Celebrating the Heritage and Practices of Traditional Fine Arts Worldwide
Exhibitions
October 8 - December 10, 2021 Online Exhibition
A special thanks to Micah Christensen, renowned art historian and curator for selecting the 38 finalists displayed in this showcase.
The artwork presented in this exhibition is framed, and available for purchase. If you are interested in acquiring a work, please submit a purchase inquiry. Additionally, we request that you consult our Terms of Sale.
The inspiration for this piece of artwork comes from a poem, Song of the Burial of Flowers. The blossoms fade and falling fill the air, Of fragrance and bright hues bereft and bare. One day, when spring has gone and rose has withered. I want to keep the best moment. The picture shows a ray of sunlight shining on a withered rose, whether it can still bloom in the next season or not, but those rose that will never wither in my heart.
Sunsets and the soft crashing of waves have always been my favorites. It brings me peace and tranquility. In this painting, I wanted to express that feeling; I want you to be transported to a magical place, feel the soft, warm sand under your feet and the soft waves kissing your toes.
I love to capture the delicate beauty and colors of the desert in my paintings. My desert calms me with it's peace and beauty. I have been fortunate to have grown up in Twentynine Palms, California, and enjoy it's beauty through it's smallest desert animals to it's vast, open, colorful landscapes. I really enjoyed painting the cool purples and lavender's in my painting Rising Moon Over Joshua Tree to show the peace and calm that the desert embraces when the sun goes down.
Citrus Basket is one in a series of basket paintings--a vintage indigenous people's basket filled with a variety of citrus fruits & their leaves.
Each painting is an "offering" not in a religious sense but in the primal way we acknowledge things that both give us pleasure and are gifts to others. These paintings are more realistic and have fewer identifiable brushstrokes almost in an attempt to share scent & texture. To add a bit of wit, the pattern of leaping fish that would do well cooked with citrus. They say-- paint what you love.
– Marlene Walters | Honorable Mention
Michael John Pittas | Special Recognition
Jester’s Peak
Oil on canvas, 28" x 20", $2200
The oil painting Jester’s Peak is a metaphor for having reached my 80th year looking out on a turbulent life from the height of self-knowledge, realizing that all the drama was also a great comedy. My art is an unexpected but welcome companion late in life. It nurtures me and sustains me. The inspirations for my paintings arise from the still-present child in me. I believe that child lives on in all of us. My palate is the colors of that time, filled with fantasy and innocence.
My painting Siesta Time came about when I was visiting a ranch in South Dakota. I was photographing a young girl with her goats when this cowboy rode up on his horse and told me he wanted to take a nap next to the wagon that I was next to. He got off his horse and spread out a canvas cloth then took the saddle off his horse and put it down next to the wagon. He took off his boots and hat and laid down. He was very sweet, hot and tired and his cattle dog Mule laid down next to him. In a few minutes they were both asleep. I thought this would make a great painting with a great story to tell. When I was done taking pictures of them for my painting I slipped a $20 bill under his hand for a tip. He became a great friend of mine.
A sundown, or a particularly vibrant cloud formation like this, can stir strong memories and emotions. For this reason, my landscape oil paintings are intended to create a mood rather than depict a scene with absolute precision. Anyone who sails has learned to watch the sky at ocean’s edge for a prediction of the weather to come. By focusing on a striking transitional late afternoon sunset, thereby narrating the quintessential coastal story, I aim to both seize the attention of the viewer and capture the sky’s arresting interplay of color, light and shadow across the darkening landscape below.
Cathedral of the Self (Pandemic Self Portrait, 12 Months in Quarantine)
Oil on linen, 20" x 24", $7350
There’s many things I think of when I see this painting: During the pandemic my hair grew very long. We moved into a house, with a garden and trees outside. The same garden where I picked the orange in my lap. From the tree which casts shadows onto me through my window. Although the room is dark and I’m alone, I am illuminated. And if you look closely, I’m smiling. In Spring of 2020 I started waking up at sunrise and practicing yoga and meditation, focusing on painting and reading again, spending more time in nature. I became fascinated by monastic life. I wanted to mark this time, despite all of the stress and uncertainty, as a positive period. A rare and unique opportunity to travel inward. A chance for introspection and silence. To work on myself, pursue higher learning, reevaluate things, and to find some amount of inner peace.
As a lifelong swimmer I was extremely frustrated during last year's COVID summer as all public pools were shuttered for months. I have been swimming indoors avoiding direct sun for years as I have serious issues with skin cancers. I remembered that one of my plein air painting buddies had an outdoor pool big enough to swim laps along side of this great stand of Kashmir Cyprus trees that provided the late afternoon comfort of shade, for which I was truly grateful.
The channelized Los Angeles River has three places along its 51-mile length where the river bottom is natural soil rather than concrete. This painting “The River at Willow Street” depicts one of these places, the estuary at Willow Street in Long Beach.
A painting of muted colors and rich contrast in value and form is a metaphor for life. Bold tones and obtuse shapes of burnt-red, warm green and cool purples depict emotion and tension as bright light streams through the spring growth of a California native Salix willow tree . As one moves visually from the abstract shapes of the trees one passes through the deep darkness of the river reflections in what appears as black but is actually multiple layers of Alizarin Crimson and Phthalo Green thinned with glazing medium. From this darkness one emerges to the gentle curvilinear reflections of still river water rendered in muted tones of cream, green and ocher and a mystical understated figure basking in silhouetted sunlight reveling in life's unexpected beauty.
This painting is part of a multi-year project by the artist titled “Painting a Love Letter to the River of Angels” depicting the unexpected beauty of the world’s longest fully-channelized navigable waterway, the Los Angeles River.
My watercolor Enchanted Forest, brings back the most comforting and peaceful memories of my childhood. I spent days with my friends playing deep into the forest, walked miles upstream, got each other soaking wet and swam in the pond under the waterfall…I still remember the sent of the moist air filled with the thick plant smell, listening the sound of water hitting the rocks, watching the falling leaves floating through the creek, still feeling the coldness of the refreshing spring water running over my body. We laughed so hard and put all the worries behind us. Many years later we are still the best friends even live in different continents. I am grateful and cherish these memories. The forest is forever associated with comfort, friendship and gratitude.
Site to studio, inspired by Laguna's rugged coastline, verdant hills, vast open sea, featured as an art city, and a cultural destination.
The stunning seaside rock formation contrasts with the ocean blues, turquoise green, following a rhythmic rise and fall of waves that keep moving forward, from far beyond, to meet the still rocks. Being at that place to capture that moment, you would sense the grandeur of nature, and become a part of universal.
Textured layers of paint truly show the depth, calm of atmospheres, and the vibrant colors.
The subject I chose for my painting is one where I unconsciously felt the perfect moment when I pressed my camera shutter. I am happiest when I work with these moments that depict our beautiful world and bring them to the canvas.
This splendid peacock, named Percy, was a resident of the FILOLI park for about 10 years. Every time he would spot a female, he would immediately open his tail with dazzling colors. What a feast for the eyes! Looking at the mesmerizing array of colors on it’s tale and body I was wondering how artists can portray on canvas what Mother-Nature did so perfectly on this bird. Never the less, it was nice challenge to paint the bird in the shadow with the variety of blues and greens color against warm sunlit background.
I’m interested in dogs’ fascinating behavior, dog-human relationships and how we can form reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationships. For these reasons I am compelled to make portraits of dogs. Born with a cleft palette and other serious medical conditions, Buggy the Bulldog has lived with his adoptive family since birth. Though his medical trials have been many, he is a true independent and sassy spirit. You may find him hanging out with his “girlfriend”, a 5-gallon water bottle, or casually lying in a plastic bin while hanging his mouth opened on the edge of it, and tongue pressed against the side. Buggy shows us how it’s OK to dance like no one’s watching. We love him all the more for that. To see Buggy in action check his account on Instagram @buggythebulldog or @pudgethepit.
I was inspired by so many stories of the ordinary American families adopting children with disabilities and illnesses from poor areas of China. The children had miserable lives there. Those American families are angels, they give a lot of love to the children and the children are very comfortable living in these families. So the mother is an angel in my painting and the painting shows the sheer enormity of the gratitude for these families!