
March 7 - June 1, 2021
CAC Virtual Gallery
The inaugural installment of our new quarterly Excellence in Traditional Fine Art Competition, Renewal and Rebirth asks artists to depict in their works the arrival of Spring and the new life the season brings each year.
Our gratitude goes to Peter Trippi, editor-in-chief of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, for being the guest judge and curating these images for this virtual exhibition, showcasing the most exemplary submissions as well as the prize-winning works.
All artwork is available for purchase. If you have interest in acquiring a work, please submit a purchase inquiry. Additionally, we suggest consulting our Terms of Sale to answer any questions.
Congratulations to the Winners!
First Place – $1,000 Prize
Nathaniel Skousen
Birth of the Moon
Oil on canvas, 38" x 30"
This symbolist scene is not only superbly painted, but also reminds us that the moon has long been associated with renewal and rebirth by cultures around the world. The artist quotes John Everett Millais’s famous floating Ophelia (1851–52) without the morbid, even misogynistic overtones some artists bring with that motif. Instead, the girl depicted here is very much alive, ready to awaken and move forward.
– Peter Trippi
Second Place – $500 Prize
Rebecca Arguello
Breakers at Indian Beach
Oil, 16" x 20"
Waves breaking on California beaches can be a cliché, but the talented artist who painted this scene has transcended the usual by simultaneously capturing ocean water’s varied textures AND establishing a stable pattern of lights and darks bolstered by the shadowy geological forms at right. The result is both realistic and abstracted, deftly leading our eye back and forth, left and right, without losing focus.
– Peter Trippi
Third Place – $250 Prize
Anna Rose Bain
A New Dawn
Oil, 20" x 30"
Painting a nude figure outdoors is always challenging because the tones and handling we expect to see for flesh differ considerably from those for landscape. Resolving this challenge at dawn—a difficult time of day to capture in its own right—might seem just about possible, but then this ambitious artist added the challenge of depicting a person of color, whose skin tones are more subtle. Somehow it all comes together beautifully, with just enough photographic veracity in the face and neck contrasting convincingly with the generalized brushing of sky and water.
– Peter Trippi