch tree paintings are reflecting my mood. Patricia Busso is a Boston-based artist with a studio in the South End. (Her bio also says she’s a math teacher.)

I came across her one of her encaustic pieces at the SoWa First Friday event in December, hanging in a juried group show of small works that I thoroughly enjoyed. When I looked her up to see more I found these birch tree artworks.

Some of these birch trees remind me a bit of illustrator Patricia Busso in blue. I’ve also long been a fan of Congdon’s hot pink birch trees—Birch Forest No. 7.

Busso started out as a photographer, but when her camera broke on the first day of an art retreat in the woods of British Columbia, she purchased paints and got to work. I’m not sure if any of these are the result of those efforts, but it seems to me they could very well be.

Here are 10 birch tree artworks by Patricia Busso.

trees-patricia-busso-1

trees-patricia-busso-4

trees-patricia-busso-2

trees-patricia-busso-3

trees-patricia-busso-7

trees-patricia-busso-8

trees-patricia-busso-9

trees-patricia-busso-6

trees-patricia-busso-5

trees-patricia-busso-10

All artwork courtesy of the artist. 

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ARTmonday: 10 Colorful Landscapes by Portland, Maine Artist Joanne Gravelin

In searching for local New England artists last week on Saatchi Art, I came across the work of Joanne Gravelin, a Portland, Maine-based artist who creates colorful landscapes in mixed media.

Gravelin, who grew up in rural Vermont, studied printmaking and painting at Maine College of Art. According to her bio on the Demark Art Center in Denmark, Maine where Gravelin was an artist-in-residence, her work depicts “scenes of the failed American Dream, false paradises, natural wastelands and suburbia.”

I’m following Gravelin’s work (and cat) on Instagram @MyLastPlaceOnEarth with my new art-dedicated Instagram account @StyleCarrotCurates, which I hope you will follow! It’s all art, all the time. (My decor, flowers, food, cat, books, art, sunsets, etc account is @StyleCarrot if you’re not already following, please do.)

Here are ten of Gravelin’s colorful landscapes. Sorry I don’t have full info on every one. I’ll try to contact her and update. Plus, I may need one for our Florida condo.

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

2014

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

2014

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

“Greetings From Paradise No. 2″ 2013
Acrylic, silkscreen, gold leaf, vinyl stickers, and marker on layers of plastic
40″ x 60”

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

“Greetings From Paradise No. 1″ 2013
Acrylic, silkscreen, gold leaf, vinyl stickers, and marker on layers of plastic
40″ x 60”

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

“Collection” 201s
Acrylic and vinyl stickers on plastic
40″ x 48″

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

2015

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

2015

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

“Los Angeles Pool” 2012
Acrylic and silkscreen on layers of plastic
36″ x 40″

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

2014

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin Colorful Industrial Landscapes

2014

Portland Artist Joanne Graelin At Work In Her Studio

Artist Joanne Gravelin  at work in her studio in Portland, Maine.